Ron Stefanski: How to change organisational culture for the better

Although it’s a time-honored business tradition to blame the leaders when things go wrong, the truth is that usually, when organisational culture goes toxic, the problems stem from deep within the company, from its values and culture. 

Sometimes organisational change is necessary in order for a company to thrive, and the good news is that there are ways to change organisational culture for the better. 

In this article, we take a look at 5 models you can use to create a winning company culture that will help propel your business to success.

Why is Organisational Culture Important?

A healthy organisational culture is extremely important for a lot of reasons:

• Company culture improves your recruitment efforts. According to studies, a third of employees state that they would pass on a job opportunity if they didn’t find the company culture appealing.
• Great organisational culture also increases employee engagement, which in turn feeds the employees’ passion and motivation in their work.
• A positive company culture decreases turnover by promoting diversity, inclusivity and growth opportunities.
• Company culture increases productivity by boosting happiness and satisfaction, which motivates employees to work harder

In contrast, a bad culture not only hurts the growth and success of your business but also creates a negative work environment that doesn’t allow your employees to thrive.

5 Models For Changing Your Organisational Culture

The examples above of cultures gone wrong are just two of the many companies that have experienced these negative situations by not practicing what they preach.  

The 5 models below can help you change your company culture so you can prevent a similar situation from occurring due to failure to practice the values you preach in your organization. 

1. Unfreeze – Change – Refreeze

This model involves three stages of change: Unfreeze, Change, and Refreeze.

Imagine that you have a large cube of ice that you want to transform into a cone of ice. To do so, you must 

• First, melt the ice (unfreeze), 
• Then mold the iced water into the shape you desire (change), 
• And finally, solidify that new shape (refreeze). 

Source

Being able to look at the process of change as three distinct stages helps you make a plan for the transition and prepare yourself for what’s to come. 

This is particularly useful because going into change blindly can cause a lot of unnecessary chaos and turmoil. 

This article goes into more detail on the unfreeze-change-refreeze process.

2. Action Research

The Action Research Model (ARM) is the standard process for implementing change in organisations. 

It involves action research which allows you to set in motion a long-range, self-correcting mechanism that will help you maintain and enhance the effectiveness of your system by implementing practical and useful tools and strategies for self-analysis and self-renewal. 

This process encourages collaboration and cooperation among both employees and leaders which makes it an extremely effective way to bring about positive and sustainable change in any organisation.

It may require the implementation of communication and technical skill assessments to understand what your employees are capable of. 

3. Business Process Reengineering

Business Process Reengineering is all about the radical redesign of the main business processes in an effort to achieve significant improvements in quality, cycle times, and productivity. 

When using the Business Process Reengineering model, the organisation starts with a clean slate and rethinks all existing processes in order to deliver more value to its customers. 

This typically involves adopting a brand-new value system that places an increased emphasis on the needs of the customer. One of the best examples in Zappos. The clothing retailer not only managed to create a great company culture, but also created a reputation for its great customer service, which became the backbone of their marketing strategy.

4. Future Search

The Future Search model brings together people from different walks of life so they can communicate effectively. This includes those with authority, expertise, resources, information, and need. 

People discover common ground by telling stories about their past, their present, and their desired future. They can then get started making concrete action plans. 

This model has been tested in a wide range of cultures and in every sector of society across the world. 

It has been proven to be an effective way to implement real and lasting change across the entire organisational system.

5. McKinsey’s 7S model

McKinsey’s 7S model is designed to help make every part of your company work in harmony to ensure that each aspect is positioned to achieve its goals in the most effective and efficient way. 

This model also helps you identify the different elements that influence your organisation’s ability to successfully implement change.

The framework has seven elements, some of which are categorised as “hard”, and others as “soft”. The elements are as follows:

Hard Elements

• Strategy
• Structure
• Systems

Soft Elements

• Shared Values
• Skills
• Style
• Staff

This article dives deeper into the topic of McKinsey’s 7S Model. 

Source

How HR Professionals Can Lead Culture Change

There are actionable steps HR can take to make the shifts to a better culture. These steps include:

• Understanding the current culture
• Defining desired behaviors
• Confirming that mission/vision statements are aligned with processes
• Emphasising the importance of accountability
• Deciding on non-negotiables
• Making sure the company’s branding and culture are aligned
• Putting systems in place to measure results such as an Employee App
• Create or find PLR courses for training in the company
• Taking the steps to lead others to change

By following these steps, you can implement a new, stronger organisational culture and make sure that it sticks.

Summary

The bottom line is that bad cultures destroy employee morale, erode market capitalisation, and cost money. 

If a culture is left to morph and grow on its own, it can lead to monetary and public relations disaster.

Use the 5 tips outlined in this article to help you create a strong positive organisational culture that will benefit your business, employees, customers and enhance your online business on a new level.