How do you drive and support culture change?

1 Assess the current culture

Before you can change the culture, you need to understand the current state of affairs. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your organization's culture? How does it affect the performance, engagement, and satisfaction of your employees and customers? What are the gaps and opportunities for improvement? You can use various tools and methods to assess the culture, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, feedback, and analysis.

2 Define the desired culture

Once you have a clear picture of the current culture, you need to define the desired culture. What are the values, beliefs, and behaviors that you want to promote and reinforce in your organization? How do they align with your vision, mission, and goals? What are the benefits and outcomes of the desired culture? You can use various tools and methods to define the culture, such as visioning, storytelling, branding, and communication.

3 Identify and address the barriers

Changing the culture is not easy. You will encounter various barriers and challenges along the way, such as resistance, inertia, fear, confusion, and conflict. You need to identify and address these barriers proactively and constructively. How can you overcome the resistance and gain the buy-in and support of your stakeholders? How can you manage the change and deal with the uncertainty and ambiguity? How can you resolve the conflict and foster collaboration and trust? You can use various tools and methods to address the barriers, such as stakeholder analysis, change management, coaching, and mediation.

4 Implement and monitor the change

Once you have defined the desired culture and addressed the barriers, you need to implement and monitor the change. How can you translate the culture into tangible actions and behaviors? How can you embed the culture into your systems, processes, and policies? How can you measure the progress and impact of the change? How can you celebrate the successes and learn from the failures? You can use various tools and methods to implement and monitor the change, such as action planning, training, reward and recognition, and evaluation.

5 Sustain and evolve the culture

Changing the culture is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing journey that requires constant attention and adaptation. How can you sustain and evolve the culture over time? How can you reinforce the culture and prevent it from slipping back to the old ways? How can you embrace the diversity and innovation that come with the culture change? How can you respond to the changing needs and expectations of your employees and customers? You can use various tools and methods to sustain and evolve the culture, such as feedback loops, continuous improvement, learning and development, and customer-centricity.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?