Achieving Culture Change: An Overview

Achieving Culture Change: An Overview
By Kirsty Hayes

Successful culture change projects are based on a process that demonstrates these principles:

Strategically aligned: the project is aligned to the strategic plan and to other initiatives that will solidify commitment to the change process and action to create the agreed change. Everything that is done is done purposefully.

Collaborative: people are involved in the decision-making and developmental processes; the engagement and participation of all people is valued. When people give input, they also gain ownership. The process of a successful change project harnesses people's ideas, creativity and talents.

Focused: The project works to uncover all the issues and creates actions that purposefully remove the barriers to success. Negativity is dealt with and positive energy is harnessed. The focus stays on the culture change for as long as it takes.

Open: The intentions of the project and all the actions associated with it are transparent. People are easily part of the process.

Demonstrated: Senior management support the initiative and "walk the talk" of the new culture. The change process is vested in a project team, rather than in an individual or a small group. The project team is charged with managing the process and is empowered and resourced to do so. They also "walk the talk" in demonstrating the culture that is required. The project team consists of a true cross-representation of the organisation including role, function, seniority, gender, age, ethnicity, length of service, positive/negative about the change. This team acts as both the conduit and the focal point for input and action. When a facilitator works alongside the organisation -- and this group -- the skills are vested within the group, so that they can flow on through the organisation, which manages its own change long term.

Getting To Culture Change

A variation of David Gleicher's change formula (Beckhard & Harris (1987) is helpful in identifying what needs to happen in order to get a change process of the ground, either actively or as a result of an external driver: C = (D x V) + A > R

Change will occur when sufficient dissatisfaction (D) with the current system exists, when everyone has a clear vision (V) of the goals for the future, and when it is clear what actions (A) can be taken to move the system in the direction of the vision. All of these elements must be in place and larger than the resistance to change (R) present in the organisation.

Dissatisfaction is critical because it "unfreezes" the status quo. Once the uncomfortableness of the gap is felt, people are more open to change. In most cases there needs to be a focus on creating a "dissatisfaction" with the current situation and this is achieved with a renewed challenge to the organisation and a new set of consequences that discourage the status quo. The dissatisfaction needs to be lead from the top and managed throughout the organisation, and needs to maintain the consequences so people are motivated to move away from the present situation. As Kotter (1998 pp 1-20) states, the organisation needs to create a sense of urgency to motivate progress and if this is not provided by a significant external event like a natural disaster, a financial crisis, or similar it needs to be created by the leadership within the organisation.

Vision is a clear sense of overall direction that guides behaviour. Everyone within the organisation needs to be committed. When change is as a result of implementing new technology or a change of leadership it is pertinent they take advantage of such a window of opportunity to engage others and ensure understanding of and a recommitment to the vision.

Action Steps are the tangible milestones that guide and assist the organisation progress toward the vision. Although each action plan for change will be different, all action plans should have the following components:

Strategy and measures - a systematic course of action and allocation of resources to achieve the organisation's change goals and measurement systems that track progress. It is important to realise that no measurement system is going to perfectly capture all of the important elements of performance or all of the behaviours that people need to do for the organisation to be successful. So, measurements should be guides, helping to direct behaviour, but not so powerful in the implementation that they substitute for the judgement and wisdom that is so necessary to acquire knowledge and turn it into action (Pfeffer & Sutton 2000 p153).
Project organisation - a clear designation of the authority, responsibility and relationships that will drive the change efforts (similar to a project sponsor and change agents referred to by Dunphy et al (2003) in Organisational Change for Corporate Sustainability.
Systems and training - the procedures and processes that will facilitate the change implementation throughout the organisation that includes teaching the specific skills that people need to enable the change.
Style - the behaviour of managers as they move to achieve organisational goals
Common values - the common bond, culture, and other factors that link team members and make them want to achieve organisational goals. In most organisations there is an opportunity to align these values with the vision and objectives, transforming the objectives into more sensory, emotive and aspirational ideals that motivate all employees and engage the wider group of stakeholders.
Technology - the actual advancements, equipment, tools, or machinery that will affect the way work is accomplished. If new technology is being implemented at the same time as a wider change process it is imperative its implementation is aligned with the organisation's values.

Resistance comes from inadequate and/or inappropriate systems within the organisation, which shape the "identity" of the organisation. It can also come from a lack of alignment with the organisation's values with those of the employees. In organisations with restrictive budgets the resistance may actually come in the form of a lack of capital to invest in upskilling employees, revamping workplaces, or enhancing other performance support systems (Hayes 2003, p70).

Sustainable change requires a participative approach to manage all of these elements in a systematic and supportive way.

Facilitating Culture Change: Project Stages

The following outlines the broad stages of a culture change project. Each of these three stages may be broken into more defined stages depending on the organisation's requirements, time frames and resources.

Stage One: Planning

The strategic goal of the culture change is defined and linked into the organisation's strategic future
The senior management team is committed to the process and works as a team to define how they will support the process and "walk the talk."
Non-negotiables, roles and resources are determined.
The project team is set up and includes a true cross section of the organisation. The team receives briefing notes and begins meeting.
Project Team meeting(s): Project parameters are set. The current situation is clarified, the team is charged with its role, the team works together to establish a charter and working guidelines. Issues and ideals are brainstormed.

Stage Two: Design

Senior management/manager liaison continues.
Project Team meeting(s): Planning the change. Needs are defined. A broad plan is developed. Desired outcomes are determined. Interventions are discussed, defined and selected.
A timetable is developed.
Sub-teams are created.
Team development continues.

Stage Three: Implementation

Full group system meeting (up to 3 days) or other interventions (to be agreed) held.
Action plan is set and implemented for actioning changes.
Further interventions or training happens.
Further role of project team determined.
Changes monitored, plan continues.

What top-management sponsors should do during the Planning Stage:

Explain why the change is happening; discuss the business reasons for the change and the costs or risks of not changing.
Define and communicate the project objectives and scope; tell employees what they can expect to happen and when.
Help select the right people for the team and ensure adequate time availability of these resources; provide the needed budget for the design phase.
Enlist the support of other senior managers and stakeholders in the project objectives and scope; provide a channel for key managers to provide direction at key decision points in the process.
Help the project team select their approach and timeline, and resolve start-up issues for the team.

What top-management sponsors should be doing during the Design Stage:

Reinforce why the change is happening; help employees understand the business reasons for the change.
Listen and respond to feedback from the organisation; actively seek input from all levels of management.
Create a positive network of conversation about the project with peers and managers at all levels.
Provide updates on the project's progress; let employees know what they can expect and when.
Stay engaged and up-to-date on the project; attend key project meetings and training sessions.
Keep other senior managers and stakeholders informed on project status and issues; help clear calendars for key decision-making meetings with these stakeholders.
Enable employees to attend change management training; personally attend as well.
Remove obstacles encountered by the team.

What top-management sponsors should be doing during the Implementation Stage:

Reinforce why the change is happening; explain the business reasons and the priority for the business.
Share the change with all levels in the organisation.
Provide answers to, "What does this change mean to me?" and "What is expected of me?"
Listen to resistance and respond to feedback from the organization.
Create a positive network of conversation about the project with peers and project stakeholders.
Actively participate in implementation planning; stay involved with the project; monitor progress and remove obstacles.
Ensure that adequate resources are available or adjust the implementation plan to fit available resources.
Engage middle managers in transition planning; define their role for the transition and set clear expectations.
Keep other senior managers and stakeholders informed on project status and issues.
Recognise behaviour and results that are consistent with the change and reward role models.
Expect results and measure performance toward results.

In order for change to be effective it must be consultative not imposed, and it must be well communicated. It is imperative to manage the integrity of the process as outlined above and very significantly don't start what the organisation isn't prepared to finish.

Everyone in the organisation must buy into, and commit to the change process. Everyone must have the opportunity to be involved, see, and experience the company values for themselves. Being "told by management" how to behave is not enough to carry the values through into behaviour change.

American change consultant Mark Maletz says of cultural change initiatives, "History shows that managers and frontline workers alike will resist your best laid plan. A few will openly fight it. Many more will ignore or try to sabotage your plan. If you don't have a strategy for winning people over you can forget about your change programme" (Maltez, 2001).

And this is where the opportunity lies for many organisations - the potential is in the people. The best way forward is to take incremental steps by empowering employees to design and achieve transformational change.

References:

Beckhard, R. & Harris, R. (1987) Organizational Transitions: Managing Complex Change. Reading, MA: Addison- Wesley.
Dunphy, D. Griffiths, A. Benn, S. (2003) Organisational Change for Corporate Sustainability. Routledge, New York, USA.
Hayes, K. (2003) Leadership Coaching - A Practical Guide, Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Kotter, J. 1998 'Leading change; why transformation efforts fail' in Harvard Business Review on change, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Maltez, M. (2001) Creating the New Corporate Culture: A Handbook of Transformational Change, Capstone Publishing.
Pfeffer. J, & Sutton. R, (2000) The Knowing Doing Gap - how smart companies turn knowledge into action. Harvard Business School Press.