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Tips from BESD: Staff development’s role in enhancing organizational culture

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, April 23, 2010

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by Jo-Ann C. Byrne, RN, BS, MHSA
 
As an educator, how many times have you been asked to participate in changing a culture? The question is often asked as though it were something you could plan today and implement at change of shift tomorrow. Sound familiar?

Organizational culture is basically the personality of an organization. Cultural change strategies are not to be taken lightly and should not be oversimplified. For the purpose of this article, I will talk about one facet of culture-the culture of trust-and the significant role we as staff development professionals play in the process of helping that culture thrive. How do you know whether trust is an issue at your organization? Non-trusting behavior exhibits itself in many ways. Pollyanna Pixton (2008), an international leadership expert, identified eight characteristics of a non-trusting team:

• Fear
• Secretive, territorial, and out for themselves
• Lack of engagement
• Defensive and negative
• Judgmental and condescending
• Passive-aggressive behavior and lack of integrity
• Impatient; people are easily agitated
• Gossip runs rampant, as does complaining

Editor's note: This excerpt was adapted from the May 2010 issue of Briefings on Evidence-Based Staff Development. Discover all the benefits of subscribing to Briefings on Evidence-Based Staff Development.

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