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Environmental scanning means developing an insight into the internal and external influences that have an impact on your organisation and the success of your work. This chapter covers the following topics:
Why You Need to Scan Your EnvironmentUnderstanding the different levels of your work environment will help you to:
Figure 7. Your work is affected by your environment – consider the different levels of influenceExternal Environment (Level 1)To develop an understanding of your environment you need to be able to zoom out to see the ‘big picture’. Broadening your focus can assist you to:
Environmental scanning helps you identify the external events, trends, or issues that will affect your organisation’s goals. Factors to consider include government policy, economic conditions, community concerns, legislation, and demographics. They may represent current trends or future threats. You may also need to consider issues and trends that would impact on professional or occupational practices relevant to the services your team and organisation deliver. A tip for building awareness of the broader environment is to follow media and other information sources (e.g. news reports, periodicals, professional/industry journals), by attending seminars and participating in networks. Make sure you are on the distribution list for any relevant circulars, bulletins or other pieces of regular information that are circulated in your organisation. One simple tool a manager can use to assess the potential impacts of any environment on their team is a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a way to consider the strengths and weaknesses of your team or workgroup within the context of the opportunities and threats of the current or future environment. See Appendix E. It provides more information about a SWOT analysis. Organisational Environment (Level 2)Understanding the organisational environment helps you make sure your team supports your organisation’s goals. It also provides the opportunity to understand and influence issues and activities that may affect your team. To understand your organisational environment try to develop an awareness of: Formal Processes
Behaviours and Relationships
Your evidence may come from a range of sources such as:
Suggested ActivityList the sources of information available to you on your organisational environment. When collecting this information you should be looking for insight from events that might affect your team’s work (e.g. changing administrative processes that affect how your team operates, budget changes that affect your team’s resources). Being aware of these things will help you to prepare your team, and may even enable you to shape a situation to suit your team’s needs better (e.g. providing feedback on a new client management system to ensure it takes into account the way your team delivers services). Your Immediate Environment (Level 3)For most new managers, understanding the immediate environment will be the priority in the first instance. By building a deep understanding of your current situation, you will be better positioned to develop strategies that will be relevant and meet the priorities agreed with your manager. As with level 2, understanding your organisational environment, there are multiple sources of evidence. Additionally, keep in mind that social functions and informal conversations over coffee are also valid ways to build awareness of your immediate environment and the politics of your office.
Suggested ActivityIncrease your understanding of your workgroup by answering the following questions:
You can also use a synopsis of this information when representing your group to others. Understanding CultureEvery organisation and workgroup has a culture: one that the people within it may not be able to describe directly, but will certainly be able to show you, if you pay attention. The culture of your team can be one which contributes to its success and resilience; or it can be one that hampers performance, reduces productivity and gives your team a poor reputation, internally and externally. A team’s culture is exemplified by behavioural patterns that often follow unwritten rules. To see the culture of your workgroup, observe team members’ habits and patterns of behaviour. What do you hear them say when they discuss work, clients, other departments, or management? How do you see them behave in response to requests?
Managers can also monitor culture by examining data from:
You can also generate additional data and insights using techniques such as the quick-check tool in the VPSC publication How Positive is Your Work Environment? Suggested ActivityTalk to your manager or HR representative about the availability of these possible sources of data in your organisation.
It is important for you to build a culture in which people can work to their full potential and feel safe to express their honest and constructive views; a culture of high expectations and standards; and fair treatment for all. It won’t simply happen through good intention.What can you do to influence culture? Managers influence culture through their actions – and inaction. For example, a manager who ignores constructive advice from staff may notice that staff develop a habit of ignoring issues raised by clients. While important, simply identifying a set of ‘values’ is not enough. To have real meaning, values need to be understood and defined in terms of behaviours. Managers can change and shape team culture by modelling desired behaviours and encouraging team members to do the same. Managers can continue to calibrate team culture through individual and team feedback, team building activities and by the skilful use of performance management and development plans, and job design and recruitment. Suggested ActivityTalk to your team to identify what things they would expect to see (i.e. behaviours) when your organisation’s values are being applied. For example, what do people need to do to ‘demonstrate accountability’ in their day-to-day work? Recommended Further Reading and ResourcesWhy You Need to Scan Your EnvironmentExternal Environment (Level 1)
Organisational Environment (Level 2)Your Immediate Environment (Level 3)
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