Overview
The Detroit Water & Sewage Department had an organizational
challenge. To meet regulatory guidelines, they had to upgrade
equipment and procedures. Before that, though, upper management
realized cultural changes had to occur within the organization.
To help implement those changes, and train the 2,500 employees,
they turned to the experts at Project Innovations.
Though non-management employees embraced the concepts presented,
there was resistance from skeptics in middle management. The
involvement of Managers and Supervisors at DWSD was critical to
the success of the cultural change, so Project Innovations
implemented a program designed specifically to get these people
on board.
"We created a multiple-day training program for Managers and
Supervisors called Values in Action," said Senior Facilitator,
Ken Pool.
Values In Action was designed around the seven cultural change values
that were identified. Then, a day of training was dedicated to
each value. Management development tools, techniques and ideas provided
a better understanding of that value and its benefits.
Speakers within the organization address the groups and, at the same
time, participants create professional goals.
"The breakthrough," says Pool, "was furnishing individual
coaching, a technique we had implemented in leadership and professional
development coaching with great success."
This personal approach in conjunction with group sessions helped Values
In Action exceed the expectations of DWSD senior management.
Outcomes
| • |
Better understand the established seven
cultural change values and their personal and organizational benefits |
| • |
Acquire models, tools, and techniques to better
manage others (keeping the values in mind) with less stress for all |
| • |
Accomplish a personal 'professional' goal by
the end of the program |
|
|
Program Length: Seven one-day sessions over a fourteen-week period
The survey results after the sessions revealed the following:
| • |
97% of participants thought the
instructors, coaches and speakers were extremely effective |
| • |
95% of participants thought the
content was extremely valuable to them |
|
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"If you can acknowledge the irrational and let
it influence, not control, your decisions, you will increase
your chance of success." - Charlie Fleetham
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