We’ve talked in the past about how you change your organisational culture, but we haven’t talked about in depth about how you recognise the need for change, and what those reasons for change may be. Sometimes, the small signs can be there before many people spot them, but sometimes there are major changes within your industry or organisation that force a rethink of your culture and processes. In this blog post we explore some of the reasons that may force a change of culture.
What can force a change of culture?
Poor performance
This is usually the most obvious and largest contributing factor in the need for an organisational change. Organisations have aims and objectives, with defined targets and key performance indicators; not hitting these targets can be one of the first signs of requiring organisational change.
However, it is important that you don’t look at the missed KPI and start implementing a wholesale change. Trading conditions, changes in personnel, technological advancements both internally and externally, other projects, skills gaps or a change of focus can all result in missed targets. It’s over-all trends rather than individual missed goals that can signify the need for organisational culture change.
In these instances, you may wish look at internal processes, redistribution of budgets and/or personnel, investment in technology, training, or evaluating individual’s goals in relation to the overall direction of the company to try to improve overall performance.
Technological & Cultural Innovation
The companies that not only survive but thrive are those that adapt to and embrace change. For every Amazon there’s a Woolworths, for every Facebook there’s a Myspace, and for every iPhone there’s a Blackberry. Technological and cultural change are inevitable for any organisation and the arena in which they do business, but it is vital that people at all levels of any organisation keep abreast of these changes and approach them accordingly.
Encourage your team to engage with and keep track of what’s happening in their industry. It’s also important to employ people that have a genuine interest in learning, adapting and overcoming challenges. If you hire the right people to begin with, it can help to a) reduce the need to have to implement wholesale organisational change, and b) make it easier to do so if/when you have to.
If you need help adapting to technological, cultural or industry change, Brightstone’s Management Training and Leadership Skills workshops and training programs can assist you through the process.
Staff Dissatisfaction and/or high turnover
Staff dissatisfaction can lead to poor performance, low morale, missed targets and ultimately a high turnover. Losing your best staff can lead to a downturn in overall business performance and everything reasonable should be done to keep staff happy, engaged, motivated and performing well.
If you feel that your staff are unhappy then it may be the case that organisational cultural change is required. The first step is to understand the reasons for dissatisfaction. Talking to your middle managers and staff surveys will allow you to form a picture of any issues that may have arisen. You may be able to identify ways that you can address the problem to increase productivity and performance. Get in touch with Brightstone if you think a third party would help you to discover how employees really feel.
Business Change
Sometimes, organisational culture change can be foisted on a company with no choice. Mergers, redundancies, promotions, restructures and more may all require a cultural change. Often these are the most unavoidable reasons but fortunately, if properly handled and implemented then they don’t need to cause too much disruption and can be turned into opportunities.
How to implement organisational cultural change
We have previously discussed how to change the culture of an organisation and more information can be found in this blog post. However, there are five important steps to follow for an effective organisational change, however small:
- Define the objectives and align them with overall business aims
- Understand the effects of the change, who it will affect, and how they are likely to receive it
- Devise a strategy to communicate the changes to staff, and how to action feedback
- Ensure you provide effective training, coaching and support to those affected
- Measure the effects of the change. Was it successful or not? What can be learned from it?
Of course, Richard and his associates at Brightstone offer coaching and training for businesses looking to improve performance, upskill staff, implement changes and remove bottlenecks. Most organisations don’t come to Brightstone looking specifically for a culture change program, but after spending a bit of time on the front line, we often find this is what is needed, and a successful culture change program always delivers results on the bottom line.
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