How to embed culture after organisational change

Culture after organisational change

It’s important that you think carefully about how the company might be affected after you have gone through an organisational change. You should consider what you might need to address to achieve the desired attitudes and behaviours your new organisation needs to succeed. If you don’t actively identify and develop your culture, then it will develop on its own and may not end up reflecting the values that you envisioned for your company.

What is culture and how do we achieve a good one?

In the context of organisations, culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in an organisation and can have a dramatic affect on whether an organisation is successful or not.

It’s therefore very important to articulate the desired culture to your employees clearly to provide them with a guide on how you expect them to behave and to provide them with a bit of direction. Don’t preach it to them and expect them to immediately take it on board. If you can, engage your employees in the creation of it by collectively identifying what behaviours are acceptable and how they deliver great results. By engaging your team from the start you will achieve greater buy in and commitment in the long term. However, it’s all very well identifying the culture, it’s critically important you embed it through walking your talk again and again, rewarding those that follow and addressing those that don’t.

How your leadership team influence your culture. 

What many leaders forget is that the rest of the organisation looks to them to set the scene. Too often leaders expect everyone else to behave accordingly but do as they please. Fundamental to successful culture change is that you lead by example; the values you live will rub off on others. If your employees respect your leadership, they will learn from the way they talk, behave and work, and will copy this to an extent. Show them that everyone believes in the new culture from the top down, or else it will appear inauthentic to your employees and they will view it as insignificant as you do.

Your leadership are your change agents

Where should I begin?

You should, first and foremost, be focusing on entrenching the new culture and values in your current staff, but if you are taking on new staff, make sure they understand the expectations of your company. If you don’t think they’ll be able to follow and demonstrate the values associated with the new culture, then look for someone who will.

If certain employees are quick to take on and display the new values and behaviours, then reward them for it. This will encourage them to repeat the behaviour they have already adopted and will also give their colleagues an idea of who they should be looking to for an example and an incentive to follow their lead.

So, if you want to effectively and thoroughly embed a new culture in an organisation, it’s important for the directors and management team to lead by example and encourage everyone else to follow suit.

Learn more about how we can help you with your culture change here; http://pennystrutton.co.uk/culture-transformation