Implementing Culture Change

If you have recently given thought to changing your organization’s culture, please be clear on Why.

Since the company culture is much more than slogans, it's important to assess the root cause of any issues you're seeing, really breakdown what it would look like in the future for everyone in the organization, and ensure that appropriate resources are committed and sustainable for the long haul so that the new culture can thrive.

If the leadership team has already taken a deep dive into the issues and collected the perspectives and insights of the workforce and external stakeholders, and already made substantive attempts at fostering an environment that reflects the ideal culture in alignment with the workforce and available resources, and prepared the organization for a successful transition, then you might be ready for starter steps toward a shift in the culture.

A key component will be communicating the culture changes. Consider an approach outline like one of these:

Why We Exist Statement

• What we do

• How we do it

• Why we do it

A Storyline

• Where we came from

• Where we’re headed

• Why that’s important to us and others

• How we will achieve the vision and objectives

• What the expected behaviors/values/principles are

A Strategy Report

• Define the Culture

• Mission, Vision, Value Statements

• Describe Organizational Goals/Objectives

• Describe Expected Workplace Environment

• Describe Expected Workplace Conduct

• Identify Standard Operating Procedures

• Explain How all these components interrelate with the Culture

• Explain How the Culture impacts the outcomes of these components

There are many factors involved, but one underlying aspect that remains constant is that the workforce needs to understand what's going on and how it impacts them.