Changing the Climate
Organisation climate is ‘what it’s like to work here’. Climate is a wonderful metaphor because just like geographic climate. Geographic climate can be spoken of in absolute terms like temperature, average wind, rainfall and so on. Climate can also be spoken of in subjective terms - how certain people ‘feel’ about the climate. Some might think it too hot while others say ‘just right’ or ‘too cool for me’. People perceive climate differently according to their comfort levels. Some people can become ‘acclimatised’ over time, but not ALL people. Some people may be able to acclimatise to higher temperatures while others can adjust to different humidity. People are different in their climate adaptability.
In the same way, an organisation with known and measurable organisation climate components will seem comfortable to some and not to others. Furthermore, some people will be able to acclimatise and some won’t.
The interest in climate is that people tend to work better within certain climate ranges under certain conditions. Unfortunately, climate is usually an accident - a result of all the decisions and actions by people in the past. Climate is rarely measured and even more rarely understood. And yet there can be no doubt that climate management would be a unique strategic advantage.
Who will benefit from Changing the Climate
Any organisation that currently does not monitor and ‘tweak’ its climate. People within any organisation that does not attend to its internal climate.
Outcomes of Changing the Organisation Climate
Delegates will gain:
- better understanding of urgency for climate control
- understanding of how communication quality & type matters
- awareness of things that climate influences
- awareness of things that influence climate
- understanding of difficulties of climate measurement
- understanding of difficulties of climate change
- systems thinking and climate
- ideas for integrating climate with other systems
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