Introducing UGR®s

Many years ago, as a consultant working with various organisations, I was confronted with a conundrum.

I could feel important aspects of a company’s culture soon after I entered it.

In one company I could feel ‘positive vibes’ in the air, in another there was an element of tension, and in another you could cut the air with a knife!

However, for a long time I failed to understand what culture really meant, and didn’t know what could be done to improve it.
This remained the case until I came across a definition of culture that was powerful in its simplicity - culture was referred to as ‘this is the way we do things around here’.

This simple notion of organisational culture led me to the generation of a new concept that enables people to understand culture in simple and practical terms.

More importantly, this concept brings with it a range of associated strategies that enable the culture to be improved.

UGR’s are people’s perception of ‘this is the way we do things around here’.

Examples of UGR®’s in one company I worked with include:

• At our meetings it isn’t worth complaining because nothing will get done.
• The only time anyone gets spoken to by the boss is when something is wrong.
• People talk about good customer service, but we know they don’t really mean it, so we don’t really have to worry about it.
• Our funniest jokes usually involve making jokes about our work colleagues.
• We go through the motions with our bosses, once they’ve gone we do what we want.

The remarkable thing about UGR®’s is that they dictate our behaviour yet they are rarely talked about.
And yet, I believe there is nothing more important in an organisation than its UGR®’s.

The power of UGR®’s

Example 1:
A manager consistently says to her staff ‘I’ve got an open door policy - any time you have a problem, please feel free to share it with me’.
Yet two weeks ago, or two months ago, or two years ago, someone took her up on that offer and they were severely rebuked for doing so.
The UGR® then locks in - ‘Around here, the boss says she wants feedback, but we know she only wants feedback that is positive’.

Example 2:
A supervisor proclaims that he is very keen to keep communication channels open and everything will be shared.
Yet every time the supervisor meets with a manager, the meeting is held behind closed doors.
The UGR® locks in - ‘Around here, communication is open so long as it suits the supervisor’.

Example 3:
A work team is characterised by its productivity, positive attitude and desire to have fun at work.
There is open laughter and camaraderie.
A new staff member joins the team and is welcomed warmly.
At the first staff meeting, the new staff member suggests a change to operating procedures.
This creates a tremendous amount of nervousness among the group, eyes glance nervously around the room, and one person mumbles, ‘Oh, I don’t think that would be the way to go’.

The meeting quickly moves on to the next agenda item.
The UGR®?
‘Around here, never rock the boat, despite the apparent friendliness of the group’.

Some research into UGR®’s

As part of a presentation I made at a recent World Conference on Customer Service Management, I asked the audience to provide a written response to a ‘complete the sentence’ in terms of how their staff would respond if asked to do so anonymously and honestly.

The ‘lead in sentence’ was ‘Around here, customers are…’

It could be argued that this audience came from organisations that would be more customers focused than most - after all, they had elected to attend the conference and learn more about the management of customer service.

The responses however showed that the orientation of most organisations was less than positive.

In analysing the responses from this audience, I classified responses into three broad groups, being:

• Positive (i.e. demonstrated a genuine commitment to customers)
• Neither positive nor negative (i.e. unable to decipher the orientation to the customer)
• Negative (i.e. demonstrated a view of the customer that would be damaging if the customer became aware of it)

Negative responses included, ‘Around here, customers are’:

• Considered intrusive
• Demanding. They want what they want, when they want it, and have no regard for what this means for me
• An opportunity to make my sales targets
• Uninformed and stupid
• An interruption to a working day
• Second to the sale needs and not really considered
• A necessary evil
• Official statement - around here customers are the base of our company.
• Unofficial statement - around here customers get in the way of great ideas
• Patient

The real issue here is not so much the negative UGR®’s, but whether management in these organisations has their collective and individual fingers on the UGR®’s pulse.

Are they aware that at least some of their people are driven by UGR®’s that are counter-productive to good business?

In my experience I have found that more often than not, managers are very surprised to learn of negative UGR®’s driving their work teams.

Using UGR®’s to change culture

We have worked with a umber of organisations to help them boost their service culture using UGR®’s.

Over the years, I have found that four key change elements are required for successful cultural change by applying the UGR®’s concept.

These are as follows:

Element 1:

Creation of an awareness of UGR®’s

A crucial component of cultural change which is most often overlooked, involves providing all people with an understanding of culture.

If individuals do not understand how their personal behaviours contribute to, conform with, or work against the existing culture, there is little chance of changing the culture.

This understanding can be achieved by giving people an awareness of UGR®’s.

Element 2:

Undertaking a ‘UGR®’s stock take’

This involves acquiring an understanding of the current culture through collecting prevailing UGR®’s.

It can be done by getting people to ‘complete the sentence’ to key lead-in sentences, such as ‘Around here, when customers complain…’.

Element 3:

Creation of positive UGR®’s

This involves getting people involved in creating a culture that they would like to characterise their team or organisation.

To do this, people can think about the positive UGR®’s that they would most like to prevail.

I have done this with numerous organisations by getting people to complete the sentence:

‘Around here….’

I encourage people to write their positive UGR®’s as though they already exist.

These positive UGR®’s can be analysed and synthesised with the outcome being a concise list of positive UGR®’s to which people in the organisation wish to aspire.

These can be the force that drives individuals and teams into the future.

Element 4:

Embedding the prioritised positive UGR®’s.

Sustaining people’s attention on positive UGR®’s is the most challenging component of cultural change.

A variety of strategies will need to be deployed to make it clear that the corporation is serious about working towards positive UGR®’s.

Conclusion

Many managers have recognised that culture is the key aspect of their leadership, but because of a variety of factors, they have felt powerless to change it in any substantial way.

Most academic and business texts talk of culture in such complex ways that it is not surprising that managers feel a sense of impotence when it comes to identifying practical strategies that will make a positive impact on their culture.

In the knowledge that a team’s culture is not a complex, academic or theoretical concept, groups can now work on their culture in a direct, positive and productive way.

Through the using the UGR®’s concept, there are now some wonderful opportunities for organisations to profit - in the broadest sense - from a dramatically improved culture.

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Steve Simpson, CSP is an author and international speaker who heads up Keystone Management Services based in Australia.

He specialises in two broad areas – creating a service ethic, and helping organisations boost their culture through the globally acclaimed UGRs (Unwritten Ground Rules) concept.

He has spoken at two World Conferences on Customer Service Management in the US, and at the European Conference on Customer Management in London.

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