How can you create excitement and enthusiasm around a culture change?

Be completely transparent on your why and your what when you're trying to navigate changing the culture. The more open you are the better because then you won't scare away the current employees. Think about it like acclimating fish into a new tank of water. You don't want to move fast and shock them. Listen to the concerns of your employees and make sure that they know where you're coming from. Allow it to be an open discussion to make everyone more included.

I've found it useful to position the 'why' as awareness of the need/opportunity to 'evolve' - evolving culture to build the capacity to deliver on the strategy. The idea of culture as 'change' can unnecessarily trigger threat responses. Cultural evolution and capacity building can be positioned through the story of the journey of the organisation - where we've come from, where we are and where we're headed. This can build strong awareness of the need and focus energy on the next steps.

In my experience, interest in culture change is created by allowing people not just to have a cognitive experience (the facts/why the change is necessary) but also a strong emotive experience (how does the new way of doing things feel/how do i feel working this way). It is vital that due care us taken to ensure that this ‘experience’ of the new way is positive. It therefore requires thoughtful planning and careful execution. If this is realised, an extremely strong foundation is laid for the culture journey.

From a leadership perspective I would add authenticity and demonstrating vulnerability. These attributes are often overlooked but are vital in realising effective cultural change.

Work hard to keep communications positive yet reality driven. Make connections with the positive changes happening around the business and how those changes are inspiring others to act. Find ways to both refresh the message and keep it consistent. Highlight areas of the business which might normally be less connected or even under represented in the engagement arena. Support leaders to communicate change messages positively and consistently. Put as much focus on the influence and impact of the culture change on the performance of the business as you do the people. Celebrate, Focus, Celebrate, Focus. Encourage ideas from unusual places to come to life and help them take hold. Enjoy the journey and show it. Positivity breads positivity.

Truly empowering your employees is hard to do versus just saying that you are empowering your employees. Two easy ways to truly empower: 1) include them at the grass roots level. They have the most rich info - establish a feedback loop. 2) actually USE the feedback you collect into your plans. Show them how they are informing future plans. That's it!

Every interaction is a cultural contribution. Create an environment where people see and appreciate that they are cultural carriers, and that how they show up and work with others is crucial to their experience and to the organisation

You can't change the company by yourself. Find your strong culture ambassadors and have them join you in your mission. Reward then and give them recognition. Allow them to speak on panels and discussions so then that way you gain more trust and credibility with the rest of the employee body. Delegate to empower!

Using data and analytics when involving your employees helps you know where your current culture stands. Data and analytics gives you a quantitaive view and will allow you to get a good idea of how much change is needed and enable accountability and the ability to track your culture change more precisely over time. Give feedback regularly to employees as well during the journey using data from the journey.

“We cannot continue like this,” that's what we need to hear from employees, on a broad basis. Dissatisfaction with the status quo is a sine quan non for any change initiative. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage questioning and reflection that leads to this expression. There we can identify the values that the new culture requires. For example, "we cannot continue having dozens of levels of approval, management should trust its professionals!", "we should focus more on people than on processes", "we need more autonomy and flexibility to act".

It's time to celebrate - a milestone is reached! It's time to celebrate - an obstacle has been overcome! It's time to celebrate - a project is closed! It's time to reflect - a milestone is reached! It's time to reflect - an obstacle has been overcome! It's time to reflect - an initiative has been delivered? Ensure your teams have access to Lessons Learned Logs when preparing for any new projects. This will ensure that many of the same past mistakes aren't repeated and that better practice is king!

One thing I found helpful as an HR person is really to have the directors and managers impacted by a significant change in their organisation, their WoWs and culture design the change management plan. HR is just maintaining consistency with future state and coordinating on the method in addition to other fonctions (com, external affairs, legal, capabilities etc). This renforces ownership, embedding in "field" and business strategy and reality: it creates more adherence from other leaders, including when measuring impacts of the change. Cultural change is realty an holistic change of systems, process, governance, processes, KPIs etc.. & not just influencing behaviors which is not sustainable.

When the green shoots of new cultural practices start to emerge, it can create greater hope and galvanise people to stay on the journey. Find different mediums to share the stories of these new practices or ways of working. Create stories that take people through the journey (highs, lows, learnings) to how we arrived at our new destination and what has become possible as a result

Sometimes it's going to feel like fighting a never ending battle. You need to give yourself and the team grace. Celebrate wins and learn from your 'losses' so you can move forward with better information and data. Share your feedback that you received with leadership and your culture team and continue to grow from there.

Recognizing achievements is crucial, but equally vital is celebrating setbacks. Maintaining a positive outlook towards failures demonstrates courage and adaptability, enhancing the acceptance and enthusiasm for change. Fostering an inclusive environment for failures facilitates more effective learning and strengthens team camaraderie.

This is a space where many projects fail. The capital is gone once the project is launched and no one owns the new thing to ensure its used, the benefits are realized and that there is adequate support for its users. Takeaways for success here: 1. Establish a never-going-away owner. They are responsible for iterations, updates, bug fixes and material updates. 2. Keep the feedback loop open. This will allow for continuous improvement. 3. Ensure you are tracking benefits. These aren't going to be realized until long after project launch. The owner should be measuring these on an ongoing basis.

Celebrate Successes: Celebrate major milestones and achievements related to the culture change. Host events, recognition ceremonies, or team-building activities to reinforce the positive aspects of the change. Create a Supportive Environment: Ensure that the physical and emotional work environment supports the new culture. This includes updating policies, procedures, and physical spaces as needed. Patience and Persistence: Understand that culture change takes time. Be patient and persistent, and don't give up if you face resistance or setbacks along the way. Use models for those that need facts and stability during change - Bridges Transition Model - Endings/Transition and New Beginnings can help explain the feelings employees have.

I have found that a good way to train leaders and employees is through playing a “dilemma game” and cascading team conversations throughout the organization - action plans and commitments should be an outcome, with regular follow-up to track progress.

Help your team grow and learn together. To support your employees in adapting to the new culture, it's a good idea to offer training and development opportunities. This means giving them the chance to gain the skills and knowledge they need. But it doesn't stop there. You can also set up mentorship or coaching programs so they will have guides who can show your team the ropes and help them navigate the changes. It's all about making sure everyone has the tools and support they need to succeed in your culture change initiatives.

Leadership buy-in is the key factor in generating passion about culture transformation, ensuring that leaders actively exhibit their commitment to the change while also being supportive of it.

I would state it as going back to the beginning all over again - that's the reinforcement type. Always assume some will revert back to the old ways. You must be willing to commit to the long run.

I have found that integrating the values and behaviors into all HR processes - from recruitment and onboarding to performance development, recognition, succession planning and eventually exit - ensures that we are speaking the same language throughout the whole employee lifecycle. However, this is pointless if leaders are not role-modeling from the top.

A strong and vibrant culture is reinforced at senior management level. Leaders must model the desired behaviours and reward those who go above and beyond in doing, saying, and supporting others. Also, be prepared to couch those who are falling behind and be prepared to have some uncomfortable conversations.

Give people an opportunity to 'experience' what your vision for the culture will be like. Rather than only hearing or seeing it

Ensure that leaders and top-level management actively demonstrate the desired behaviors and values. Employees are more likely to embrace change when they see their leaders consistently embodying the new culture. Offer training programs, workshops, and resources to help employees adapt to the new culture. Provide coaching and mentorship to facilitate the transition and help individuals embrace the change more effectively.

Corporate attention spans can be short. New top leaders joining will bring new initiatives and ideas with them. Resist the urge to start these new programmes when pre-existing programmes have yet to mature or realise their objectives. If leadership provides continued impetus and clear direction, it will greatly enhance belief in the change required (and avoid the cynicism that inevitably accompanies yet another new initiative).

sustaining momentum for cultural change is as crucial as initiating it. The final leg of this journey involves a trifecta of actions: monitoring, open communication, and employee involvement. The metrics to be observed range from engagement scores to key performance indicators. Use these data points not just as a report card, but as a diagnostic tool that helps in making real-time adjustments to your strategies. The importance of metrics is two-fold; it not only allows for a systematic assessment of the changes but also serves to keep everyone aligned and aware of collective progress or areas for improvement.

As Buckminster Fuller said: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Create something better than what exists and people will want to be there.

In every culture, there are fundamental elements that provide it with stability and continuity, known as ‘anchors’. By identifying these anchors and basing the change process around them, we can ensure that we move forward into the future while still being rooted in the strengths of our past. To create excitement and enthusiasm around cultural change, it’s not just about introducing new practices or beliefs. It’s about creating a journey that respects our past, acknowledges where we are now, and is genuinely enthusiastic about where we’re headed. This journey can be transformative and unifying if approached with cultural intelligence and can enrich our lives in profound ways.

The most common misconception about changing behaviors is that a person can change it on his own. It is believed that it is enough to simply talk, explain the importance and usefulness of new values and mentality. If this were so, then after reading articles about a healthy lifestyle, smokers would quit smoking. In practice, we know that it doesn't work that way. In practice, the basis for changing culture is changing the context in which a person finds himself, changing the mechanisms that stimulate certain behavior patterns. A change in context and incentives will lead to a change in behavior, and a sustainable change in behavior will lead to a change in a person's values and mental attitudes.

In the same way that strategy evolves and develops over time, it is deeply imperative that the culture that enables purpose and strategies also evolves. When an organisation shifts from seeing culture as a single initiative or event and begins to embrace culture as a way to thrive and flourish in order to enact purpose, the engagement and genuine buy in to culture can dramatically increase. Client organisations have found it really insightful and practical when invited to consider the individual (mindsets, behaviours, skills), the social (ways of working together, shared beliefs and stories) and the structural (policies, processes, systems) aspects of culture as being like a three legged stool – each leg is vital and interconnected.

There is an assumption here that employees "should" be excited about culture change. Some people will do a great job regardless of the environment around them, and some will never engage in organisational imperatives. Culture change (however we define it) only ever is a means to an end. People might get excited at the prospect of being paid/treated fairly, at the prospect of more flexibility, more being listened to, more autonomy. Some may get involved in change efforts if they see some change alredy in effect.