3 Ways to Help Transform Your Organizational Culture

Pivot International  |   August 29, 2017

When CEOs and other business leaders discuss the most challenging issues they’ve faced throughout their tenure, you can bet that almost every time, someone will bring up changing their company culture.

It’s often seen as one of those intractable problems: How do you transform a culture that has, for whatever reason, become negative, stifling, or inflexible?

Understandably, many leaders struggle mightily with this question. Changing a company culture requires not only major effort, but also time. It requires sensitivity. It requires the right people.

But as many organizations have proven over the decades, it can be done. The crucial question, perhaps, for those at the top is: What can we do to help? How can CEOs and others in the C-suite help guide this transformation?

Here are 3 key considerations for those of us leading companies that are working on changing their culture.

Change doesn’t come from the top down – or the bottom up

We often hear a false dichotomy when we talk about changing a company culture. There’s a prevalent idea that it can come from either the top down or the bottom up.

However, this is far from the truth. If a culture is really going to change, the work needs to happen at all levels, at the same time.

A CEO can’t decide that the company is going to throw out a too-rigid adherence to tradition, communicate that to those below her, and expect change to occur. By the same token, a manager can’t mobilize his team to value the customer more and expect that to trickle up the chain of command.

Instead, those of us in leadership positions must seek out those in lower levels of the company and involve them in the transformation plan. We’ve got to listen to and work with people in all kinds of positions if we want change to happen.

After all, the culture affects everyone, from the entry-level worker who started yesterday to the President who’s spent 4 decades at the company.

If you want to change where you’re going, you must know where you are

You can’t effectively transform a culture if you don’t know what it is currently. While many of us in the C-suite may feel confident that we know our company culture inside and out, I’m willing to bet there are things every one of us could learn about our own businesses.

This is another reason that it’s so important to hear from your employees about how the culture affects them and what they believe needs to change.

Before you start drawing up your transformation plan, make sure you take the time to fully understand what you’re working with. That way, you’ll be able to not only challenge what’s wrong or ineffective – you’ll also be able to build on the strengths that are already there.

Transparency is key

A vital part of any good company culture is trust. In businesses that are functioning well, with inspired employees, strong, positive leadership, and goals that are consistently met or exceeded, trust is always present.

Evaluate the state of trust at your own business. Do your employees feel safe bringing their concerns to their superiors? Do you and your fellow C-suite colleagues discuss ideas and challenges openly?

If the answer is no, you’ll have to work hard on addressing this issue before you tackle anything else. One helpful way to do this is to commit to transparency. If you’re striving to transform the company culture, be open about that with your employees. Let them know that you want their help throughout the process, and that you care about what they have to say.

Simply opening that door, and maintaining an attitude of openness and transparency throughout the cultural transformation journey, will do much more than any number of memos, incentives, or punishments ever could.

For more on leadership, read my post “What Manufacturing CEOs Can Learn from Their Front-Line Workforce.”