On April 8, Dr. Rose Razaghian, Dean of Academic Planning and Governance in Columbia University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, shared her insightful and practical perspectives on culture and change with Dr. Edna Chun’s Introduction to Human Capital Management class.
She described culture as powerful since it is part of the organization’s identity and can shape behavior. Using the analogy of puzzle pieces, she shared key factors in positive cultural change including: leadership support; a solid and shared foundation of facts; teams and a network of people at different levels and in different roles across the organization; organizational infrastructure around the objectives; ensuring non-punitive approaches; integrating change into existing processes; and continually re-assessing progress. Integrating change into existing processes ensures that change is built into what the organization is already doing successfully.
Long-term change requires deep commitment and planning while keeping the goals of the change initiative in the forefront with concrete timelines and assessment. Investment in data gathering and analysis is crucial in holding concrete conversations about goals and customizing the change initiative to specific needs within an organization. Crucially, an annual strategic plan that allows for the evaluation of approaches and opportunities will enable reconfirmation of goals in an iterative change process. Dean Razaghian then described the implementation of these key factors in the DEI initiative underway in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any other person or entity.
