From the Classroom to the Culture
Purpose:
To use the information and tools from your Rapport Leadership Creating a Breakthrough Culture guide to enhance your organization’s business results and further develop a breakthrough culture.
Background:
At Rapport Leadership International, our clients have taught us some of the most successful approaches to ensuring their training investments provide the maximum impact on their organizations. Often, success starts before a class date is determined!
There are several steps to creating a positive environment within the organization. It is important to review each step to maximize both the individual’s experience and the impact on the total organization.
1. Establish the foundation for a breakthrough culture.
- Define business needs
- Describe performance behaviors
- Identify leadership competencies
2. Ensure the proper send-off.
3. Create an impactful debrief.
4. Provide ongoing support.
- Rapport breakthrough teams
- Creating a Breakthrough Culture
This process provides several tools and guidelines to help ensure the training investment made in each person provides the greatest return to the organization.
Process:
Use the attached worksheets to help you move “From the Classroom to the Culture.”
Establish the Foundation for a Breakthrough Culture
The 3 Elements of Driving Leadership Behaviors into Your Culture
Business Needs
What are your company’s or department’s business goals?
- Revenue, profitability
- Retention, effective hiring, technology, knowledge-sharing
- Efficiency, quality control, process improvements
- Customer satisfaction, response time, on-time delivery
Performance Behaviors
What do people need to do in order to achieve these goals?
What are some of the challenges they may face in changing their thinking and behaviors?
Leadership Skills and Competencies
What leadership skills do people need to be successful?
What leadership competencies do people need to overcome potential challenges?
Whom to Send
Send the leadership team first; then send other key influential individuals in your organization
When Should People Go?
It is important to keep the momentum strong as you begin to establish your Breakthrough Culture. A good plan is to send 30% of your senior and middle management staff within a period of 90 to 120 days.
Next Steps
Continue to look for people who should go. Connect the core competencies of each class to your performance needs, business goals, and company strategies.
Checklist for a Successful Send-Off
- It is OK to create anticipation.
- Be straightforward and answer candidate’s questions. If you are unsure about an answer, refer them to their Leadership Training Advisor.
- Share the leadership competencies covered by their class (see Creating a Breakthrough Culture, pages 2-1 through 2-14).
- Share the competencies you personally worked on and the ones you are improving. Be specific. Explain what you do differently at work and the benefits you have seen because of implementing these changes.
- Make it clear that you are offering an opportunity for the person to learn, grow, and change because you believe in him/her and are interested in his/her success.
- Tell the person that you want him/her to be part of the team that will contribute to the company’s success.
- Discuss the goals, the direction, and the mission/vision of the organization, and explain how this person will have a positive influence on them.
- Talk about your company’s mission statement and let your nominees know they will be creating a “co-mission” statement within their roles and responsibilities (see Creating a Breakthrough Culture, page 3-6).
- Ask him/her to consider which areas s/he may grow as a leader.
- Work together to establish the individual’s work goals.
- Explain that learning comes from doing, and s/he will define what leadership means on a personal level based on what s/he learns and experiences in the course.
- Explain the goal is to take individual leadership skills to their own next level. The prospective participant will build on his/her individual strengths and develop new skills.
- Present the Power Pack (see Creating a Breakthrough Culture, page 3-6).
Checklist for an Impactful Debrief
It is important that each person attending class has an opportunity to share his/her experience with the nominator. Below are some questions and suggestions for debriefing a recent Rapport Graduate.
Review their Reports
- Write down any questions you have.
- Make a list of the all the things the graduate said s/he would do. Explain that the list is a tool for tracking progress and ensuring accountability.
Ask Open-ended Questions
- Tell me about your class, what happened?
- How did you feel during different parts of the training?
- What were the three main leadership competencies you learned or further developed during the training?
- How will you apply these leadership competencies to improve your job performance and your company’s performance?
- What was your block to leadership, and what will you do differently now that you have eliminated this block? (Encourage them to use the pieces of their block as a visual anchor.)
- How will you apply the training in your personal life?
- What will you do more of, or differently, as a result of your experience?
- Which leadership competencies will you begin to apply right away?
- How can I support you?
- How can I hold you accountable?
- What is your mission statement? (Encourage them to share it with others, and/or visually display it.)
- What are your top strategy items?
- How will your training help you achieve your personal and professional goals?
Schedule a follow-up meeting to continue the journey and hold the graduate accountable for his/her goals and commitments.
Driving the Training into the Culture
Eliminate the Wedge
If rolled out incorrectly, the result will be a wedge between those who have attended a Rapport Leadership Training course and those who have not. The goal of this training is to create a Breakthrough Culture in your organization. Look for ways to include everyone in this process to enable the entire organization to benefit from the training. Below are some specific ideas.
Use Anchors
Apply the tools, language, and experiences in your business culture. Look for opportunities to create cohesiveness by developing a common language that graduates and non-graduates can use. Have fun with it! Examples:
- Use “I will” versus “I’ll try”
- JFDI (Just Focus and Do It)
- Use “I know” versus “I think”
- I have some GREAT NEWS for you!
- No armor on the back—keep moving forward
- You GET to do it again.
- If you do not like your results, change your approach.
- GOOOOOOOOOOOOD Morning!!!
Suggestions
- Hold morning meetings. It is okay to start with a big GOOOOOOOOOOOOD Morning, to develop your own company cheer, and to establish a closing circle.
- When new employees join the company, formally introduce them during a meeting and/or through a “New Team Member” email. While introducing the individual, remember to convey your enthusiasm and excitement to ensure this person feels welcome into the organization.
- Include all team members in any meetings to send off or welcome back a new graduate. Be sure to let the new graduate talk about his/her experience during the first meeting after s/he returns. Support them!
- Use our process of the month, featured in our Rapport Connection newsletter, to run a monthly Rapport process designed for both graduates and non-graduates.
- Implement the Breakthrough Teams Process (Rapport Connection, March 2007).
Other Resources
- Your Leadership Training Advisor (LTA)
- The Rapport Website: www.RapportLeadership.com
- The Rapport Connection newsletter: http://newsletter.RapportLeadership.com
- Creating a Breakthrough Culture
- Additional Rapport courses
- Organizational Performance Workshops
- Team and Individual Performance Coaching
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