Is It Possible to Lose Your Company Culture During Change?
Unfortunately, it is possible to lose your company culture during change. We define company culture as the way things truly get done in a company. Organizational culture can be measured by the way employees think, behave, and work on a daily basis. Workplace culture includes the recognized and unspoken corporate values and assumptions that drive key business behaviors and business practices.
In short, an organization’s culture is what defines it. Our organizational alignment research found that culture accounts for 40% of the difference between high and low performing companies in terms of revenue growth, profitability, customer loyalty, leadership effectiveness, and employee engagement. So culture matters — a lot.
Protecting the Best Parts of Your Company Culture During Change|
Certainly, company cultures can and should evolve over time. But what happens when there is a major strategy shift, new leadership, a corporate restructuring, a major change in talent, a merger, or an acquisition? Strategies and organizational changes must go through your company’s culture to be successfully implemented.
Is your own company’s culture healthy enough and aligned enough to be up for the challenge? Or is your cultural identity as an organization at risk of hindering your people and business strategies?
The short answer is that you are at risk unless you…
Little C
Organizational Health: The values and behaviors across an organization.
Medium C
High Performance: How to get the most out of your people.
Big C
Aligned Culture>: How work gets done to drive your strategy forwardThe best cultural changes thoughtfully address each of the 3 Cs to ensure that the changes can effectively flow through their people and their culture to get implemented.
For example, a recent client found a material mismatch of culture in terms of how and where decisions were made between two divisions that were merging into one. Another client found that their historical approach to risk taking was not aligned with their new solution offering. Both wisely aligned cultural expectations early in the change process.
A good rule of thumb is to put 2-3 times as much rigor toward a smooth cultural shift as you invest in the strategic and financial aspects.
— What you know.
— What you do not know.
— When you will be able to fill in the gaps.
Use clear, concise, and compelling language and make sure that you encourage employee feedback and open discussions. Give everyone time to get used to the new reality and begin to appreciate the business case, urgency, and vision for change.
The Bottom Line
If your organization is about to undergo major change, make sure that you listen to change management consulting experts and have a plan to handle organizational health, performance, and alignment to your strategic priorities. Are you at risk of losing your company culture during change? Are you proactively aligning your company’s culture with your desired changes?
To learn more about the 3 Cs of culture, download The 3 Research-Backed Levels of a High Performance Culture that Leaders Must Get Right
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