Given all these stories, it’s hardly surprisingly that so many companies are trying to change their culture. The problem is that, despite our ever-increasing understanding of culture and its link to performance, only around 1 in 3 change initiatives actually work.
So, why do so many initiatives fail?
At the outset of culture change programmes, a review of the current culture should take place. The information gathered is used to develop some critical cultural foundations – defining the company’s purpose (which states why the business exists beyond making money), getting clear on what success looks like in the new world, and a set of values (that serve as a guide for how to get things done).
Early on leaders tend to be committed and eagerly come to the table to complete this ‘big picture’ work. But all too often they then lose focus (or worse, believe the job is done) and go back to the ‘day job’ – focusing on the numbers, sales or marketing, whatever their specialism may be. But, all they’ve really got at this stage is some words on ‘paper’.
This is when the really hard work needs to begin. Here are three things that you must do to create meaningful change:
Culture is about attitudes, beliefs and behaviour. You have to translate your values to tangible behaviours and then seek out regular, everyday opportunities to build awareness over time, so that everyone in the business develops a strong personal commitment to change.
Cultures are brought to life by actions that dictate who gets hired, who gets promoted, who gets rewarded and who gets let go. That means integrating your values into your hiring process, your performance and learning approaches, and your reward & recognition practices. It needs to be reflected in all your company policies and people practices.
As part of this process, you must address the specific issues and challenges that came up in your culture review. Make sure the environment you are creating fully supports people to live the values every day.
Once the values and behaviours start to be truly ingrained in everything that you do, they become habits and that’s when your high-performance culture starts to take shape.
2. Leaders committed for the long-term
In performance-led cultures, people come first. If leaders want top performance, they must focus as much time and energy on people as they do on the numbers. Culture must be inextricably linked with strategy (it is strategy), and at the top of daily agendas. Senior leaders need to be leading it, not just supporting it.
It’s important to choose your leaders (and managers) carefully to ensure they embody the behaviour you’re looking for. One wrong move can undo months of great work. Be prepared to take swift, decisive action when you identify issues, otherwise you’ll eventually reset your culture in the wrong way.
Leaders must define, and commit, to behaviours that are in line with the new culture and then spend time agreeing what that looks like. What evidence will tell you the behaviour is happening? And what are the things you must call out and stamp out? Leaders must be committed to regularly reviewing their performance and holding each other accountable for unacceptable behaviour – with no excuses, this is non-negotiable stuff.
3. Recognise and celebrate the important role that your managers play
Managers play a huge, often overlooked, role in helping you to build and sustain a high-performance culture.
The relationship that people have with their manager directly impacts their self-esteem and ultimately whether they choose to stay and grow with you or move on to another company.
All too often, people get put into a management role because they’re technically very good, but that doesn’t mean they will automatically be a great manager. Very few companies invest anywhere near enough time and money in helping their managers to be excellent people managers.
Great managers will help individuals to connect their own sense of purpose to the company purpose, whilst supporting them to grow and develop in their roles. Honest, two-way communication is key to this. Company-wide messaging is important, but everyone also needs to be spoken with on an individual level. Managers must be encouraged to help everyone to see why their work matters, how it fits into the bigger picture and how they can achieve things in the future that they can’t today.
Have you gone through a culture change initiative and not had the results you’re looking for? Is it still hard to attract and retain the talent needed to grow your business?
You’re not alone. There is no quick fix for high-performance culture transformation. It needs to be clearly managed as a strategy, so it doesn’t feel like a bunch of disconnected initiatives. Every approach and communication should be aligned to a clear picture of the desired culture. Beyond that it takes hard work and commitment from everyone in the business.