The Culture Change Process and Your Company’s Transformation
The word culture originated from the Latin word” cultura” which refers to the process of clearing the earth for new growth of crops. It also comprises of the natural act of care and guarding. It’s root when being traced refers to agriculture and nothing else.
Down to the nineteenth century, the word culture was later changed to mean cultivation through education, improvement and refinement. So many contexts today replace the word culture as ”zeigeist” or a natural spirit of an organization at a particular time. Leaders should look deeper than just the zeitgeist to see where a particular organization gets its unique spirit.
Just the way a garden is been tendered, strong culture must be maintained regularly.
For many growing organizations, culture develops formally or informally. Allowing your culture to develop organically is not a good approach. You cannot compare the culture that develops among any group of friends with that of a business. A culture that grows without being checked in any business context will not succeed.
Leaders are expected to shape culture. Take a look at the way a gardener shapes edges of grass, he carefully follows a particular pattern. Leaders should never dictate culture. They should shape culture and guide corporate culture.
THE STRONG COMPANY STRUCTURE
In a business context, having a strong company structure is better than having a weak one. If you have worked with a company that takes teamwork very important, you will understand my point. Now let’s look at the word culture from another angle. The word culture can be derived also from the word “cult”. A culture that is never weak, well managed, and very rigid, turns into being intelligent and turns capable people into working effectively and enthusiastically.
A leader who is charismatic can be of great benefit to followers. Followers will always live by the example shown by their leaders. Leaders take charge and inspire their followers to achieve greatness. But if charisma changes into control, good parts of the culture might be removed. If there is no thought, new ideas will not be accepted. The truth is, when everything centers on just the culture, it can affect a business.
Good and strong company culture must be balanced. The members involved must have the same interest and work together. This doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t make use of their brains. The brain can be helpful for more innovations and better ideas. People will have the right to work independently.
THE WEAK COMPANY CULTURE
Weak companies are very common. A business that is weak will also have a weak administration. Members of the company, work for just the pay. They are not interested in the goals of the company. These conditions are not right for a company that wants to grow and achieve better.
Companies are often weak due to the fact that the leaders or founders avoid their duty of enriching the soil of company culture. At times they may also make statements of what they want the company culture to be, but fail to perform the necessary functions. When all this happens the result will be likened to business that has the potential to be better but fails to work towards its goal.
Also, companies with weak culture are caused by weak administrators. It is easy for bad elements to grow in a company with a weak culture. If a company administrator or department head, shows weak leadership, the other members will instantly create a self-serving culture. In summary, it will lead to high staff turnover, problems recruiting more staffs and moral problem.
HOW TO KNOW WHEN TO IMPLEMENT CHANGE
In a productive and healthy company, there will always be changes. People will learn new things, staffs will come and go. The world at large is dynamical. It is always in motion and so people must change. Cultural change always occurs in a company that is healthy.
In some situations, a high corporate transformation is in order and founders do not notice this until it becomes difficult. Take, for instance, staffs turnover has increased rapidly, it will be hard to figure out why it suddenly increased. The company leaders may even decide to avoid any responsibility which will bring more confusion to the members of the company.
To notice when important changes in a company are carried out is not easy. Paying careful attention to your company will make it less difficult. You need to keep track of your company. Monitor the metrics, productivity, company revenues, staff turnover and efficiency of the company. Cultural problems cannot lead to a company metric falling off. But if you notice it reducing, it is important so as to look at the culture and learn whether it is time for important changes.
PUSH BACKS FROM MEMBERS OF A TEAM
Preliminary changes in a company culture will definitely expect push back from team members. It cannot be avoided. In a bad company culture, some persons will establish their own positions and will be reluctant to let go. They will also be people who have been working independently and when you want to check up on their work, it will create problems. You need to sit down and observe if it’s time for your company to undergo cultural change. It will help for the betterment of your company.
For you to successfully deal with push back, you must understand the cause. Some persons can be lazy in making changes into their work. They are ready to resign if you suggest some new method of carrying out functions in the company. In as much as it is very bad, it can also be avoided.
Do not forget that some of your team members notice when something goes bad in a company. Whether it is poor revenue service or low productivity, they are ready to help make a change. To improve the cultural change of a company, every member must put effort. There are some categories of individuals who are interested in the goals of the company and these ones will never be reluctant to assist the companies in achieving its goal.
POSSIBLE OUTCOME OF POSITIVE CULTURE CHANGE
There are plenty of things that can be expected from a well planned and well-intentioned organization experiencing cultural change:
Improved employee retention – Members who know they are beneficial to a company and are valued by a company, will put more effort and stay longer.
Increase reputation – There will be an improved reputation among the employees, the future employees and the business world.
Increase productivity – When team members believe that their mission is worthwhile, they will put in their best.
Improved quality of products and services – A good company that values good standards and provide their employees with a conducive atmosphere and equipment to make the standards a success will contribute to the improvement of services and products in the company.
A positive and strong company culture indicates that you hire and train new members and when you hire them, you give them the best training to help carry out your business successfully. Companies ranked among best places to work category are generally referred to as the more successful ones. Your company can be in this category. All you need to do is to make your company enjoyable by endeavoring to provide your workers with the best tools needed for their job. When workers feel good about their place of work and the kind of work they do, they are willing to go as far as helping the company achieve its goals and dreams and not just for the paycheck.
Before looking for you, you must know where you are first. You cannot make a move to another location without knowing where you are. You must find a starting point. It is important to know your existing culture before considering improving it. A good gardener will test the soil to know the nutrients that are lacking and the ones that are flourishing. A good leader can be likened to this gardener. An exemplary leader should know the current condition and what needs to be added for improvement.
It is important to set goals. They are necessary for good cultural change. Do you fidget when discussing your company? Do you want to improve its performance? Do you have an interest in increasing your companies revenue growth? Are you avoiding anything that will lead to employee turnover? Setting goals will lead to a more better cultural change in your company.
Finally, for cultural change to be successful, you must have confidence in the support coming from your employees. Bear in mind that your employees cannot like everything about the changing process.
Leaders are expected to shape culture. Take a look at the way a gardener shapes edges of grass, he carefully follows a particular pattern.
CULTURAL CHANGE AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Change management entails serious discipline. You cannot draft a plan and expect it to work without effort. Although change management is unique in every company, it encompasses the following steps:
Identify individuals and groups that will change.
Documenting good practices and lessons learned.
Tracking outcomes and changes.
Identifying how those individuals and group members must change (whether in terms of shift, jobs or responsibilities).
Keeping a close look at the change process and tackling issues as they arise.
IMPORTANT STEPS TO TAKE FOR CULTURE CHANGE
The necessary steps to culture change are definition alignment and management. To get an accurate definition of cultural change, you must keep your end goal in mind. The definition of cultural change involves:
Examining your present culture and its performance.
Making clear your initial vision of change in cases of addressing weaknesses.
Drafting a plan to interact how every member will work together to tackle weaknesses and improve strength.
Sharing and defining three to five strategies that need to be focused on.
Engaging in a team discussion. This is for the purpose of accomplishing goals. Some of the objectives can include tracking key metrics, good accountability and recognition of excellence.
Defining numerous key metrics that aid goals attainment and performance priorities.
Defining goals and strategizing how to meet objectives is an important part of cultural change.
Managing change can be challenging. Discipline is very important to see change through. Some steps need to be followed which includes:
Creating a system to monitor the status of a change.
Facilitating affirmative collaboration.
Enforcing effective communication.
Having a strong motivational force during the change process through recognition, transparency, feedback etc.
THE ROLE CULTURAL CONSULTANTS PLAY
Consultants for culture change take care of client companies through the cultural change process. The consultants do not perform change or direct them. They are in charge of helping an increasing leadership plans for organizations, executing the plans and managing plans. This is based on proven outcomes from a previous performance.
Assessment is another necessary skill for cultural consultants because you have to know the root causes of a problem before finding a solution. They make use of some cultural assessment instruments and comparative industry analysis techniques to deliver to deliver a perfect picture of a client’s strength and weakness.
Culture change consultant is experts at quantifying culture changes so that clients can know where they began, where they ended and important factors needed in transition. A good number of skills are important for an effective cultural change.
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED BY CULTURAL CONSULTANTS
Most cultural change consultants have the tools they use for a cultural change. Most of them begin their work with client surveys to know more about where the client organization is heading culturally speaking.
When the change process ends, they will do a general survey of areas that have succeeded and areas that need more efforts. The interesting thing to note is that the services some special consultants offer which includes keynote speeches, and offering of specialized courses.
IS THERE SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH CHANGE?
Change is constant. It can’t be resisted. Change management is essential to keep the normal change mentality from getting out of hand. Organizations can implement different changes at the same time. When this happens, it becomes easier for members to follow up.
Some organization’s where major cultural change is necessary for growth must tackle change in a measured way. If they don’t do this, they will experience poor results. Take for example when a company decides to implement even the slightest new idea and innovation, if the workers take it for granted it will be more difficult for them to expand their ideas. It is important to tackle any negativity from company workers so that it doesn’t affect the growth of your business.
Continuous change can make things worse. It can cause major cultural problems. Important cultural changes will happen but will take time. It can’t just happen overnight. You have to implement smaller changes and follow up. Doing so will give you a better assurance that when an improved change comes up, your workers will abide.
CONCLUSION
The fact is that cultural consultants exist because cultural change is hard. Most times people in your organization know that change is needed but still show a reluctant character. They can make the change process tiring and frustrating. You have to hire the right culture change consultant. You can draw out a plan and identify specific changes that need to be made. When this is done prioritize them and draw a path to make them a reality.
Culture change consultant knows the usefulness of good, positive culture and is ready to provide support for organizations who want to achieve it. Culture change must be masterminded by top leaders in an organization. This will help achieve a greater effect. Surprisingly a big majority of company employees believe that culture change is important in an organization. It will prompt corporate leadership and will schedule a time for assessing company culture.
Culture change must be masterminded by top leaders in an organization. This will help achieve a greater effect. Surprisingly a big majority of company employees believe that culture change is important in an organization. It will prompt corporate leadership and will schedule a time for assessing company culture.
Leaders these days must be willing to change. The world is changing rapidly. There are developments everywhere. An organization that refused to make needed changes will not improve. You cannot avoid makes changes in your organization. It is better for the organization to understand, accept, plan for and manage whatever change that comes their way especially if the corporate culture is weak.
For decades, business experts and innovators have emphasized the importance of corporate culture. They are aware that culture is a living entity that must change eventually. If you want to know more about corporate culture and cultural transformation, we invite you to contact us for more information.
