Alliance for Nonprofit Management
2013 National Conference
Breakfast Roundtable
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Creating a Compelling Culture
Content Developed by:
Jule E. Miller, Vice President, Human Resources
American Pharmacists Association (APhA)
2215 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20037-2985
800-237-APhA (2742)
www.pharmacist.com
[email protected]
Denise McNerney, President & CEO
iBossWell, Inc.
4200 Somerset, Suite 243
Prairie Village, KS 66208
913-980-3122
www.ibosswell.com
[email protected]
Session Leader:
Denise McNerney
Agenda
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Defining organizational culture
Measuring organizational culture
Changing Organizational Culture: Case Presentation APhA
o APhA’s Culture Measures: 2008- 2012
o Identifying areas for focus
o Planning for and effecting change
 Leadership Engagement
 Aligning Strategy, Tactics and Organizational Culture
 Explicit focus on Culture:
o Worklife Enhancement Committee (WEC)
 Strategic Planning Process
 Performance Management/Support
 Organization-wide training
 Leadership development
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Defining Organizational Culture
Organizational Culture – Essentially, the personality of the organization. The organizational
culture is comprised of the values, assumptions, norms and beliefs of the collective
organization and is manifested in its behaviors. This is particularly seen in the behavior of
leadership and in both official organizational policies and practices, as well as certain unofficial
behaviors. Tied into the organizational culture is the impact and behaviors of individuals
within the organization. Having the full picture perspective also includes understanding your
own impact and motivations as well as the impact and motivations of your colleagues: their
thoughts, opinions, experiences and influence. 1
Measuring Organizational Culture
Many sources available – for example:
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Denison Organizational Culture Survey
o http://www.denisonconsulting.com/model-surveys/denisonsurveys/organizational-culture

The Leadership Circle- Leadership Culture Survey™ o http://www.theleadershipcircle.com/assessment-tools/survey
Denison says:
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Your culture data should do several things:
1) serve as a vehicle to start some ‘honest’ conversations in the organization that 2)
generate thoughtful actions that 3) result in greater clarity, alignment and performance
1
McNerney, Denise & Rolston, Lynn. The PeoplePACT: Achieving Exemplary Performance through Humane Leadership.
Leathers Publishing. 2007.
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Changing Organizational Culture: Case Presentation APhA
The American Pharmacists Association has been using the Denison Culture Survey for assessing
their organizational culture status.
What does the Denison profile depict?
Four predictive culture traits
 Adaptability: translating the demands of the business environment into action
o Creating Change
o Customer Focus
o Organizational Learning
 Mission: defining a long-term direction for the organization
o Strategic Direction & Intent
o Goals & Objectives
o Vision
 Involvement: building human capability, ownership and responsibility
o Empowerment
o Team Orientation
o Capability Development
 Consistency: defining the values and organization’s systems that are the basis of a
strong culture
o Core Values
o Agreement
o Coordination & Integration
How are scores displayed?
 Profile shows scores in quartiles that compare an organization’s score with the higherand lower-performing organizations
 Third and fourth quartile scores are generally found in higher-performing organizations.
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APhA’s Culture Measures: 2008- 2012
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APhA Case Presentation continued: What did they do?
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Identifying areas for focus
o Maximizing survey results + organizational understanding to identify areas to focus
improvement

Planning for and effecting change
o Leadership Engagement
o Aligning Strategy, Tactics and Organizational Culture
The model of the Concentric Circles of Excellence illustrates how the organizational culture
must be in alignment with vision and tactics to assure optimizing the achievement of execution
of those strategies and tactics, and ultimately long-term sustainability and success. Making
the PACT is one of the ultimate tools to creating and enhancing this alignment.
 Vision encompasses the compelling vision and the high level key strategies/goals and
desired outcomes for success.
 Tactics define the specific steps required to achieve your vision and goals.
 Organizational culture is the environment in which people operate; it is the official and
unofficial “way we do things” and way we treat each other. It is woven with the
collective core values of the organization.
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APhA Case Presentation continued: What did they do?

Explicit focus on Culture:
o Worklife Enhancement Committee (WEC)
Purpose:
Advance the APhA workplace environment and organizational culture to one
that consistently reflects our core values and promotes high employee satisfaction and
performance.

Strategic Planning Process

Performance Management/Support

Organization-wide training

Leadership development
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Attachment A
APhA
Worklife Enhancement Committee
Charge
Purpose:
Advance the APhA workplace environment and organizational culture to one that consistently
reflects our core values and promotes high employee satisfaction and performance.
Committee Rules of Engagement
 Acknowledge/review Core Values, Mission Statement, and Committee Purpose and Role at every
meeting
 Encourage discussion of diverse opinions
 All opinions are expected/respected
 Handle disagreements in a respectful manner
 Encourage all team members to voice opinion
 Do not feel pressured to agree with the whole
 Keep an open mind and do not be afraid to come out of your comfort zone
 Listen for understanding
 Support constructive group discussion
 Let the other person finish their thought before formulating your own response
 Do not interrupt
 Be a mindful team participant
 Are you contributing to the effort?
 Are you allowing/encouraging others to contribute?
 Be a team player
 Support group’s final decision (both in the meetings and outside the meetings)
 Maintain confidentiality regarding committee discussions, decisions, and documents as agreed upon
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Roles
As a Committee
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Establish company-wide knowledge of Core Values
Make recommendations to management regarding improving the workplace
Foster teamwork across all levels
Define and determine APhA staff needs as it relates to education workshops
As Individual Members
 Be the voice/representative/advocate of department/assigned group
 Share and reinforce committee messages at staff meetings
 Objectively gather feedback/input and bring back to committee
 Maintain a solid “presence” of the committee with your group
 WEC members role model a positive and constructive approach to addressing WEC issues and
concerns at all times.
 Actively support/participate in the efforts of WEC and follow-through on commitments to agreed upon
actions.
 Attend all WEC meetings and provide support and feedback by initiating, participating, and facilitating
all initiatives of the committee as appropriate.
 If a member does not attend 3 or more meetings in a 12 month time period, they will be asked to
step down. (An extension of leniency may be extended if deemed acceptable by the committee –
due to extenuating circumstances resulting in that member’s absences.)
 Actively listen to co-workers outside of immediate department
Highest Measure of Success
 Further improve overall results of culture survey by 2011, with specific improvement over 2010 results
in Capability Development and Core Values areas.
 2012 and beyond: continued improvement, measuring above 75th percentile in results on culture and
employee satisfaction surveys (revisit after 1/1/13)
Membership Selection:
Membership Composition:
 Overall membership will be composed of a diverse representation of the APhA workforce,
including: ethnicity, gender, department, level of seniority, and length of employment at APhA.
 Each division will have members on the committee serving as the representative(s) for both their
division/department(s), as well as for the general workforce. Members will have clearly assigned
Division/Department(s) for their specific representative role.
 Total membership of 16.
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Membership Selection Process:
Original membership was based on a pool of volunteer and/or selected employees whose final
selection for participation was determined by management. Moving forward, the following
describes how new members will be selected. This process is intended to ensure the committee
maintains the overall diversity needed to provide wide representation of the workforce, as well as
highly engaged members in full support of the committee charge.
 Members will serve a 2 year term.
o Original members still active as of 1/1/2011, will be surveyed to state their
preference to (1) resign, (2) serve 1 more year, (3) serve 2 more years. Those
members desiring to continue serving must have approval to do so by the WEC
sponsors and the member’s manager. Then, a random drawing will take place if the
distribution is not so to provide approximately 50/50 for 1 year/2 years.
 When there is a position opening, the committee leads will issue a call for volunteers
through the VP of the department(s) with the opening.
 If a member takes a leave of absence greater than 2 months, their VP and WEC Sponsors
will determine if an alternate will be assigned, or if the member should step down from the
committee temporarily/permanently.
 The VP and WEC Sponsors will make the final determination of the employee selected to
serve as the WEC member, taking into consideration the fit of the candidate (individually
and collectively) relative to the qualifications defined in this policy.
 The successful candidate will be notified by the WEC leaders and an orientation will take
place within 1 month of selection.
 All members will sign the Committee charge, policy and practice document as a
commitment to their role and responsibilities upon joining, as well as annually.
 All members/member candidates must be an employee in good standing with APhA.
 Individual committee members may serve a second 2-year term with approval of the WEC
sponsors, co-leaders and the member’s manager.
Membership Termination:
 Members may identify to the WEC co-leaders, any member who does not uphold the roles,
responsibilities, and level of participation with the WEC and/or sub-committees. Co-leaders will
discuss with the member their continued membership, as appropriate. If problems continue, the
Co-leaders will review with WEC sponsors to determine if discontinuation of membership is in
order. WEC Sponsors will determine who will discuss next steps with member.
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WEC Leadership
Leadership Selection:
 WEC leadership will remain a co-leadership format, with on co-leader being from the MT, and
the second co-leader a non-MT associate. Co-leader candidates do not have to have previously
served on the WEC. They will serve two-year terms that expire on alternate years for each coleader.
 The CEO will designate the MT co-leader. The second co-leader will be elected by committee
members from a pool of self-volunteered members.
o For the initial 1/1/11 transition, one or both of the current co-leaders can remain in place
for 2011 with approval to do so by the WEC sponsors and the co-leaders’ managers.
 The CEO and VP of HR will serve in a sponsorship and advisory capacity and oversight to the coleaders and the WEC.
 Leaders/Leader candidates must be an employee in good standing with APhA.
 Sub-committee leaders can be assigned to specific efforts as needed and agreed to by the WEC.
They will be held accountable for the successful implementation of their project/subcommittee.
WEC Co-leader Role:
 It is the role of the co-leaders to ensure the WEC continues to meet its purpose and carry out
their role.
 The co-leaders will serve as the communication conduit between leadership and the WEC,
reporting regularly to the leadership team, and collaborating with them as appropriate to
develop and implement WEC initiatives.
 The MT co-leader will provide the administrative support to the team through their own
departmental resources, including meeting scheduling, agenda management, minutes, etc.
WEC Co-leader Termination:
In the case where the co-leader(s) is not effectively fulfilling their role/responsibilities, the WEC
Sponsors will discuss with them, and determine steps for improvement and/or discontinuation of their
leadership role. This also holds true for WEC sub-committee leaders.
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