OGL 220

Module 6: Influence, Organizational Culture, and

Performance-Related Behaviors: Diagnosis and
Intervention Worksheet
Question 1
Consider past experiences when you have had to exercise your influence. Briefly
describe an incident in which you were ineffective at influencing your desired outcome.
Why were you unsuccessful? What approach(es) did you use? What alternative tools
might you have employed?
Your Answer:
An experience where I had to exercise my influence and was ineffective was when the company
was acquired, and we needed to get buy in from the teams at each clinic. There was one new
process they wanted us to incorporate into our daily huddle, huddle was before the start of each
clinic day from 8am to 9am. In this time, we did highlights where everyone would give a
statement of what went well the previous day, give kudos to peers or just share something
positive going on in their life. W reviewed the schedule for the day and what each patient would
need. We then reviewed all the patients currently in the hospital and the ones who were
discharged. We planned next steps for the hospitalized patients. Then we went over urgent
patient needs for the day. The company wanted us to change this up and start with reviewing
process changes. So they gave us papers to write anything that could be improved and we
reviewed them daily. We would then have to go over the focus for the week which would be
something like communication. Then we would review some metrics. With this change we didn’t
have much time to review any patient needs and I couldn’t get buy in from the team as they felt
things were no longer patient focused. The approach I took was trying to make it enjoyable and
honestly just doing what the company told us to do. There wasn’t much buy in from my part and
I could have given it more internal effort. Things I could have done differently were making the
changes more meaningful. Figuring out what each team member found valuable in the change.

Question 2
Consider current, and future opportunities that you have to exercise your influence.
Briefly describe the situation, and suggest a possible strategy, using one or more of the
tools of influence discussed here or in the Module Six learning materials.
Your Answer:
In my current situation I need to develop a new clinical team and get everyone to work together
and trust each other. In our first day of patient care a provider ordered a test but worded it
incorrectly. The Medical Assistant performed the test based on what the provider said. The
provider no longer trusts the MA and is placing blame on her but in all honesty the provider
made the mistake. I need to help everyone develop the trust and get them all trained in verbiage
used for testing. I’ll use the strategy to foster continuous learning, be consistent, give continuous
feedback and I’ll identify the root cause of the problem.

Question 3
OGL 220
Module 6: Influence, Organizational Culture, and
Performance-Related Behaviors: Diagnosis and
Intervention Worksheet
Think about an organization you are familiar with. Based on the dimensions of OCP
(described in Chapter 15.3 in your textbook), how would you characterize its culture?
As you review the cultural dimensions, what kinds of cultural “gaps” can you identify
between the organization’s culture and your own organizational cultural preferences?
Your Answer:
An organization I am familiar with was Iora Primary Care. I would characterize its culture as
innovative, outcome-oriented, people-oriented, team -oriented. The company values were Act
with Passion, Feel Empathy, Demonstrate Courage, Serve with Humility. Bring Creativity. And
our mission was to Restore Humanity to Healthcare. This was the best place I had ever worked
at. The company culture was stong ans we all bought into it quickly. It helped that taking care of
its employees was a big part if the culture and they demonstrated it with a grocery budget for our
community kitchen which was stocked with over $500 worth of groceries a month. We also had
a large employee budget for lunches and fun stuff. It was perfect because you were allowed to
innovate and be ourselves. We hired based on peoples ability to connect with people and we
trained them where they had deficits. I think the gaps were when the company was acquired.
Even though those budgets were still there. The way employees were made to feel invisible made
us all disengage. The innovation was what kept us all engaged.

Question 4
Performance-related problems are problems where someone fails to accomplish some
particular objective in an effective manner (failing grades, missed performance targets
such as sales quotas, productivity goals, or poor performance in just about any context).
Think of a specific performance-related problem that you know something about - either
a performance-related issue that you experienced, or that of a family member, friend, or
colleague. Keep that situation in mind as you respond to the prompt:
What's the situation? Describe the context and the performance problem as specifically
as possible. Be objective; Avoid making judgments - state only the observable facts.
Use examples to illustrate the specifics of the problem and the performance-related
behaviors.
Your Answer:
A performance issue I can think of is missed phone call rate. All the clinics needed to be above a
75% answered call rate daily. The problem was that people assigned to answer the phone were
not answering as many calls as they were supposed to. Each team member was supposed to
answer 40 plus calls a day. People were performing other tasks and taking themselves off the
queue so they wouldn’t hear the phone ring. They were tasked with checking in patients as well.
Given that they were performing other tasks they would ignore the phone to check a patient in.
There were also instances where a driver wouldn’t show up to pick up a patient and the
OGL 220
Module 6: Influence, Organizational Culture, and
Performance-Related Behaviors: Diagnosis and
Intervention Worksheet
employee had to call them and get them picked up. There were other barriers to answering the
phones too many to count. Another problem was that we were downsized. The clinics originally
had 2 people answering phones and one at the front desk to check in patients. Our new structure
was one person answering phone in conjunction with checking in patients. The problem was lack
of resources for the team.

Question 5
With respect to the specific performance-related problem you described:
Diagnose the possible root cause(s) of the performance problem (i.e., communication,
knowledge, motivation, resources/support). Are multiple factors responsible? If so, how
do they relate to each other?
Your Answer:
The problem was lack of resources and support. Another issue could have been motivation. It
was hard to go from having a full staff to cutting that down by more than half. The team was
expected to perform a task that was for 3 people. More help on phones would have been a good
resource or someone checking in at the front desk. One way we tried to improve performance
was to pair two clinics together one that had less patients with another that was larger. Allowing
two people to answer phones.

Question 6
With respect to the specific performance-related problem you have in mind:
Consider the TARGET dimensions - Take a look at the questions associated with each dimension
(below), and discuss possible actions / strategies that could have been taken to improve the
performance issue in question. (Note: You are not answering all of the questions below
individually - just discussing possible actions / strategies based on the TARGET dimensions you
believe are most applicable.)
Task Dimension

 How can specific tasks/goals be reconceptualized to improve performance?

 Is the task/goal specific and are outcomes measurable?
 Is the task/goal broken down into appropriate sub-goals / process steps? Does the
employee understand these steps and the measurement criteria associated with each?
 Is the task appropriately challenging?
 Can tasks be made more interesting/ stimulating/varied?
 Is a multidimensional task required to engage the individual with varying levels of
competence?
 Has the task been presented with enthusiasm?
OGL 220
Module 6: Influence, Organizational Culture, and
Performance-Related Behaviors: Diagnosis and
Intervention Worksheet
Authority Dimension

 What are the opportunities for people to use their own initiative?
 How can people be given more responsibility for their own learning?
 Are people supported in solving their own problems, or is the environment more
controlling?

Recognition Dimension

 What kinds of formal and informal rewards and incentives are appropriate?

Grouping Dimension

 Can individuals work together more effectively?

 Consider strategies that foster positive interdependence / effective interactions /
individual accountability / collaborative skills / group processing.

Evaluation Dimension

 Are evaluations competitive / threatening?

 Can evaluations be based on personal improvement, progress toward goals,
participation, and/or effort?

Time Dimension

 Is there more of an interest in quantity or quality?

 Does the person feel in control of their work schedule or time?

Your Answer:
The task was goal specific and measures daily. I would say the task was too challenging. It
needed smaller goals. The environment was more controlling and there was not a lot of
room for autonomy. Rewards that are appropriate and that we used were gift cards for
people who met their goal consistently, but this died off after awhile as people began to get
burned out and expressed it. The teams could work together more effectively when they
knew each other and utilized the communication tools given to them like out chat platform
Slack. The team was supported in solving their own problems. We met daily to discuss
process improvements. The team traded places for certain tasks we conjoined two clinics
together to have two people answering phones.