Here we draw together some of the key themes arising from our experience which we hope will help you to address the issues of culture change in your own organization. Specific themes are reflected in the three chosen case studies, and we pick these out in the separate introductions to each one later in the chapter.
Always link to organizational vision, mission and objectives
Culture change as an isolated objective is meaningless. Organizations should only involve themselves in culture change if the current culture does not adequately support the achievement of strategic objectives. Start from the business strategy to determine what organization capability or core competencies need to be developed. Ensure that there is a clear vision and a real need to change. People need to be convinced by a compelling vision rather than compelled in a coercive way. They need to see the overwhelming logic of the proposed changes. The more people are drawn towards the vision the better.
Create a sense of urgency and continually reinforce the need to change
The introduction of a foreign element into the organizational system is a good way of making change happen (see Satir’s model in Psychodynamic Approach to Change). This can come from an external or internal source. Whatever it is, it needs to have the force to kick-start the culture change process. And there need to be plans and processes in place which keep the momentum going.
Attend to stakeholder issues
When you want culture to change you have to put yourself into the shoes of the stakeholders. Address the issues of the people who need to change by involving them as much as possible. Change brought in a crass or unthoughtful way will rebound on management. Whether change is being proposed for positive or negative reasons the organization’s future success is dependent on engaging staff to enter into the new way of doing things. How will the proposed changes benefit stakeholders? Will customers, partners, staff and suppliers really feel a positive difference? If some parties are going to lose out, how will you handle this?
Remember that the how is as important as the what
Culture is about the way you do things around the organization. So if your organization has a set of core values, and of course it does explicitly or implicitly, then you need to be managing the cultural change in line with these values. If you say one thing but do another then you might as well give up now. For instance, a stated value of ‘integrity’ is rather hollow if senior managers do not keep their promises, or fail to explain why the plan has changed.
Build on the old, and step into the new
If you want to shift the organization from one way of doing things to a new way of doing things then you will need to see and do things from a variety of perspectives. Any current culture, like any person, will have positive and negative features. You will need to retain and build on the current strengths and ensure that you do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. You will also need to start right now in modelling aspects of the new culture – if you want a coaching culture then start coaching; if you want people to be empowered then start empowering! Now is also the opportunity to step outside of the bubble that you’re in. No one ever changed a culture by simply drawing up plans and listing required behaviours, so now is the time to be creative, do things in different ways and learn from people outside of the system.
Generate enabling mechanisms
It is important to generate enabling mechanisms such as reward systems and planning and performance management systems that support the objectives and preferred behaviours of the new culture. For example, this means ensuring that teams have clear objectives that are closely aligned to organizational objectives.
Act as role models
Managers need to act as role models. They will need to model the new values but also support individuals and teams through a period of upheaval. This can be done through using some of the strategies outlined in Individual change and Team Change, such as working with teams through the stages of forming and storming, and working with individuals as they adjust to the new ways of doing things.
Create a community of focused and flexible leaders
On the one hand many people want clear, confident and focused leadership during periods of change; on the other hand people also want leaders who will reflect upon what is happening ‘on the ground’ and adjust their plans accordingly. Leadership of cultural change requires clarity of end vision together with the ability to manage and cope with emergent issues. All six of Goleman’s leadership styles might be called for during a period of cultural change (see Different Leadership Change). However, it would be a mistake to believe that any one individual could carry this off by him or herself. Leading change also describes a number of ways that leadership can be dispersed throughout the organization to make change happen.
Insist on collective ownership of the changes
One common trap is to make the HR department the owners of cultural change, while the CEO and the senior management team own the changes in business strategy. This type of functional decomposition of a change initiative is doomed to failure. This generally leads to senior managers becoming detached from the cultural issues, and thus neglecting their role modelling responsibilities. Employee cynicism grows (quite rightly!), and this can become a very powerful force for resisting change. This division of labour also leads to HR people being lumbered with programmes and initiatives that look like unnecessary overheads to the local line leaders, which HR people end up having to ‘push’ and ‘sell’. This can be a very disheartening outcome, especially when the initial ideas are often entirely sound.