Village President, Board Changing the Culture in Lake Zurich

It’s only been about 90 days since Lake Zurich Village President Tom Poynton took office.

His tenure has been a whirlwind for him and the newly elected trustees who ran with the idea of changing the culture in Lake Zurich.

“We’ve been busy,” Poynton said. “We have been invited to many wonderful events and some of us have been in a lot of flooded basements.”

Changing the culture, however, is one of the most difficult leadership challenges an organization will face, Poynton said, while addressing the Lake Zurich Area Chamber of Commerce annual Breakfast with the Villages Thursday.

“It is a large-scale undertaking, and eventually all of the organizational tools for changing minds and attitude will need to be put in play,” he said. “That’s because an organization's culture comprises of an interlocking set of goals, roles, processes, values, communication practices, attitudes and assumptions.”

Lake Zurich has done an organizational audit, tied to the budget process, which examined every village department to determine how departments work and how each department is responsible to residents’ and businesses’ needs.

“We are quickly developing and putting in place new systems and processes that support and reinforce our goals and objectives,” he said. “We are constantly reinforcing the values of radical transparency and continuous improvement.”

It has been a long process but has given Lake Zurich’s elected officials and staff a clear vision to provide the best customer service possible, Poynton said.

“We are putting our emphasis on ‘how can we make this work’ instead of ‘No, you can’t do that,’” he said.

“We are driving the organization to be continuous and systematically responsive to our stakeholders.”