7 Steps for Incorporating Culture Change into HR Processes, No Matter When the Change Occurs

Often, organizations want to change certain aspects of their cultures, and the need for change is often precipitated by fear of some sort, i.e., potential liability, loss of sales, declining employee morale and engagement. Even when the motivation to change comes from the clear need to improve, change is hard, fraught with resistance, and the more significant the change, the more time it takes to stick. Not only does effective change require a compelling rationale, it also requires regular communication about the incremental steps of the change and the consequences of of resistance and sabotage. See “Essential Steps of Change” below for important factors in any change management process.

While approaches and strategies to increase the likelihood that change will stick are often discussed, there is less discussion about the best time to attempt change. Timing matters because it affects urgency, which is the understanding that change is necessary (and that failure to change will create problems). Urgency also increases the likelihood of adoption. Finally, urgency, whether real or engineered, tends to increase during times of transition (see examples below) because the loss of predictability helps people to see the necessity of change.

Examples:

• Changes in leadership;
• The organization observes problematic trends, i.e., consistent complaints from customers, employees, vendors, etc;
• A significant organizational failure occurs, in which every team shares some responsibility; and
• Major changes in the regulatory environment that impact how the organization or team operates.

Essential Steps of Change:

1. Begin gathering information to understand who thinks the culture needs improvement, why they think that, and learn whether there are already ideas in circulation for how to improve the culture. Determine whether the organization has a history of failed attempts to change its culture or other significant failures, i.e., mergers, adoption of new systems, etc.
2. Complete an initial SWOT to determine where the organization is and isn’t aligned. Evaluate the gaps between the senior leadership team and rest of the organization regarding what the organization wants/needs from its culture.
   a.  Learn how the culture is explained to potential employees
   b.  Learn how current employees experience the organization’s culture
   c.  Learn how the culture is perceived through the eyes of customers and stakeholders
3. Take note of opportunities to build a sense of urgency and trust across the organization. Also take note of low momentum regarding the need for change and who is benefitting from the status quo versus who would benefit from change.
   a.  Create two piles: what’s on fire now and what will be on fire within the next 3 – 6 months. Be sure to develop definitions for “fire” and get clarity on the cause of each fire as well as steps that could be taken to prevent           them and why those steps haven’t been taken.
4. Focus on understanding the organization’s culture through the following lens:
   a.  What do employees perceive as punishments and rewards?
   b.  How siloed or interdependent are the department/teams (look for interpersonal conflict between department leaders and teams and evaluate whether the goals of some teams/departments conflict with those of                   other departments)?
5. Re-evaluate the gaps between the senior leadership team and rest of the organization regarding what the organization wants/needs from its culture. Pay particular attention to what is often said of the organizational culture versus the realities that surface as information is gathered.
   a.  Look for compliance gaps and where the existing culture may exacerbate the gaps. Organizations that have compliance challenges often have culture issues that enable compliance issues to persist.
6. Create a vehicle to build buy-in for change across the organization, including representatives from the executive/senior leadership team.
7. Anticipate supporting leaders around resistance, theirs and that of the people who report to them.