Transforming organizational culture is one of the most difficult tasks for leadership, but it cannot
be avoided. Not when only 19% of over 7000 CEOs and HR leaders believe that their organizations
have the right culture, according to the Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends 2016 report
Cultural transformation helps organizations evolve their company culture to achieve their
strategic objectives. It’s also key to ensuring a positive employee experience for the workforce.
So how can you lead a successful cultural transformation at your
organization? In this episode, we’ll explain how to do this in 9 steps.
These nine steps are based on the Kotter eight-step model.
Before we get into this topic, be sure to check out our comprehensive
guide to cultural transformation, where you can find out more
about what it is and how to recognize the need for culture change in your organization.
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Now let’s get started on the 9 steps to lead a successful cultural transformation.
1. Identify how your culture needs to change
To get to where you want to be, you need to understand
where you are right now. Start with a culture diagnostic,
like the Organization Culture Assessment Instrument, or OCAI, to understand what your
current culture is built on. The OCAI analyzes company culture based on four competing values:
Adhocracy or Create Culture, which is dynamic and entrepreneurial
Clan or Collaborate Culture, which is people-oriented and friendly
Hierarchy or Control Culture, which is process-oriented and structured
Compete or Market Culture, which is results-oriented and competitive
Look at your organization’s objectives and look for ways to help the culture evolve to
a new dimension that more effectively supports your strategic objectives and workforce needs.
2. Get support from leadership
Employees are inspired by leaders and mirror their behaviors, beliefs, and perspectives.
That’s why the leadership team is key to setting the behavioral norms within the organization.
Here’s what you need to do: Identify the leaders and key stakeholders:
including both formal and informal ones Create a “change team”: with the leaders
and stakeholders you’ve identified Set up an empowerment session:
help them understand and prepare them for objections and difficult questions
3. Focus on key behavioral shifts
Create a vision which everyone in the company can understand and remember to set goals.
Target your interventions on a couple of critical behavioral shifts you want to achieve.
For example, if you want to move your organization from a Hierarchy Culture to a Clan Culture,
you would focus on teamwork, commitment, empowerment, cohesion, and engagement. Include
these behaviors in your performance management system so you can measure and develop them.
4. Implement formal and informal interventions
Formal approaches in cultural transformation would include new policies or policy changes,
introducing new metrics, and incentives to achieve the desired results.
Meanwhile, informal interventions would include informal interactions
between the managers and the employees. These are opportunities for engagement.
5. Effectively communicate change
There is nothing more powerful than clear, honest, and consistent communication.
This type of communication builds trust and engages employees in the process.
Here are some tips: Be transparent: be clear
about the changes you’re trying to achieve, and make sure to address any employee concerns.
Customize: find the most effective way to reach different demographics within your organization
and customize your communication plan accordingly. Get help: involve your colleagues from corporate
communication for advice and guidance on how to get your message across.
Integrate: include your vision change in your employer branding,
so that it’s very clear both internally and externally where your organization is headed.
6. Overcome barriers
Many times, culture change is met with resistance. It’s important to quickly identify where the
resistance is coming from and intentionally work toward removing the barriers to change.
Consider appointing Change Champions. They are employees at all levels within
the organization who promote the change process both formally and informally.
7. Create short-term wins
Nothing is more motivating than success! By setting short-term goals,
achieving them, and recognizing your success,
you will further strengthen the support for the changes you’re making.
Having short-term goals provide quick wins. Remember to celebrate these wins publicly, so
the organization gets the feeling that they are on a roll. This will help to keep people energized.
8. Reflect on the changes
Once change is underway, it's important to reflect on what you've achieved so far.
What are the positive outcomes of the cultural transformation and how can you build upon them?
How has the transformation impacted your business performance? And what can you do differently?
To help answer these questions, you can conduct another culture
profile assessment with the OCAI to observe what changes have been made and how much
further the organization has to go to achieve its desired culture profile.
9. Reinforce the change
Change is a continuous process.
To reinforce it, you’ll need to recognize the positive effects of the change.
Here are some of the things you can do:
Focus on hiring people who are a right fit for the new culture
Demonstrate the link between the new behaviors and organizational success
Develop training programs to build and strengthen the competencies that support the new culture
Cultural transformation is a long-term effort, but the results
are rewarding and well worth the investment.
Want to know more about cultural transformation,
including how you can recognize the need for change? Check out our
full guide on cultural transformation using the link in the first comment.
And remember to subscribe to our channel, hit the notification button, and like this video.
See you next time!