Organisational evolution is impossible without cultural change management

There's a renewed interest in company and organisational culture in the wake of the mass return-to-work strategies that so many institutions are implementing.

For many, the idea of "work culture" seems like a corporate buzzword, but frankly, culture is at the centre of all activity and is embedded in our work environments, our home lives, and all forms of social contact. Recently, Forbes wrote about post-covid work culture, saying it is "derived from the overall mindset, collective habits, and relationships that make up a workplace".

For us as change managers, organisational culture is vital to all organisational change – because when a workforce is anti-change, the chance of a successful evolution drops significantly. This means that any systemic change (think new digital tools, navigating a merger or acquisition, or new processes) must be pre-empted with a cultural mind shift.

Our own research, and that of change management experts, Prosci, recently showed that 80% of the surveyed change managers say cultural awareness is one of the critical factors to successful organisational change – and I agree with this 100%.

One of our recent clients, a financial services institution, was getting ready to start implementing new systems in the business to ensure better productivity, transparency, and responsiveness. But we knew that implementing such a significant change would require buy-in from everyone working at the organisation – or these new tools would not be used or misused.

How can you expect new team-oriented strategies to function without embedding teamwork (as a value) into the organisational culture? Similarly, you can't expect better financial transparency without building a proper sense of accountability. Better responsiveness can only be expected when efficiency (and its value on an individual's career) become central to workplace culture. In this instance, the institution successfully transformed these values into KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) because it allowed individuals to see how it could improve their capabilities and ensure their career paths were on track.

Most business leaders may not realise that cultural change management functions similarly to any other form of systemic change management.

1) Identify and understand the change you need. Determine what values you want to change, identify the resources (human and financial) that will run the change, and secure the sponsorship (buy-in) of a higher-up in the organisation.
2) Put together the resources required to execute the change. Manage cultural change like you would manage any project (yes, including assigning project/change managers). Budget, train, and ensure that your managers embody the culture you are trying to embed. Organisational culture derives from leaders and the teams that embody it.
3) Implement the change – and adjust accordingly. You will receive feedback (and resistance) to any change, so you need to adjust your strategies accordingly. Even if the change is perfectly implemented, we must remember that these new systems (or, in this case, culture) will have to be maintained to ensure it becomes a permanent part of your culture.

Culture building and change management were once seen as "soft" skill sets, but more and more organisations realise the very real impact of these factors on their bottom line. A positive company culture leads to happier employees, who are more productive. Less employee turnover means fewer training replacements. A distinct organisational brand (and culture) is linked directly to company success.

"Work culture" isn't the nebulous term it once was, and it is a proven factor in any organisation's ongoing success (and change capability).