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The Most challenging leadership task is to change an organization’s culture. It is because an organization’s culture comprises the set of goals, values, practices, roles and attitudes. Changing a culture is an enormous undertaking, and eventually, all of the organizational tools for changing minds will need to be put into motion. However, the order in which they deployed has a critical impact on the likelihood of success.
What is Organizational Culture?
An organizational culture is a group of values, beliefs, and practices of human interaction that create an environment of an individual company. The overall corporate culture encompasses the general attitudes, core values, and practices of a business or organization. It is this “culture” that can measure through many different methods, including surveys of employees, surveys of customers and feedback from the company’s leadership. It is also important to note that while most businesses and organizations practice “organizational culture”, not all companies or organizations share the same values; thus, some companies may exhibit very different characteristics and behaviours when it comes to their culture.
When you communicate your company values, objectives and goals, what do you get? First of all, you will create a strong sense of belonging and accountability within your employees. Through clear communication about the organization’s values and goals and how these values will affect them, your employees will have a strong understanding of their place and your high performance culture and what they should contribute towards it. With clear instructions on acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, employees will have a clear idea about what to do in case of any issues or problems. Through regular review sessions and interaction with the staff, your employees will learn to align themselves with the company goals and values and will feel like part of the organization rather than separate entities.
Transforming Organizational Culture
The concept of cultural transformation has various definitions. Most experts define it as a change in employees’ values and beliefs that are manifested in their interactions with everyone and with the external environment. It is the shared experiences and attitudes of employees that shape their understanding of work and life in general. Hence, this change can be measured in key performance indicators (KPIs), which reflect aspects of organizational culture necessary for identifying organizational goals and objectives.
Cultural change is a continuous process in an organization to build and maintain a diverse culture that continually innovates and adapts to changing external conditions and internal expectations. The ultimate goal of any culture-changing initiative is to improve productivity, employee engagement and profitability within a short period of time.
Employee Contribution in Transforming Culture
An organization can not underestimate the importance of cultural change and its impact. People in an organization have different important roles; however, not all of these people know how they can contribute to the organization’s success. For this reason, the implementation of a culture change can be quite complicated. Organizations can enhance the advantage and benefits of a cultural change if every member can identify. It will be easier for the administration to implement the changes.
The organization must define its strategic goals and objectives before implementing any change. They must also align the change with the company’s mission and its strategic goals. Additionally, the organization must also determine what the changes will cause to the organizational structure and the behaviours of employees. The organization should develop a plan to ensure that there will be no obstacles in the cultural change will thus become effective. Companies must consider every aspect in the development of a cultural transformation strategy.
Leadership In Cultural Transformation
Cultural transformation occurs when leaders consciously decide that the old style of doing things is no longer appropriate. Leaders use several tools to accomplish this task. They include rewards for good performance. They should Encourage employees to take responsibility for their roles. Provide communication skills training, provide feedback, set and keep appropriate productivity goals, make decisions in a structured manner, encourage creativity, share power, resolve conflicts, educate and train future employees, etc.
Leaders are the core to successful team building and cultural transformation. They can facilitate the transformation or direct and promote it. The leadership form of the leader should be agreeable with their team. Transformational leadership styles require individuals to understand their effect on others and make changes to better their personal lives. Leaders who cannot think and act creatively or cannot communicate effectively will not transform their organization. Additionally, transformational leadership requires leaders to adapt to the ever-changing needs of their organizations. Leaders need to understand and adjust to changing situational demands to stay relevant to their audiences.
Takeaway
If you want your organization to be cutting edge in digital transformation. You have to adopt best practices of cultural transformation from the industry’s people. The best conversion method is to integrate best practices across the organization and ensure that the changes are uniform across the board. And suppose your company wants to take its digital transformation to the next level. You should have a single point of contact for all those different perspectives. An innovation leader who is responsible for strategy, vision and operational direction.
