Cultural Transformation

After years of little growth, command and control management, and cost-cutting, the cultures of many organizations need rejuvenating and tweaking in order to thrive in today’s difficult and increasingly competitive business environment. As Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM, wrote: The hardest part of a business transformation is changing the culture, the mindset and instincts of the people in the company.

How Do You Change An Organizational Culture?

Changing a culture is a large-scale undertaking, and eventually all of the organizational tools for changing minds will need to be put in play. However the order in which they deployed has a critical impact on the likelihood of success.

Begin with leadership tools, including a vision or story of the future
Cement the change in place with management tools, such as role definitions, measurement and control systems
Use the pure power tools of coercion and punishments as a last resort, when all else fails

Tools & Proven Methods!

As a manager, you may have the power to change your organization’s policies with the stroke of a pen. And you may have the ability to hire, fire, promote and demote people with relatively little effort. But changing an entrenched culture is the toughest task you will face. To do so, you must win the hearts and minds of the people you work with, and that takes tools, cunning and persuasion.

In their book “Blue Ocean Strategy,” W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne cite four hurdles that face a manager trying to institute broad change in an organization:

The first is cognitive – people must have some understanding of why the change in strategy or in culture is needed.
The second is limited resources – inevitably, changing an organization will require shifting resources away from some areas and towards others.
The third hurdle is motivation – ultimately, workers have to want to make the change.
And the final hurdle is institutional politics. They quote one manager who complains: “In our organization, you get shot down before you stand up.”

To overcome those hurdles, they suggest a “tipping point” approach to management.

First of all, recognizing you won’t be able to convert everyone at once, start with people who have disproportionate influence in the organization. Get them committed to the change, or, failing that, get them out. And once they are committed to change, shine a spotlight on their accomplishments, so others get the message.

Second, instead of just lecturing on the need for change, look for ways to get people to experience the harsh realities that make it necessary.

A few more general ideas:

If you want to stimulate creativity in the workplace, evaluate your company’s personnel structure. Managers typically tap only a small portion of workers’ creative capabilities.

Identify employees’ strengths and consider creating new groups with a tailored mix of talents.
If you have a project, create a task force.
Mix employees with different experience levels.