5 Conversations About Culture That People Managers Must Have With Their Team with Shane M Hatton

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There’s no getting around it.  These days any convo about leading and managing organisational change is also a conversation about organisational culture.  

Culture is the unavoidable element change leaders must keep in mind these days (no matter how simple or technical the change program).

Organisational culture is such a hot topic at the moment, isn’t it? But, when it comes to improving organisational culture, it can be tricky to distil concepts into genuinely useful how-to frameworks, and practical road maps.

That’s why I’m excited to have Shane Michael Hatton on the podcast today. Shane is an author, trainer, coach and speaker based in Melbourne. He is a member of the Forbes Global Coaches Council, a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and the author of two books. Shane’s most recent book is called Let’s Talk Culture, and that's exactly what we did in this conversation!

In this conversation, Shane shares an absolute gold mine of practical tips for those interested in improving their organisational culture.

You’ll discover:

  • the most useful definition of culture I’ve heard from anyone;

  • why the culture set by the leadership team often doesn’t flow down to the rest of the organisation;

  • who’s actually responsible for culture;

  • how to move middle managers from cultural ‘renters’ to ‘owners’; and 

  • five very specific conversations people managers must have with their teams to improve culture.

This conversation is packed with so many great takeaways and practical tools - I know you are going to love it.

Take a listen now!


TOPICS DISCUSSED AND WHERE TO FIND THEM:
[3:04]: I welcome Shane to the podcast, and commence with how Shane defines the idea of culture.
[4:12]: Most of the time, organisation culture refers to behavioural norms within an organisation.
[4:52]: Why should we think about influencing and changing culture? Very few team leaders feel that the culture is how they want it to be. Culture plays a role in the overall success of a company.
[7:03]: Most people don’t know what culture is. Shane has reviewed the definitions of culture and identified four key themes and levers:
[7:58]: #1 Culture is always collective. Where we have people we have culture.
[8:18]: #2: There are aspects of it that are unseen - beliefs, values, meaning, assumptions.
[8:28]: #3 Culture has observable behaviours.
[8:40]: Culture has a social learning component to it.
[9:13]: In large, public sector organisations have a clear vision for culture and set the overarching idea. However, it doesn’t seem to flow down the organisation in that way. Shane shares his experience with this in his work.
[11:11]: If the middle of the organisation doesn’t take personal responsibility and ownership for the culture, the culture will not be the aspiration for the business, it will be the average of the business.
[13:15]: What can organisations do to help middle managers feel confident and take personal responsibility to be culture leaders?
[14:20]: Shane reflects on what it looks like to have cultural leaders that are cultural owners, as opposed to cultural renters. Often senior leaders are hesitant to hand responsibility or empower middle managers to lead culture.
[16:20]: For people managers, how do they bring the idea of culture to the forefront of their team? Very few people feel confident to do this - it’s very normal to feel this way.
[17:14]: Shane shares five very quick conversations to kickstart cultural leadership:
#1: Have a team-based conversation about expectations.
#2: Clarify what those expectations look like day-to-day.
#3: Clarify the communication that is needed.
#4 Determine what behaviours will be confronted when cultural inconsistencies are identified.
#5 How are good behaviours that create excellent culture rewarded?
[20:41]: Shane clarifies how those conversations should happen whether individually or team-based and how you can start having them.
[22:10]: Shane shares how we can get in touch with him.

CONNECT WITH SHANE M HATTON:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanemhatton/

Website: https://www.shanemhatton.com

Shane’s Let’s Talk Culture book: https://shanemhatton.com/letstalkculture/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shanemhatton 

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/shanemhatton

CONNECT WITH KATE:

Website: https://www.everchange.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ever-change-and-communication

Kate Byrne