Toxic cultures drive poor performance, claims Amnis

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} From its many years of experience ofworking with a wide range of organisations, Amnis believes that toxic cultures- which can be identified as having a general lack of respect for people, astrong people hierarchy, discord in the senior team and disengaged managers - aresignificantly affecting performance in some healthcare organisations.   Amnis’ work in the healthcare sectorhas shown that the key to long-term change is to tackle the barriers that toxiccultures can create by: 1.        Ensuring that the words that your top teamuse are aligned with how they behave 2.        Tackling any ‘tribal’ thinking andpromoting team working 3.        Adopting an effective structure forimplementing change that engages front-line teams 4.        Celebrating every success but accepting theoccasional failure   Mark Eaton, of the quality, innovation and productivity organisation Amnis, explained: “It isas important to tackle an underlying toxic culture as it is to have a wellthought out transformation strategy - and far more important than getting onwith tactical improvement programmes using Lean Rapid Improvement Events - ifyou want to instigate real and lasting change.”   Characteristically, organisationswith toxic cultures will struggle to change behaviours and improve performance.Moreover they will find that any investment they make in Lean or othertransformation programmes will not lead to long-term improved performance,warned Eaton. He added: “Toxic cultures alsofacilitate decreased patient safety and foster other risks to the organisation.Consequently, it’s not just financial performance that will suffer as a resultof an organisation experiencing a toxic culture.”   In association with the Institute ofHealthcare Management (IHM), Amnis is running a series of masterclasses forhealthcare professionals. Toxic cultures – and how to overcome them byinstituting a supportive culture – featured in the recent masterclass on ‘Developinga Culture of Continuous Improvement’.   According to Amnis’ Mark Eaton , who is also the author of the book ‘Lean forpractitioners’ : “ Basing improvementinitiatives on the concepts of ‘Lean’ and ‘Lean Sigma’ – basically, doing morewith less – is a sound principle but, for this to succeed, you need to changepeople’s working culture and behaviours as well as processes.”   The next masterclass in theAmnis/IHM series is on ‘Thinking Strategically’, and is being held in Birmingham on 26 th February 2010.   End   About Amnis Limited   Working withboth public and private sector organisations, Amnis is a consultancy whichspecialises in innovation, transformation and organisational improvement,helping clients plan and deploy strategies for successful transformation. Itsgoal is to help clients not only deliver sustainable change but also to developtheir capability to tackle their next challenges.   Providingboth consultancy and training services, Amnis’ team includes specialists inLean/Six Sigma, organisational development, strategic planning, changemanagement and systems thinking.   Further information from:   RuthBodman, Amnis, 00 44 (0) 870 446 1002; ruthbodman@amnis.uk.com   BobLittle, Bob Little Press & PR, 00 44 (0)1727 860405; bob.little@boblittlepr.com  

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