SwitchPoints: Culture Change on the Fast Track to Business Success

SwitchPoints is the inspiring story of how Canadian National Railway (CN) advanced from good to great in a few short years–becoming North America's top-performing railroad and a favorite with of corporate customers and investors. In it, the authors reveal how company-wide culture change propelled this aging transportation giant to become the profitable powerhouse it is today. Rich with insights and anecdotes, SwitchPoints offers lessons that can be applied to any organization seeking to improve the bottom line by improving their culture.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations xvii Foreword xix Preface xxiii Acknowledgments xxv Introduction: A Broken Culture xxix The Culture of Early Quits xxx A New Trip Plan xxxi Switchpoints xxxi Spiking the Switch xxxiii Part I Building One of North America’s Top Railroads 1 Chapter 1 The Road to Best-in-Class 3 1830: Pioneering Days 3 1919: Nationalization 3 The 1980s: Deregulation 5 1992: Organizational Redesign 6 A Quick Change 7 1995: Privatization 8 The Right Leaders for the Job 9 1998: Precision Railroading 10 2003: Passing the Reins 13 Chapter 2 Culture Change on the Fast Track 15 Acquisitions 15 Buying Other Cultures 16 The Challenge 17 The Results 17 The Trip Plan for Culture Change on the Fast Track 18 Part II Clarifying the Vision 21 Chapter 3 CN’s Five Guiding Principles 23 Chapter 4 The Culture of Precision Railroading 27 The Organizational Culture Continuum 28 The Spectrum of Employee Engagement 29 The Role of Organizational Leaders 30 Washing Out the Mud in the Middle 31 Part III Choosing the Right Switchpoints 35 Chapter 5 How to Change CN’s Culture? 37 Culture Equals Behavior 37 Chapter 6 Creating a Culture of Discretionary PerformanceSM 40 What’s in It for the Employee? 41 Chapter 7 Creating Q4 Leaders to Drive Change 43 Culture Change Begins with Leadership 43 The Q4 LeadershipSM Model 44 How Did CN Create Q4 Leaders? 46 Changing Your Style Isn’t Easy 47 Building Leadership Fluency 49 Part IV Selecting the Tools for Change 51 Chapter 8 The Science of the ABCs 53 It’s All about Behavior 53 The ABCs of Behavior 54 The ABCs Make Fundamental Sense 55 Chapter 9 The Commanding Power of Consequences 58 Timing 59 Importance to Recipient 59 Probability of Recurring 60 Where Does the Consequence Come From? 60 Which Consequences Should I Use? 62 Consequences and Culture Change 63 Authors’ Note: Doing the Right Thing with the ABCs 63 Chapter 10 The ABC Toolkit 65 The Five-Step Model 65 Part V Aligning the Switches 73 Chapter 11 Finding a Champion 75 A Quiet Tryout in Capreol 75 “I Hate Consultants!” 77 Chapter 12 Testing the Business Case 81 Pilot 1: Partnering in Memphis 82 Pilot 2: Partnering in Capreol (Northern Ontario) 83 Pilot 3: Partnering in Transcona (Winnipeg) 84 Learnings from the Pilots 85 We Did What We Said We Would Do 86 A Skeptical Hunter Gives the Nod 87 Chapter 13 Gaining Visible Sponsorship: The CEO’s Essential Role 89 “How We Work and Why” 89 Addressing the Naysayers 91 Chapter 14 Learning from a Strike 93 Spiking the Switch 94 Start with the Supervisors 95 Chapter 15 Planning the Trip 98 Going to Rome (and Paying for It) 98 Implementing the ABCs CN-Wide 99 Selling the ABCs to the Operating Regions 100 I Love Your Passion, But . . . 101 Managing the Pull 102 Deployment Wasn’t All Rosy 103 Chapter 16 Making the Case for Change 105 The Case for the ABCs 105 Spreading the Word 107 Answering Four Basic Questions 108 Chapter 17 Expanding Sponsorship 110 Example 1: Visiting Sites to Set the Stage 110 Example 2: Sponsoring a Safety-First Culture 113 Example 3: Personally Walking the Talk 117 Part VI Assessing Switchpoints’ Impact 121 Chapter 18 Applying the ABCs: Dressed & Ready 123 Guess I’ll Have Another Coffee . . . 123 Another Switchpoint 124 The Science behind the Change 124 Of Course There Was Resistance! 128 “I Can’t Ask My Friends to Do That!” 128 The Rewards of “Dressed & Ready” 130 Chapter 19 Early Wins with the ABCs 131 Release the Brakes! 131 Culture Change in the Michigan Division 133 The ABCs Improve ETAs 135 Want Better Meetings? Show Up on Time! 136 Small Things Matter 138 Curing Technophobia 140 Chapter 20 Demonstrating Q4 LeadershipSM Through the ABCs 143 “More Work? Are You Nuts?!” 143 Improving Reliability: Getting KIST 145 Understanding Q4 LeadershipSM—by Knowing What It Is Not 147 Chapter 21 Life or Death Leadership 149 A Grim Tale 149 Safety and Culture Change 150 Developing Safety Programs 151 Zero Tolerance and Why 154 Chapter 22 Sawing Our Way to Improvement 157 Tackling Old Problems in New Ways 159 Reducing Overtime 159 “Improve” Can Even Mean Tossing Old Paper Files 162 Formalizing the Opportunity 163 Part VII Spiking the Switches 165 Chapter 23 Leadership Competencies to Support the Change 167 Accountability and Importance 168 The New Competency Framework 168 Leadership Equals Bonus 170 The New Power of Performance Reviews 171 Chapter 24 Performance Scorecards for Unionized Employees 173 Doing the Unthinkable 174 Executing EPS 175 Communicating EPS 175 Then Came the Problems 176 Rollout for Success 177 Supervisors: I Didn’t Know That! 178 EPS Was Another Switchpoint 178 Chapter 25 Learning through the Railroad MBA 180 The Railroad MBA 180 Railroader Undergraduate Programs 181 CN Is a Destination, Not a Job 182 Today North America, Tomorrow the World 183 Chapter 26 Hunter Camps Develop Leaders 184 Expanding the Impact 185 Learning from the Master 185 Twelve Characteristics of Leadership 186 Leadership Is about People 187 Some Campers’ Views 188 Chapter 27 The Power of Consistency (17 out of 17) 191 Inconsistency in the Rules 192 Inconsistency in Applying Rules 193 Inconsistency Breeds Opportunity 194 Be Consistently Flexible 195 Chapter 28 Developing Internal Consultants 197 Why Internal Consultants? 197 Transitioning from CLG to Internal CN Consultants 198 Selecting the Right People 199 Developing Internal Consultants 199 Reality Hits 200 The Value of Internal Consultants 202 Chapter 29 Sustaining Culture Change 204 Preventing Backsliding 204 Techniques for Sustaining Change 207 Examples of Sustainability 208 Chapter 30 Sharing Our Story 209 Sharing with Our Customers 210 Sharing with Our Suppliers 210 Sharing with Our Competitors 212 Sharing with Our Communities 213 Chapter 31 Improving Relations with Our Unions 216 The 2007 UTU Strike 216 When to Say Yes, When to Say No 218 Confronting a Long Legacy 218 The United Steelworkers 220 Improving Labor Relations 221 What CN Brings to the Bargaining Table 222 The Future 223 Part VIII Learning from Our Journey 225 Chapter 32 Top 10 Tips for Leaders Using theABC Methodology 227 Tip 1: Manage Your Culture 227 Tip 2: Measure What You Value 228 Tip 3: Challenge, Disagree, and Then Make the Decision 228 Tip 4: Focus on Behavior You See or Hear at Work 228 Tip 5: Ask “Would You, If Your Life Depended on It?” 228 Tip 6: Transition from Good to Great Performers 229 Tip 7: Deal Quickly with Poor Performers 229 Tip 8: Get Face-to-Face 229 Tip 9: Balance Your Use of Consequences 229 Tip 10: Manage the Learning Curve 230 Chapter 33 The Culture Change We Achieved 231 Ten Lessons Learned from Our Switchpoints 231 Chapter 34 The Final Word 234 The Transformation 234 What Lies Ahead 235 Where We Are Now 236 The Trip Is Not Over 237 Notes 241 About the Authors 243 About the Companies 247 Index 249

About the Author :
JUDY JOHNSON, PhD, a Partner with the Continuous Learning Group (CLG), applies behavioral science to help leaders create environments that dramatically improve organizational performance and profitability. Johnson coaches executives on personal leadership and executing strategies through pinpointing key behaviors that lead to success. LES DAKENS, retired Senior Vice President of People for CN, was responsible for strategic direction of CN's Human Resources and Labour Relations in North America and worldwide. Prior to joining CN, Dakens was Vice President of Human Resources for the North American division of the H.J. Heinz Company. PETER EDWARDS, Vice President of Human Resources for CN, is responsible for human resources, culture change, implementation, leadership, and organizational development. He assisted CN's CEO in writing two landmark books for employees. EDWARD (NED) MORSE, a Senior Partner with CLG, offers three decades of experience helping Fortune 500 executives develop and implement business-critical strategies. Morse has worked with clients in transportation, petrochemicals, food service, healthcare, engineering, telecommunications, insurance, pharmaceuticals, and retail.