How To Navigate A Successful Culture Transformation

Many teams are unengaged or not strong enough to tackle the necessary problems together. Sometimes, healthy competition among employees may turn into passive aggression, and sometimes, employees might simply feel unmotivated. Organizations face countless problems associated with corporate culture, and if you realize that your culture could be better, it means that it’s the time to change it.

According to research, engaged business teams demonstrate 21% higher profitability, so a well-developed culture can make a big difference. Although many companies realize the importance of cultural transformation for their success, not all of them manage to find the right approach. It’s important to plan the process of culture change and to approach this complex task strategically. Therefore, we decided to share some useful information that might help you choose the right direction.

Why Is Cultural Transformation Important?

As ancient philosopher Heraclitus once said, the only thing that’s constant is change. The market evolves, consumers’ needs change, organizations get access to new digital tools, and the world, in general, changes all the time. If you want to fulfill your potential customers’ demands, you should be able to evolve and to adapt to their expectations. In the same way, you should be able to meet your employees’ needs and expectations if you want to have an effective team of dedicated professionals.

Culture reflects the collective attitude and mindset of your employees. It demonstrates how much your employees and your organization, in general, care about customers. It also reflects how much effort employees are willing to put into work. Culture is a general concept, and its effects are also quite diverse and inclusive. If your company receives poor feedback from customers, your employees demonstrate low productivity, they are unengaged, your organization has a small market share or a high turnover rate, it means that you need to transform your culture as soon as possible.

Start Transformation from the Top

Cultural transformation begins at the top. It means that the leaders should not only support the change but also show an example. Managers and executives need to initiate changes. According to Gallup, 70% of culture variance depends on team leadership. Not only should executives set a transformation process example, but they should also be ready to maintain a continuous conversation with their employees, explaining the need for changes, and to admit that these changes are challenging for them, as well.

Therefore, the transformation process can make executives feel somewhat vulnerable. Of course, such a situation can be uncomfortable, but executives need to embrace changes and to prioritize the organization’s goals. Obviously, such a process can be even more challenging for frontline and middle managers, and they should understand that they are a crucial element of the transformation process.

Cultural transition involves a lot of training. You should also invest in communication and ensure accountability. Your organization should have the right environment so that managers can develop their leadership qualities. It will be virtually impossible for you to change the culture if your managers cannot inspire employees and if they don’t have enough authority.

We also recommend that you provide employees with all the necessary information so that they can understand how the corporate culture will change. For example, you can publish educational materials in corporate groups on social media or use printed materials. To make sure that these materials will be persuasive and well-written, you can search for professional writers on writing services review websites like Online Writers Rating.

Steps of Cultural Transformation

●      Define the direction

First of all, your company should develop a clear strategy. To set the right direction for transformation, you should consider your brand values and your business strategy. Having a clear plan, your organization will be able to ensure ongoing changes. It’s also important to clarify which leaders will be responsible for transformation.

●      Set the framework

Once you’ve set a clear direction for changes, you need to define processes, tools, systems, and roles so that you can have an operating model that will make this transformation possible. For instance, you might define KPIs that will enable you to evaluate the changes. You may also create a specific department that will be responsible for cultural transformation and provide the necessary assistance.

●      Determine the non-negotiables

Changes are important, but you should also take a look at the existing culture and determine what elements work well. It might be better for your company to retain some aspects of the existing culture. Here’s where information from HR can be very useful.

●      Be patient

Changing a culture takes time. This process may take a few months or even a few years, and you shouldn’t expect the culture to change overnight. It’s important to set clear priorities and to move towards your goals step-by-step, making minor adjustments, evaluating, and analyzing the results.

●      Measure the results

Unfortunately, many organizations think of culture as of something abstract, which cannot be measured objectively. The truth is that everything depends on your ability to set clear objectives and to define the right KPIs. You can also easily evaluate the effectiveness of your efforts by getting feedback from your employees. For instance, you can use employee surveys and analyze the difference between the desired and actual behavior.

●      Start investing right now

One of the most common mistakes companies make is waiting for resources. You will never have the necessary resources if you don’t invest in cultural changes right now. As we’ve already mentioned above, cultural transformation is a complex process that takes a lot of time. You may also spend a lot of time preparing for it, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Successful culture transformation is all about planning. For example, this process is quite similar to creating a website: the best approach is to plan the content first, and then to take care of the design.

Wrapping Up

Cultural transformation is a necessary process for many organizations. When employees are not engaged and unmotivated, as well as when they demonstrate poor performance, the chances are that your organization needs cultural changes. We hope that our suggestions will help you set the right direction for cultural development and plan this process properly. When it comes to cultural transformation, proper planning is one of the main factors that determine your success. Therefore, we recommend that you define clear objectives, start to invest in cultural transformation in advance, and be patient. 

Frank Hamilton has been working as an editor at essay review service Best Writers Online. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves travelling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.