58 min
From Columbia to Culture: Lessons in Organizational Change - Phil Rose talks to Dr Laura Gallaher Sparks by Ignium
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- Management
In this episode of Sparks by Ignium Phil Rose talks to Laura Gallaher about organisational psychology and its role in understanding and predicting behaviour in the workplace. They discuss the challenges of predicting behaviour in complex adaptive systems and the importance of leaders being open to introspection and self-awareness. They also talk about the Columbia shuttle accident and its impact on organisational culture at NASA, and the changes that were made to address these issues and enable the organisation to launch the next shuttle safely.
The episode explores the importance of understanding specific behaviours in organisational culture and the difficulty of getting clients to articulate them. They emphasized the need for a continued presence to ensure sustainable change and the importance of having a common purpose to inspire people to buy in. They also talked about the significance of storytelling and preserving history in organisations and society.
The episode also covers the concept of effective culture in organisations and how it can be achieved through the missing links culture model. They discussed the critical role of unity and communication in organisational change, and the importance of leaders staying humble, being vulnerable, and being open to feedback.
(Some of) The main points for listeners:
1. Understanding and Predicting Behaviour in Organisations
Phil Rose and Laura Gallaher explore the concept of organisational psychology and its focus on understanding, explaining, and predicting behaviour in the workplace. They discuss the challenges of predicting behaviour in complex adaptive systems and the importance of leaders being open to introspection and self-awareness.
2. The Columbia Shuttle Accident and Organisational Culture
Laura and Phil discuss the Columbia shuttle accident and its impact on organisational culture at NASA. They explain that the accident was caused by a psychology problem within the organisation, rather than an engineering problem. They also discuss how Dr Philip Mead led the culture change initiative at Kennedy Space Center following the accident.
3. Analysis of Organisational and Team Dynamics at NASA
They discuss the intrapersonal fears that prevented engineers from speaking up about concerns regarding the Challenger disaster. They also discuss the impact of hierarchy and retribution on psychological safety and the importance of changing organisational design and leader behaviours to create a more open environment.
* Organisational culture and its impact on behaviour
4. Importance of Specific Behaviours in Organisational Culture
The importance of understanding specific behaviours in organisational culture and the difficulty of getting clients to articulate them. They also discuss the need for a continued presence to ensure sustainable change and the importance of having a common purpose to inspire people to buy in. The speakers also touch on the issue of safety in mission-critical businesses and the importance of keeping safety as the number one priority.
* The role of storytelling in preserving and shaping culture
5. The Importance of Storytelling and Preserving History
Laura and Phil share their personal experiences of visiting the 9-11 memorial and how it brought the story alive for them. They discuss the importance of experiencing the story multiple times to truly understand and reflect on it. They also highlight the risk of the story degrading if it's not told the right way or passed down through Chinese whispers.
6. The Importance of Effective Culture in Organisations
The speakers delve into the missing links culture model and how it can help organisations achieve effective culture traits such as maturity, diversity, community, and unity. They discuss the importance of self-acceptance, self-awareness, and self-accountability in achieving maturity, and how diversity of thought and respect for differences are key to achieving diversity in an organ
In this episode of Sparks by Ignium Phil Rose talks to Laura Gallaher about organisational psychology and its role in understanding and predicting behaviour in the workplace. They discuss the challenges of predicting behaviour in complex adaptive systems and the importance of leaders being open to introspection and self-awareness. They also talk about the Columbia shuttle accident and its impact on organisational culture at NASA, and the changes that were made to address these issues and enable the organisation to launch the next shuttle safely.
The episode explores the importance of understanding specific behaviours in organisational culture and the difficulty of getting clients to articulate them. They emphasized the need for a continued presence to ensure sustainable change and the importance of having a common purpose to inspire people to buy in. They also talked about the significance of storytelling and preserving history in organisations and society.
The episode also covers the concept of effective culture in organisations and how it can be achieved through the missing links culture model. They discussed the critical role of unity and communication in organisational change, and the importance of leaders staying humble, being vulnerable, and being open to feedback.
(Some of) The main points for listeners:
1. Understanding and Predicting Behaviour in Organisations
Phil Rose and Laura Gallaher explore the concept of organisational psychology and its focus on understanding, explaining, and predicting behaviour in the workplace. They discuss the challenges of predicting behaviour in complex adaptive systems and the importance of leaders being open to introspection and self-awareness.
2. The Columbia Shuttle Accident and Organisational Culture
Laura and Phil discuss the Columbia shuttle accident and its impact on organisational culture at NASA. They explain that the accident was caused by a psychology problem within the organisation, rather than an engineering problem. They also discuss how Dr Philip Mead led the culture change initiative at Kennedy Space Center following the accident.
3. Analysis of Organisational and Team Dynamics at NASA
They discuss the intrapersonal fears that prevented engineers from speaking up about concerns regarding the Challenger disaster. They also discuss the impact of hierarchy and retribution on psychological safety and the importance of changing organisational design and leader behaviours to create a more open environment.
* Organisational culture and its impact on behaviour
4. Importance of Specific Behaviours in Organisational Culture
The importance of understanding specific behaviours in organisational culture and the difficulty of getting clients to articulate them. They also discuss the need for a continued presence to ensure sustainable change and the importance of having a common purpose to inspire people to buy in. The speakers also touch on the issue of safety in mission-critical businesses and the importance of keeping safety as the number one priority.
* The role of storytelling in preserving and shaping culture
5. The Importance of Storytelling and Preserving History
Laura and Phil share their personal experiences of visiting the 9-11 memorial and how it brought the story alive for them. They discuss the importance of experiencing the story multiple times to truly understand and reflect on it. They also highlight the risk of the story degrading if it's not told the right way or passed down through Chinese whispers.
6. The Importance of Effective Culture in Organisations
The speakers delve into the missing links culture model and how it can help organisations achieve effective culture traits such as maturity, diversity, community, and unity. They discuss the importance of self-acceptance, self-awareness, and self-accountability in achieving maturity, and how diversity of thought and respect for differences are key to achieving diversity in an organ
58 min