Organisational Culture Change: Engineered Success

by Jerome Parisse-Brassens

Organisational culture - or workplace culture as some would call it - is created when a group of people work together to achieve a common goal, or simply share a working environment. Employees, are the product of an organisation's culture, but at the same time, shape and influence the culture they work in.

Staff, including business leaders, feel more comfortable with a project or an initiative when they can see how it is built, what role each individual plays in the whole, how to make it work, and how to measure progress and success. A good workplace culture is critical to success and key to the happiness of staff and customers. Still, many business leaders think it is too hard to tackle other than by some light-touch value work.
Culture can be defined as the patterns of behaviours that are encouraged or discouraged, by people and systems, over time. 'Patterns of behaviours' indicates the importance of what people do, not what they say.  'Systems' tells us that it's not just people, but tools, processes and symbols, which also convey culture. 'Time' simply means that cultures aren't born in a day - and can in fact take years, or decades, to develop. But what really makes culture seem impossible to manage, is the necessity to work on the values, beliefs and feelings that underpin behaviours, in order to make any kind of lasting change.

Critical stages of creating workplace cuture

1. Start with an in-depth assessment of your current culture
   
   Pay attention to existing sub-cultures and any remnants of past mergers or acquisitions. It is important that this assessment considers not only the behaviours, symbols and systems that are at the root of culture, but also more intangible elements like values, feelings, beliefs and emotions. This constitutes the basis upon which the target culture can be built and implemented.
2. Define what your target culture should be
   
   It could, for example, revolve around customer centricity or accountability, coupled with a focus on staff, but whatever it is, it has to be based on business imperatives. Why? Simply because the culture you want to build has to be fit for purpose - and to do that, you need to be clear about your overarching goal. At this stage, it is critical that the executive team be deeply involved.
3. Perform a gap analysis between target and current cultures
   
   Once again, it is important to focus on both tangible and intangible elements of the culture.
4. Build a plan to address the gaps in the short and longer term
   
   This is where culture becomes truly do-able. The development of the plan is not an easy exercise and will require several weeks or months, depending on the size of the business. It should not be developed by the CEO or the Executives in isolation, but should involve a variety of managers and staff from across the organisation. The plan should clearly show what gaps need to be addressed to achieve the highest cultural and business impact. In some cases, the focus will be on just one behaviour or belief to change in order for the organisation to be successful.
5. Set-up a Program Management Office (PMO)
   
   The PMO will ensure seamless implementation of initiatives and monitoring of progress made. Metrics will have been defined in the plan (what to measure, when, and how).
6. Review the plan at least once a year, adapt and improve
   
   Culture management doesn't happen in a straight line. It is more like a series of trials and learnings, which, when managed within an effective framework, facilitates the development of a culture that is fit-for-purpose.

When you apply such an approach to culture management, it becomes a lot easier. It stops being warm and fuzzy, and turns culture change into a program of work that every organisation is able to embrace. The journey is no sprint; it requires patience, persistence and endurance. Three years is a minimum if you want to see sustainable results, in particular those affecting the bottom-line.

The Dos

• Walk the talk - There is no point telling people what to do if you are not role modeling what you expect from them. What happens when you walk the talk? Trust. And trust will take you a long way.
• Lead the way - Without full support from the leadership team, your culture change project is doomed, or will achieve very little.
• Educate your people - Knowledge is power. You cannot change what you do not understand. Knowing what culture is and how it is created will go a long way for people ready to change.
• Open your heart - Change starts with each of us, and it starts at the deepest level. Change your mindsets and beliefs to change your behaviours.
• Think holistically - Behaviours, systems, symbols, values, beliefs and... yes again, feelings.
• Focus on the biggest gaps - If you embrace too much, you will achieve too little. Be strategic and highly targeted in your culture management plan.

The Don'ts

• Think you know better - Listen to what the organisation is telling you, even if you don't like the sound of it.
• Believe it will be easy - Changing feelings and beliefs is one of the hardest things to do.
• Believe it will be hard - Because culture is about us as individuals, staff will love your culture change project once they understand your intentions.
• Expect culture to change by chance - Culture should be carefully engineered if you want it to be successful.
• Work in isolation - You will need help from almost every single person in the business if you want to create long-term change.
• Give up - Changing culture takes time. The culture you have was not created in a day and it will take time to shift. Be patient.

How often in the business world do you get to work on the hearts and minds of people? How often do you get a chance to create significant, long-lasting change that will not only improve the bottom line but also give people meaning? Yes, it is hard work, but with a little bit of engineering, success is not as far away as you might think.


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