“Culture is not an initiative. Culture is the enabler of all initiatives.”
Larry Senn
Culture is one of those words that is thrown around in organisations. It can seem extremely intangible, and yet companies with strong, positive cultures have been shown to have higher productivity, lower staff turnover, and higher average annual returns.
The reality is that culture is materially built through the layers of a business’ eco-system. It’s built out of your values, principles, people, behaviours, systems, and policies – and how these play out in your day-to-day organisation. It’s the feeling of stepping into a company’s offices. It’s why people aspire to join a business (and often why they leave one). It’s felt in every client engagement and can also determine how a business is externally perceived. A mismatch between employee culture and client facing business can be disastrous.
As a change manager, I regard culture as a powerful lever for organisations to achieve their goals. Yet, in the last few years I’ve noticed culture transformations garnering less attention than areas such as technology change, operating model change, and restructuring.
Culture change isn’t a quick fix, but no organisational change is. Measurement is challenging and accountability – especially at the leadership level – is essential. Yet, culture can quite literally impede the success of change, just as change without considering culture leaves out a crucial part of the picture.
Today I’m unpacking my insights on culture from a change consultant’s perspective – and why it shouldn’t be forgotten in the change process, but rather built into it for lasting, holistic impact.
Noticing the Culture Disconnect
Change in business is a constant. A new CEO is appointed. The organisation is set to undergo a technology upgrade. Leadership decide on a crucial shift in strategic direction.
The success of this change will either be supported or obstructed by culture.
In one case study of a culture transformation I led, an old and well-established organisation realised that their perception, both internally and externally, didn’t align with their vision going forward.
This misalignment between their Employee Value Proposition and their Client Value Proposition was palpably felt. They were experiencing high employee turnover, low morale, and volumes of feedback that culture was a key problem area. Incoming talent felt misaligned and frustration and helplessness was setting in across the company.
In another case study, a large financial institution recognised that culture was a crucial factor to expanding its current business. This competitive move couldn’t be done without the right talent, improved performance, and leaders who could champion a new strategy.
However, achieving these results requires deep intentionality and careful implementation, starting with a business’ leadership. Because ultimately, leaders – from the CEO to line managers – play a make-or-break role in modelling new behaviours and cascading this throughout the organisation.
Leaders & Testing the Waters
According to Great Place To Work, a global culture consultancy, “Leaders shape about 70% of the employee experience. The other 30% is how we work with each other and the work itself.”
So when it comes to culture change, it has to be driven by leaders. If not, employees question the validity of the culture shifts they are meant to be embodying.
Beyond anecdotal feedback, the question is: How do you measure culture? And how do you hold leadership and employees accountable to it? In the change transformations I’ve led, this was a topic of huge debate and it ultimately involves connecting values and behaviours with scorecards, KPIs, and key touch points (from promotions, wins, and communication, to disappointments, exits, and tough change) that the organisation must commit to applying.
One of the ways we test our ideas and approach is with “Change Agents” or “Culture Ambassadors”, i.e. strong leaders within different business units, to see how our interventions land with them first. This proof of concept becomes essential to justifying on the significant, long-term investment to organisations.
Because culture change has never been an easy sell, especially when other business factors seem more material and straightforward. Yet, for those that take action on it alongside concrete business measures, the rewards are significant.
Culture, the Advantage We Underuse
Whether organisations recognise it or not, culture is always a business factor, especially in change.
Yet, I have noticed that culture transformations are not as popular as they used to be in change management.
While some of that work has been internalised to People & Organisation teams, culture is rarely given a seat at the table in the change process – even in cases of major restructuring or when a large company merger will inevitably revolutionise the business and its way of work.
Culture change isn’t an easy, short-term solution. Measuring it is challenging. Implementing it can take years – although the same is true of technology transformations, operating model change, and organisational restructuring. However, the benefits of a holistic, parallel approach that brings together business change with the inevitable factor of culture is a strategy few organisations are currently considering.
While culture change programmes alone have fallen out of favour, my invitation is for culture to rejoin the conversation and run alongside primary change programmes. Because the organisations that treat it as a priority, rather than a follow-up exercise, are the ones that sustain their results and build cultures that enable not just the change at hand, but the success that comes after it.
