Within the last few months I have had a number of discussions with organizational executives in which the executive raised a question regarding vision and/or mission development, establishing core values, changing or creating an organizational culture, developing an effective employee performance appraisal system, enhancing employee accountability, or improving employee retention.
While the executives in each of these discussions was starting at a different focal point, in each conversation the executive’s overall focus was on how to improve the organizational environment to one in which employees were productively engaged in accomplishing the goals of the organization.
As a result of those discussions along with my observations during three recent projects in which we facilitated a vision and mission development process, conducted an organizational needs assessment and provided training on implementing an effective performance appraisal system, it occurred to me that it might be helpful to the readers of “Contemplation Corner” if I did a series of articles dealing with building or reshaping an organization’s culture.