More on culture change from Sir Martin Narey, Government Advisor and Former CEO of Barnardos

If the leaders of your organisation are not going to implement any change, how else might it occur?

In this short video from Sir Martin Narey, Government Advisor and former CEO of Barnardos, he warns us that attempting to bring about widespread culture change from the top down is not always the right thing to do and should be approached with caution. You can put too much emphasis on structure when what really matters is people.

When he first joined Barnados the management was not ideally as he would have liked. However, upon further reflection he realised that, although it wasn’t as he would have chosen, it was a structure he could work within. He decided he could deliver the help required to the children much more quickly by adding his leadership to what was already there rather than waste lots of time and money reorganising the management of the charity.

In his view the senior management of the NHS for decades now has been managing reorganisations rather than patient care.