Managing the cultural environment should be an ongoing goal in every organization. Leaders should keep a constant lookout for ways to change and improve the entire working environment. The needs of individuals and the entire organization change over time for a variety of reasons, and leaders need to recognize and respond appropriately. Sometimes there are external forces that cause internal discomfort or fear, such as the economy has done over the last few years. Some companies then and now put their heads down and blindly move on, hoping to tough out the pain. That’s almost never the right response, and I saw a story, seemingly unrelated, that contains a lesson for us here.
I was intrigued to read of a new treatment for burn patients that has shown dramatic results in reducing the pain of their treatments. Victims need grafts, debriding and other procedures that cause excruciating pain that drugs can never fully alleviate. Now they can use a virtual reality game called SnowWorld in which the patient dons a VR helmet and with the help of a mouse can navigate through a snowy world of icy canyons and mountains. They can throw snowballs at the various creatures they encounter, from mammoths to penguins, and become so immersed in their new virtual world that the pain of their wounds and their treatments are minimized to an astounding degree. Physically they feel better overall, and the worse they felt initially, the better they got.
I became excited at all the ideas I began to have as I read this. Most of all, it’s that if you can change the environment, the culture, you can improve individual attitudes. Attitude influences a person’s belief at work, which in turn influences their behavior. And of course, it’s behavior that determines results. The VR helmets changed patients’ perspective and consequently they felt better in spite of their wounds and they began to heal. In the workplace, employees may feel virtually wounded and hurting due to a variety of reasons. The entire work environment may be wounded! We can alleviate those issues by changing not the virtual, but the actual reality of the workplace. Improve the culture, improve the performance.
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