CASE STUDY: High Impact Culture Change

by Nov 11, 2016

The irony. At an organization whose mission was to help people with disabilities thrive in the community, the workplace bullying had become rampant.

The former CEO had been a real bully himself; his leadership and personality style had dripped downward into the organization, and a culture of bullying and negativity ensued.

The board of directors could see the organization slipping downhill. They asked the CEO to step down, and they replaced him with a new CEO who was charged with making big change. The new CEO sought help from Civility Partners, because she knew to remove workplace bullying, she needed to replace it with a new culture.

Together we came up with a five step plan.

  1. Train the leaders, managers and supervisors in driving culture change
  2. Create a culture committee made up of people from all levels of the organization
  3. Create a social vision that would drive the new culture
  4. Update the core values so that they resonated with the employees
  5. Develop a strategic plan around the new values.

After a four-hour training on culture change, a committee was indeed created by asking for volunteers as well as assigning some key organizational champions. Using input gained through various exercises with employees, the social vision, “Enhancing Lives” was eventually created, and the old core values were replaced with new ones: Integrity, Communication, Accountability, Respect, Collaboration, Professionalism.

The CEO knew that culture change couldn’t stop there, so with coaching from Civility Partners in the background, she worked with her departments to develop action items around these new values.

Ultimately a strategic plan was created so that the organization would stay on track for culture change.

And here’s what the CEO has to say about the impact of our work together:

We were “experiencing a very hostile and volatile work environment to the point that employees, good friends who had shared an office for over three years, were no longer able to work side by side. Behavior that would be seen on the playground with young teenagers was being replayed for some staff… Today, people are smiling and looking at one another.  Laughter is heard in the halls.  People are able to problem solve and reach a good resolution. It has taken over a year and IRC is becoming, once again, a good place to work.”

Would you like to have this kind of an impact on your organization? Well, you can! Learn more about the ins and outs of solving workplace bullying by attending my two-day intensive course on Dec 5 and 6. Click here to fill out an application.

I’m spilling the beans. I’m giving you everything you need to solve bullying without me.

Here’s what I plan to cover:

  • A review of what academic research has to say about bullying, empowering you to speak confidently about its impact on your organization.
  • The major myths about workplace bullying and the real truth
  • The social system of workplace bullying and how to ignite the only effective solution – culture change
  • My proven methodology for solving workplace bullying
  • My training program for all employees, and for managers and supervisors (we’ll go through it slide by slide so you can deliver it on your own)
  • My coaching program for organizational leaders as you guide them through culture change

Pretty cool, eh?

There’s only a few spots left, so claim your spot ASAP by filling out the application.

Whether you are an internal HR professional, external consultant, attorney, EAP, workplace violence expert, risk management expert, someone who just wants to know more… this is for you.

If you want to learn how to solve bullying, you are invited.

Catherine Mattice, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Civility Partners
Your partner in building a positive workplace so your employees can thrive
www.CivilityPartners.com

Incivility, bullying, and harassment occur because the culture allows them to. Before starting inclusivity initiatives, you’ve got to stop bad behavior. Take this assessment to determine if your workplace fosters a positive culture.

 

Catherine

About Catherine Mattice

Catherine Mattice, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is the founder/CEO of Civility Partners, an organizational development firm focused on helping organizations create respectful workplace cultures and specializing in turning around toxic cultures. Civility Partners’ clients range from Fortune 500s to small businesses across many industries. Catherine is a TEDx speaker and an HR thought leader who has appeared in such venues as USA Today, Bloomberg, CNN, NPR, and many other national news outlets as an expert. She’s an award-winning speaker, author, and blogger and has 60+ courses reaching global audiences on LinkedIn Learning. Her fourth book, Navigating Toxic Work Environments For Dummies (Wiley), is available in all major bookstores and where audiobooks are sold.

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