The Vital Shift

People seek transformation when seeing where the world is headed, recognize costly needs to address, have passion about the development of people, have a growth mindset and are willing to put in the time, money and effort to continuously improve.

How and Why to Transform Flawed Organizational Patterns and Concepts

Too often leaders don’t slow down to reflect on the negative experiences in their organization nor consider how these are tied to flawed patterns of thinking and behaving inherent in outdated culture practices. We have a saying in LifeWork Systems: Don’t ask, ‘Why is this happening?” or “Who’s to blame?” (both based in fear and limited beliefs) Ask instead, “What system (new thinking, behaving, culture) if put in place would fix or improve this situation?” The information below is designed to shed light on the needed culture shifts as reflected in new mindsets and behaviors so you and your people experience all the positive results possible.

Old Culture : Old Thinking

  • Rushed
  • Scatter brained
  • Exhausted
  • Overwhelmed
  • Stressed
  • Pressured
  • Hero mentality
  • Everything is a fire drill
  • Reacting vs responding
  • Standards of quality expendable
  • Lack of people focus
  • Profit over people
  • Work/life balance not priority
“We must do more and work harder and we’re way too busy to consider doing anything about it.”

Flawed Approach

Urgency

New Thinking : New Culture

We have buy-in from everyone, at every level. Everyone works together collaboratively, embracing a common mission. The environment is supportive and inclusive.
  • Shared power
  • Freedom WITH responsibility
  • Proactive, not reactive
  • Emotional intelligence, values-based
  • Healthy, supported cross-functioning
  • People and purpose, then profit
  • Consequences to one another matter
“What system if it were put in place would fix or improve this situation?”

Old Culture : Old Thinking

  • Dominated
  • Rebellious and resentful
  • Uncertain
  • Under utilized
  • Unseen and unheard
  • Confused
  • Judged
  • Discounted
  • Top down, centralized power
  • Extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation
  • Task vs purpose orientation
  • Low alignment and trust
  • Inequality
  • Larger than life hero executives
“Staff members need to do what they’re told. Leadership knows best.”

Flawed Approach

Orchestration

New Thinking : New Culture

We have buy-in from everyone, at every level. Everyone works together collaboratively, embracing a common mission. The environment is supportive and inclusive.
  • Shared power
  • Freedom WITH responsibility
  • Proactive, not reactive
  • Emotional intelligence, values-based
  • Healthy, supported cross-functioning
  • People and purpose, then profit
  • Consequences to one another matter
“All of our members are developed and given choice and taught inductive reasoning so they solve problems on the fly rather than blindly follow dictated, formulaic thinking and behaving.”

Old Culture : Old Thinking

  • Subjugated
  • Watched
  • Afraid
  • Unmotivated
  • Inspired to rebel
  • Victimized, used, blamed
  • No or low choice
  • Lack of trust
  • Use of commands, power-over and power-under, bribing, judging, and enabling
  • Lack of support for self-regulation and intrinsic motivation
  • Low focus on trustworthiness
  • Inequity in development/support
  • Low prioritization of self-confidence
“Most people are lazy, selfish, untrustworthy, and incapable. They need to be managed by their superiors.”

Flawed Approach

Control

New Thinking : New Culture

Our people and performance are outstanding. Negative behavior is rare. Intense collaboration and excitement for work is our norm. Trust and empowerment of staff lead to happy customers. Our people/teams are unstoppable, cohesive, and productive.
  • Shared decision-making
  • Trust is foundational
  • Self-governance is prioritized
  • Equity is assured
  • Reduced separations per titles
  • An environment of learning
  • No fear of failure
  • Negative behavior shifted harmlessly
“All people are (or want to be) great. If they are not acting so, it is a human system failure and often a reaction to control. We replace control with development of intrinsic motivation, responsiiblity and caring, supportive community.”

Old Culture : Old Thinking

  • Underestimated
  • Under-valued
  • Status quo expectations
  • Expected to be docile; led
  • Familiar
  • Not my job
  • Underwhelmed
  • Low challenge
  • Fixed mindset
  • Hierarchy-dependent
  • No leader/follower
  • Do the bare minimum
  • Mediocrity
  • Lack of creativity and innovation
  • Low engagement
  • Boredom
  • Poor employee morale
  • Negative behavior
  • Brown-nosing
“People should be grateful they have a job. They should put up and shut up. They’d do well to submit to the expectations of leaders.”

Flawed Approach

Compliance

New Thinking : New Culture

Everyone holds high standards and knows they are among friends. Compassion and curiosity inspire continuous growth, incubating the next great breakthroughs. People don’t hold back because of title or tenure. They have confidence, creating solutions on the fly and jumping in without hesitation to lead or follow agilely as needs dictate.
  • Evolutionary change vs status quo
  • Self-governance, self-management
  • Responsibility practices integrated
  • Purpose and values mindset for all
  • Learning and adapting are norm
  • Monthly mentoring on EI and culture
  • Improvement over perfection
  • Support for one and all
  • Innovation is prioritized
  • High expectations with support
  • Flexible leading and following
“People are so capable. Their power and initiative is our greatest asset. We guide them in using their power to be happy and productive. We help them go from ‘good’ to ‘extraordinary’ and from ‘compliant’ to ‘committed’.”

Old Culture : Old Thinking

  • Subjugated
  • Watched
  • Afraid
  • Unmotivated
  • Inspired to rebel
  • Victimized, used, blamed
  • No or low choice
  • Lack of trust
  • Use of commands, power-over and power-under, bribing, judging, and enabling
  • Lack of support for self-regulation and intrinsic motivation
  • Low focus on trustworthiness
  • Inequity in development/support
  • Low prioritization of self-confidence
“Most people are lazy, selfish, untrustworthy, and incapable. They need to be managed by their superiors.”

Flawed Approach

Separation

New Thinking : New Culture

Our people and performance are outstanding. Negative behavior is rare. Intense collaboration and excitement for work is our norm. Trust and empowerment of staff lead to happy customers. Our people/teams are unstoppable, cohesive, and productive.
  • Shared decision-making
  • Trust is foundational
  • Self-governance is prioritized
  • Equity is assured
  • Reduced separations per titles
  • An environment of learning
  • No fear of failure
  • Negative behavior shifted harmlessly
“All people are (or want to be) great. If they are not acting so, it is a human system failure and often a reaction to control. We replace control with development of intrinsic motivation, responsiiblity and caring, supportive community.”
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