Successful Culture Change Examples

This page outlines three case studies of New Futures' culture-change related interventions:

• Strengthening customer focus in a large hotel
• Kick-starting a focus on values in a leading international school
• Values leading to more positive behaviours in a NSW government agency.

For a testimonial from the Secretary of the Tasmanian Treasury, Don Challen, about New Futures' director Don Dunoon 's assistance with that organisation's efforts towards deep-reaching change, click here.

Strengthening customer focus in a large hotel

Don Dunoon worked with the CEO and executive team of a major Sydney hotel to successfully transform its culture over 9 months. The project involved action learning groups with staff throughout the hotel investigating such topics as how the hotel might position itself in the Sydney market, how corporate and other clients perceived the hotel, internal communications, and training and development needs. A diagonal slice of staff were involved in a process of clarifying a shared vision and values, and mangers participated in team leadership training. Feedback from corporate clients interviewed by hotel management several months later revealed strikingly more positive perceptions of service quality at the hotel.

Kick-starting a focus on values in a leading international school

In 2003 Don Dunoon conducted a series of leadership and school development workshops involving the teaching staff and executives of an international school in South-East Asia. A particular theme of the workshops was vision and values for the school. On completion of the workshops, the school's principal, commented:

"I've been in teaching a long time and this was one of the best - if not the best - professional development programs I've participated in."

Twelve months later (September 2004) the principal observed in an email to Don Dunoon:

"You can rightly claim to have been the catalyst for this process of organisational introspection and development.  Our staff survey results have shown a good improvement in organisational health compared to 12 months ago, so we must be heading in the right direction."

Clarifying values leading to more positive behaviours in a NSW government agency

In 1996 Don Dunoon worked with the executive team of a NSW government agency in a series of sessions over 4 months to develop a greater organisational focus on values. These sessions included analysis of (then) problematic behaviours and the drivers reinforcing those behaviours, clarification of a set of preferred values, and identification of strategies for embedding the desired values as the basis for the way people did business. The executive team also practiced skills in discussing complex and difficult issues in ways that modeled greater openness. Following these sessions a staff consultative committee led a series of sessions with staff to gain feedback on the draft values and suggest modifications. Subsequently, the executive signed off on a modified set of behaviours.

Seven years on, in 2003, Don Dunoon was advised by the agency that the values were still proving highly effective in guiding behaviour in the organisation.

<< Culture Coach Model