A strong workplace culture is one of the most powerful tools a leader can have at their disposal — especially when it comes to leading through disruptive change. Culture seeps deep into the roots of an organization and when done well, it creates a more viable and effective work environment. More importantly, if the culture is not understood at every level of the organization, it can sabotage any major transformation, no matter how brilliant or necessary the change is for the company overall.
Research from Deloitte shows that 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct workplace culture is important to business success. Additionally, companies with strong cultures saw a 4X increase in revenue growth. However, when leaders don’t consider culture as an essential item to prioritize when accomplishing strategic vision they often jump to forcing a new way of working before taking time to really understand what makes the organization tick. Great change agents realize the power that comes when culture works in harmony with disruptive change. More importantly, they use change to inspire vision, instill trust and reward values-based behavior.
The following are some key takeaways to consider for fostering cultural health amidst disruptive change. It’s based on my experience leading large-scale transformation at Walmart Inc.
Assess the culture
Any change initiative or full-scale transformation must start with an assessment of the culture. Employees have an innate sense of how they contribute to a company and its culture. There’s a sense of pride and value that comes from knowing you contribute to a better, stronger workplace. That’s why it’s important to have a strong understanding of the standard operating procedures, stressors in the organization, rewarded behaviors and culture expectations. This will give you a firm understanding of how ready people are for change, the overall willingness to change and the available resources that can be used to implement change. Organizations that fail to do so will run into resistance and lack of buy-in resulting in counterproductivity.
Celebrate Your Culture
Change isn’t easy. That’s why it’s important to build rewards for early adopters and change leaders that fit within your culture. There are two words to keep in mind for celebrating culture — ‘early’ and ‘often’. When you celebrate these individuals early and often you create a more streamlined transformation process. More importantly, when you take the time to acknowledge and invest in team members who are positively adapting to change such as moving from one department to another you will equip your organization with a clear understanding of what success looks like. Lifting employees up on a regular basis helps employees normalize and become more familiar with the transformation.
Build Trust
During my time at Walmart, we wanted to ensure we were the trusted ‘insider’ source to our associates amidst change. We made sure to tell our own story to our associates before anyone else to avoid confusion and miscommunication from media and other means. We wanted our people to come to us and know they were going to be told the truth. Good, bad or ugly – they were going to be informed by us. We built numerous levels of communication touch points so that we as a company were the primary source for what was going on. We were always focused on answering two questions — ‘what is happening now’ and ‘what will happen next.’ We implemented several communication mechanisms throughout the company: through tone at the top, skip-level and small-group meetings.
People at the Center
Any change initiative should always embrace a ‘people first’ mindset. If you can’t get the employees involved in what to change, get them involved in how to change. Successful change initiatives always include a feedback loop. Opening up the lines of communication to listen, address, and respond allows you to personalize the messages and customize the speed of adoption. You must also take the engagement deeper by encouraging and affirming their ideas, communicating you not only listen to them but apply their ideas. By taking this approach, you will untap some of the most powerful thinking from the core of your organization. That is the magic required between corporate direction and individual adoption. It doesn’t mean we will implement every idea but encourages open communication and trust. A Deloitte study also found that employees also rank intangible elements such as regular and candid feedback (50%), employee recognition (49%), and access to management/ leadership (47%) highest as factors that impact workplace culture.
Make It Stick
Organizations often give up on a particular change strategy too early and never experience the long-term benefits. However, the key to any successful change initiative is that in order for it to truly stick, it must become part of the organization’s culture. Ensuring this kind of change sustainability takes time and tenacity. It also requires significant buy-in and ongoing behavior adoption throughout every layer of the company. This is where tension points between the status quo and the desired state come into play.
Research shows that the sub-optimized or failure rates for all types of strategic change is at 70% or higher. Being clear about the new behaviors required for sustained success, addressing ‘What’s In It For Me’ and aligning reinforcement mechanisms with the new performance expectations provide the glue for change stickiness. At Walmart, we used techniques such as posters documenting reduced time to complete a process, or improved accuracy daily or weekly recaps, and measuring customer feedback notes and satisfaction scores weekly and monthly were integral to our change plans.
Research shows that the sub-optimized or failure rates for all types of strategic change is at 70% or higher. Being clear about the new behaviors required for sustained success, addressing ‘What’s In It For Me’ and aligning reinforcement mechanisms with the new performance expectations provide the glue for change stickiness. At Walmart, we used techniques such as posters documenting reduced time to complete a process, or improved accuracy daily or weekly recaps, and measuring customer feedback notes and satisfaction scores weekly and monthly were integral to our change plans.
Organizations who foster cultural health will discover the driving force behind every great transformation. They will also set the tone for future transitions down the line.
