Step 6 for a Culture of Ownership

This chainsaw of a Positive Pickle, created by a Midland Memorial Hospital employee, stands at the hospital’s employee entrance where it has become a favorite photo spot for staff and visitors

If you launch any sort of culture enhancement initiative, including one to foster a more positive and productive culture of ownership, you are bound to hear the cynics telling anyone who will listen that it’s just going to be another “program of the month.”

But here’s the deal: whether or not a “program” is a flash in the pan or has a lasting impact has little to do with the program itself and everything to do with sustained commitment of the organization’s leaders – both formal and informal – to plow through resistance and sustain momentum.

A body in motion tends to stay in motion. One of the things that struck me when researching All Hands on Deck: 8 Essential Lessons for Building a Culture of Ownership is the extent to which cultural momentum carried each of the market-dominating companies featured in the book long after charismatic founders like Ray Kroc, Mary Kay Ash, Millard Fuller, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard had departed. In the strongest organizations, cultural momentum is itself a powerful form of leadership for inspiring each new generation of future leaders.

That is the essential key to give life to your project to foster a stronger Culture of Ownership (or any other “program” for that matter). You must keep championing it, and protecting it from the cynics, until it has become part of your cultural DNA.

An article I wrote for the American Hospital Association publicationH&HN Daily includes 12 great ideas for building a culture of ownership at this link.
The recent case study on the Culture of Ownership initiative at Midland Memorial Hospital features 14 key lessons for cultural transformation success – it can be downloaded from the Resources page of The Florence Challenge website at this link.

Next: Step 7 shares great ideas for celebrating successes – and good faith failures. You can see the introductory overview to this series at this link.