'Foundations like trust and respect were non-existent'
by Ross Judd, cultural engagement expert and founder of Team Focus International
A prison is certainly a unique environment, so in 2009 I leapt at the chance to support a regional prison in a culture change program. It was a great learning experience because it was essentially a closed environment. Unlike corporations they are not influenced by many external factors which meant we could see the results of our work immediately and without contamination.
The key lesson I learnt was that creating a great culture dramatically improves the health and well-being of everyone involved while at the same time improving the profitability of the business. Improving culture will reduce stress, increase productivity, and create a better employee experience. It’s a genuine “win/win.”
Change was needed
In 2009 a new GM was transferred to the prison who was immediately concerned about the culture. He noticed low engagement, poor productivity, and tension. People deliberately undermined each other and created a hostile environment. His challenge was that the prison was scheduled to expand and he knew a new culture was needed to manage the upgrade and a much larger workforce. In my first assessment the most common description of the culture was “toxic,” and they were right. They were openly critical of each other, suspicious, cynical, and fearful. Foundations like trust and respect were non-existent.
The business impact
At the time the prison was suffering from a high volume of work cover claims, mental health issues, stress leave, and general absenteeism, all of which put more stress on the prison officers that came to work.
The focus
The program of work focused on the leaders and their influence on the whole organisation. The Ops Managers and Supervisors participated in leadership development, team building, and individual coaching.
The benefits
Three years later they went an entire calendar year without a single work cover or stress relief claim. Not one. It was a remarkable change. But it went further. The GM also acknowledged that their work had also influenced the Prisoner population. In summary, staff numbers had doubled, the prisoner population had doubled, they’d had ongoing construction works, and yet he was more relaxed and people reported feeling safer at work.
Lessons learned from the experience
1.) A poor culture will have a detrimental effect on mental health, stress, fatigue, and their associated costs. They saved millions by reducing work cover claims and sick leave.
2.) Creating a great culture will have far reaching benefits. The prisoner population benefited without receiving any direct intervention. It’s worth thinking about how your customers and other stakeholders would benefit from a new culture.
Lessons learned from the process
1.) Align with purpose. One of the critical steps in the entire process was a workshop to explore their purpose, or why they existed. The obvious answer was to keep prisoners “locked up,” but this workshop changed their focus to “community safety.” They acknowledged they also needed to return safe, respectful citizens to the community when they were released.
Up until that point the culture program had struggled to gain traction but this workshop was a turning point. It gave the program new life and highlighted the importance of aligning your organisation and culture with purpose.
2.) Define your target culture. The new focus on community safety highlighted the need for respect. Their mantra soon became “if they don’t learn respect from us who will they learn it from?”
They defined culture as “attitudes and behaviours” and agreed on a target culture of “respectful.” This quickly established an environment where they expected respect from each other and challenged themselves to role-model respect to the prisoners.
There were two key steps in the process that made all the difference: (1) Aligning with Purpose, and (2) setting a clear and simple target culture. These two steps turned a challenging culture change program into an extremely successful culture transformation that reaped massive benefits in productivity, reduced stress and absenteeism, reduced costs, as well as significant personal benefits for all the people involved. How would your organisation benefit from a culture transformation?
