the people who worked in the department with very much dignity or respect. To make matters worse, to run the daily maintenance operations he hired a person who had the same style of management as he had. This was a very difficult time in my career. I could not transfer and chose not to leave, but I also decided that I would continue to function as I had in the past using those who trained me as my role models. This dilemma is similar to the one described in the previous section except I was not being asked to change and model a better behavior. In choosing to reject the role model of my manager, I often got into difficulty. Fortunately for me, the individual he hired was promoted to another plant and the manager retired shortly thereafter.
What I learned is that not everyone is a positive role model. We are often presented with what I will refer to as “good bad examples.” These are people who we can look at and say “here is someone who I do not wish to act like.” If you examine why you feel this way and adopt behaviors that are opposite and more in line with how you feel you should behave, then they will have done you a great service. They will have shown you a model that you will choose to reject for a more positive (and opposite) behavior.
5.6 Role Models Are Created NOT Born
Thus far we have assumed that our role models are proactively focused, the ones who will support the change in culture from one that is reactive to one that is proactive and reliability-focused. However, what if discover that the predominant role models throughout the organization are not those who support change, but instead those who support the status quo? An even more challenging scenario: What if proactive role models don’t exist at all in the organization? This is not an unrealistic expectation. Those who advocate proactive maintenance don’t survive long in a reactive work culture where success is viewed as being the best “fire fighter” you can be.
Figure 5-3, which illustrates a reinforcing loop explains the problem faced by most reactive work cultures when it comes to developing role models who support a different type of work culture. In block 1, things break. Equipment breaks down and production is interrupted. Maintenance responds in block 2, making the quick fix and returning the equipment to service. In this environment, the fix is not reliability-based; there is no time to discover what really went wrong so that action could be taken to prevent reoccurrence in the future. As a result of this type of work culture, those who made the quick fix are praised for “saving the day” and rewarded accordingly – block 3. This behavior is often a driving force for promotion. Block 4 has the balance of the people in the organization looking for someone to emulate. They are looking for someone who represents success and shows how things need to get done around here. So who do they copy? Not the preventive maintenance foreman (if one exists) because they are not the ones who get the rewards. Instead they copy our “fire fighter” and, in block 5, the existing culture is reinforced. Therefore, when things break the cycle is once again repeated.
Figure 5-3 Example – reactive culture reinforced
Figure 5-4 Example – proactive culture reinforced
The question that needs to be answered is how do you create new role models so that the organization will emulate a different behavioral style? You must change the organization’s focus by breaking the reinforcing loop. Figure 5-4 shows that changing the second block (how the organization views and makes repairs) breaks the cycle. If you can alter how things are repaired, then rewards will be given to those who fit the new model (block 3). People will see a different definition of success and emulate it (block 4) and when things break in block 5 the organization will respond in a different manner. Therefore, role models are created, not born. You identify the behavior you want the organization to model, then place people who exhibit that behavior into jobs of importance where they can visibly demonstrate the behavior you seek and, as a result, be copied.
Figure 5-5 Cultural behavior vs. role model behavior
An important point that needs to be recognized is that the site leadership must want to make this change. Although a new culture can spring up in one that has a different focus, it will not live a very long time. The predominant model and the supporting culture will extinguish it before it has a chance to thrive.
But what if the leadership does want to make the change? In this case, the existing role models will be given a different set of expectations. They will either comply or, over time, be replaced. The other alternative, one which is used more frequently than the former, is to bring in from outside the organization people who exhibit the new cultural behavior. They remove the old role models who can not adapt to the new way of working; they promote those who have adapted. The organization then sees these new managers as successful and, in the true definition of role models, emulates them.
5.7 How Role Models Can Change a Culture
Role models are a critical part of an organization’s culture for several reasons. First, people need examples of how the organization expects them to behave in their jobs and within the larger context of the organization. Second, people want to see what success looks like so that they can model their behavior and achieve success in their own careers. Third, people also want to see the “good – bad examples” which depict clearly what the organization does not want to see in its employees. The first two reasons are positive and the third negative, but each has its place in the value of role models in the business
Roles models are needed because they are an essential and initial step in the change process. Figure 5-5 shows how role models fit and interact to help support cultural change. In this quad diagram, role models are portrayed on the y-axis as either reactive or proactive. The x-axis shows the organization’s cultural behavior, also reactive or proactive. Note that role models can and do work in both roles at different times, dependent on the status of the change initiative. The line starting in block 1 and running through blocks 3, block 2 and ending in block 4 shows how role models introduce and bring about change in a company.
Block 1 represents the current condition or baseline that is encountered when a role model is brought into a company. Usually the existing role models have a reactive focus and, as a result, so does the culture. Invariably the new role models recognize that change is needed; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been hired in the first place. They next progress to block 3 (a proactive role model in a reactive culture) where they implement a change that supports their new model for doing work.
Initially a single initiative is all that is needed. We are not trying to “build Rome in one day.” We are, however, trying to initiate long-lasting change and that must start slowly. For example, role models may mandate that a preventive maintenance program be established and not permit deviation from the schedule. Through their own behavior and through setting expectations for the organization, the role models provide guidance in how they expect work to be conducted. They do not pull the PM crews for reactive work, no matter what is happening in the plant. Furthermore, they praise those who have done the PM more then those who fight the fires.
