Practical Ways You Can Lead Culture Change in the Workplace

Practical Ways You Can Lead Culture Change in the Workplace Underwritten by Red Hat

Introduction

How Culture Impacts Employees

Every agency has written policies that guide how you work, where you work and the dos and don’ts of many interactions in between.

Here’s a snapshot of employees’ sentiments shared via the 2020 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS). We’re highlighting some of the highest and lowest scores, all of which are critical elements that shape workplace culture.

But what about those unwritten rules that might be hindering progress? Or beliefs that have somehow become the standard for problem-solving and trying new approaches? Overcoming this ingrained way of thinking is almost like unlearning an old habit to make space for fresh perspectives.

Highest levels of agreement among respondents

It really comes down to culture, or the “consistent, observable patterns of behavior in organizations,” as one Harvard Business Review article frames it.

87% responded affirmatively to “I

So what role can you play in shaping those patterns?

with cooperate to get the job done.

A lot, actually. How you communicate your work, the language you use to bring others into the fold on a project and the fears and enthusiasm you bring to work all shape culture, whether you realize it or not. We recently sat down with two public servants — a product manager and an organizational development and effectiveness specialist — who shared how they are championing progress from both a technical and nontechnical perspective.

gives them a feeling of personal accomplishment.

know how my work relates to the agency’s goals.”

84% agree the people they work 75% of employees agree their work

Lowest levels of agreement among respondents

51% said senior leaders in their organization generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce.

51% believe that differences in performance in their work unit are recognized in a meaningful way.

You’ll learn their tips for challenging limiting beliefs, reframing conversations and mindsets and leading culture change in the workplace.

58% are satisfied with their involvement in decisions that affect their work.

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Evaluating Team Effectiveness An interview with Blake Carlton is an Organizational Development and Effectiveness Specialist. He is experienced in process and operations improvement, training and development, innovation, and strategic thinking and planning, both domestically and internationally and across sectors and industries. He improves the outcomes of mission-driven organizations by analyzing their entire system, including their people, processes, and tools/technology and providing recommendations to relevant stakeholders and leadership.

Limiting belief: Scrutiny of team effectiveness might lead to changes that will make my job obsolete.

We spoke with Carlton about myths around evaluating team effectiveness.

His comments below were lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

The reality: There’s the resistance, and I think fear of

technology approach — and apply the right framework

the unknown. Some people in the government, and

to the system that you’re dealing with. Use that

even some of the managers, might not really fully

approach to best understand how to go about making

understand tools like human-centered design, or they

the changes, innovations and strategic thinking.

might not really be interested in sitting around for a couple of hours of brainstorming. They have enough on their plates, and they just want to get back to work.

Explain the why: The why of change helps people understand why we do what we do and who that actually affects. And then maybe that helps us to be

How that fear is expressed: They might say this kind

more efficient. It helps us to be more efficient because

of thing doesn’t interest them. They don’t want to be

then we could cut out things that we’re doing that we

put on the spot and asked questions about the work

haven’t realized we’re doing unnecessarily.

they do. There are a lot of different reasons why people might be resistant. Maybe they feel like they’re being investigated to a certain degree, exposed for whatever work they’re doing or not doing. Some people may just feel like this is a waste of time. They ask questions like, “Why are we always trying to innovate and change things? Let’s just stick with what we’ve got.”

Job security concerns: Then there are concerns that if we shake things up, jobs might become obsolete. For example, if we introduce robotic process automation into our work processes, they’re worried that they won’t have a job.

The right tool for the job: There are tons of tools that you can use as needed to drive change, such as Lean Six Sigma or Agile. But know how to utilize the circumstances that you’re in, consider the work you do, consider the people involved — a people, process and

But, also, it provides more clarity and empowerment to the staff members. If you have a sense of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, it gives you a bit more ownership over your day-to-day work.

Talking points to cut through red tape Identify wrong thinking: I’m a cog in a machine, and as part of my job, I just hit this button every day. Reframe thinking: I hit this button and there’s a reason why I do it. I’m going to suggest to my boss that we hit this button in a different way because hitting it up here takes longer than if I hit it down here. Result: Now you’re participating in the strategic planning of the whole group by making that one suggestion and fully understanding your role. Be strategic: Be strategic about how you communicate and whom you’re communicating with. Set the stage ahead of time when sharing new ideas

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Sharing Project Responsibilities An interview with

Nikki Lee is a Product Manager at 18F. She helps state and federal government agencies build capacity for product management inside their organizations and sort out thorny technical problems.

We spoke with Lee about myths around sharing project responsibilities.

Her comments below were lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

The backstory: There’s this myth that government needs to outsource IT mainly because their staff is not capable of leading technology projects. And that results in program staff taking their hands off the steering wheel, and it forces the IT teams, who are often vendors, to figure it out with minimal input. This fear and uncertainty causes people to step away from important work that they ought to be doing.

Limiting belief: Nontechnical teams in government cannot successfully lead technology projects.

true team together. And you want to be in a place where you’re able to acknowledge that everybody on the team is holding a piece of the bigger picture. The only way that you can guarantee that you’ll be building the right thing is if you bring all of those perspectives together.

Understand the why: Your program staff, who is closest to the policy, is going to own the why of a project — the why is this project happening and what difference in the world it’s going to make. Your technical staff, who have deep expertise in building software, are going to own the how of the solution.

And then the place where you really meet in the middle and have 50/50 ownership is defining what it is that we’re going to build together.

More on that issue: Technologists like myself haven’t done a good enough job being inclusive in the way we talk about our work and in the way that we incorporate other people who maybe aren’t as familiar with building software. I put the onus on us as technologists to do a better job of showing that we can explain things in plain language and that there are areas where we need input from nontechnical collaborators.

Advice to cut through red tape

How limiting beliefs are communicated: You’ll hear people say everything ranging from “I can’t do IT” or “I don’t understand IT” all the way to a really direct “I don’t like technology, it’s not my area of expertise.”

And often people will extend that to their team at large and say, “Not only do I personally not feel comfortable with technology, but we as a group don’t have technology skills.”

For technical employees: The conversation needs to be about making our work accessible and making our work understandable and approachable to an audience that isn’t super confident and comfortable with technology. Continuously reinforce with your coworkers that you need input from program staff.

For nontechnical employees: Take more strategic ownership of your work. When you’re talking to technical staff, help them understand the mission and the program priorities as much as possible. Just like technical folks should be explaining things in plain language, they also need feedback from their nontechnical teammates. Remind yourself: Technology helps us achieve the mission, and so there’s no reason that we should be disconnected from technology projects that further our mission.

Know the warning signs: If you’re working in government and the only real contact you have with the vendor after an award is made is about documenting performance, I would say that’s a warning sign that you’re probably holding back and letting your discomfort guide your distance.

Know the goal: The ultimate thing that you want to be doing is having program staff and IT staff acting like a 4

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Industry Perspective

Building Your Agency’s Modernization Foundation An interview with David Cohn, Azure Red Hat OpenShift GTM Lead, Red Hat

Communicate Clearly on Open Source Software

Like houses built on sand, agencies cannot construct agility without the right foundation, or the structure will fall. Consequently, agencies need technology with two traits for true agility.

Open source software lets anyone examine, alter, use and share its source code for any purpose. Meant to boost collaboration, open source software also promotes more creativity and nimbleness.

• First, agencies cannot sacrifice security for innovation. Agencies handle sensitive information about citizens, so public-sector technology cannot skip security. Security incidents can cause many problems for agencies, including financial penalties, mission disruptions and citizen distrust.

Despite these benefits, open source software will not aid agencies that do not communicate effectively. To reap the best results from open source software, Cohn recommends agencies practice more internal and external collaboration.

• Second, agencies need agile technology for agile cultures. Rigid technology cannot shift gears easily, so agencies using it may remain stuck in neutral. Furthermore, agencies’ employees will not embrace technology that is not easily accessible and

“I see communication breakdowns as the biggest blocker to new technology in the government,” he said. “With agile, communication is key. You need to have a more open culture.”

understandable.

DevSecOps can multiply open source software’s power for agencies. This philosophy partners software development, IT operations and security to continuously deliver higherquality products and services.

“We’ve all been thrown into a faster level of innovation due to COVID-19,” said David Cohn, Azure Red Hat OpenShift GTM Lead at Red Hat. “How do you innovate faster? Agile is really the basis of the mindset.”

Keep Kubernetes in the Background

Cohn shared three best practices for obtaining more agility using technologies available to the public sector.

Kubernetes is a system for orchestrating containers, which are packages of software code applications used to run rapidly and reliably in any computing environment.

Using Kubernetes, agencies can deploy, manage and scale large amounts of applications automatically.

Avoid Cloud Vendor Lock-In Hybrid clouds mix public cloud services from external, third-party vendors and private, on-premises services agencies govern. This model gives agencies control over sensitive, internal data and reliable IT infrastructure maintained externally by a trusted partner.

“There’s something for everybody built on a foundation of Kubernetes,” Cohn said. “You’re giving your developers an easy-to-use platform.”

Hybrid clouds will not, however, benefit agencies with restrictive services. Cohn recommended agencies pick hybrid cloud vendors that provide the flexibility necessary for mission progress.

Automation is the secret to wielding Kubernetes well, Cohn said. Automation involves processes like container orchestration occurring with little to no human input.

Cohn suggested agencies implement Kubernetes, so the platform independently executes their container strategies enterprisewide.

“You start locking yourself into a very specific way that developer does things,” he said of cloud vendor lock-in.

“They only make money if you stay there. You want to be able to use these clouds however you want, especially in

“Kubernetes should melt below the surface,” he said.

“You don’t have to become a Kubernetes expert, but everyone should be using Kubernetes.”

government.”

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Next Steps Leading culture change is hard and enduring work. But it’s the type of meaningful and lasting work that allows you and your colleagues to get 1% better each day. Maybe you’re still trying to assess where you can make inroads and who you can bring along on this journey to have maximum impact.

Consider this resource a launching pad. We break down other approaches and insights around driving cultural change in our full guide, “Agency of the Future: Common Misconceptions Holding You Back and How to Break Free.” We explore what a modern government looks like and how you can reframe conversations and culture roadblocks in various areas, including hiring, budgeting, design and more.

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