You want to change your company’s culture. How can you make sure your leadership is up to the task?

The company's culture cannot change unless there is commitment from the leadership team to undertake some deep reflection work on themselves to understand how they contribute to the current culture. Holding the mirror up is often the first and hardest step for leaders. Its not easy to be self-critical and openly share where you have unhelpful behaviours or ways of work that are not aligned to the target culture. Once you have the leadership team aligned, they all have to commit to the action they are personally going to take in order to role model the behaviours required and support the organisation understand how we will show up everyday. Simply leaders have to be the change they want to see!

I am working with several organizations as the work to establish their culture or to evolve an existing culture. It is not a one size fits all approach to determining the path but it needs to be intentional and a top priority in the organization that embarks on the work.

Use quantitative data to give context and scope of the issues, and qualitative data to move the heart, once the brains are engaged with the numbers. Use both types of data to tell why the numbers, stories, and your inquiries matter in the current context, what is at stake, and what the implications are for the future of your organization and its stakeholders and clients.

If Organizational Culture needs to be changed or improved, I believe a good analogy would be the acquisition of a virtue or a habit, bringing benefits both to the individual and to the organization. This transformation requires, above all, the genuine decision to act and the daily commitment to achieve. This commitment needs to be with all individuals, and, above all, Leadership needs to support and act to set an example for everyone. For example, autonomy in decision-making, without the fear of being reprimanded if the decision wasn't the best. It is evident that ethical and moral values should always be observed. Otherwise, instead of becoming a habit or virtue, the change can turn into a harmful addiction.

To shift a company's culture, leadership must deeply understand the current organisational culture in the context of its core values. This means taking a close look at how these values are—or are not—reflected in the collective behaviour of the people, the established processes, and the embedded technology. People are the heartbeat of any organisation, and leaders must exemplify the core values to inspire their teams. This value-based leadership practice is the foundation of cultivating the desired culture. Leaders must walk the talk, demonstrating the behaviours they wish to see, creating a ripple effect across the workforce. Leaders must embody a culture of continuous learning, leveraging on technology as a cultural enforcer.

Often, when leaders lead change, they craft a vision and begin examining how OTHERS will need change for the initiative to be effective. Rarely do leaders start change efforts by pausing to reflect on their own leadership, as individuals, as well as leadership teams, to consider how they may need to shift their behavior, style and action to role model what the future state requires. When leaders are purposeful about reflecting on what a change will require of them, they demonstrate vulnerability, self-awareness and courageous authenticity. Transformational change is most effective when it starts with leadership at the top, willing to be the first to change, demonstrating with their actions, not just their words.

Coach what you want to see in the culture you’re building every day and when you get it wrong or don’t show up in the way you want to as leaders ( and we all do it, everyone has bad days!) apologise, state what you’ll do to put it right and do it. Shine an organisational light on people doing great things. Being super clear on the specifics so people can see the impact directly. Build regular opportunities for people to recognise celebrate each other making progress. More important than ever in a remote setting. More than anything remember your culture is a living thing, needing nurturing and developing. It’s everyone’s job to contribute and like painting the forth bridge… The job is never done !

You get them out of their offices, into the office, or out from behind their computer screens and into the real world, and let them listen, not just hear, what's happening on the floor and in the field. You can't change culture with a few strokes of the keyboard or pontificate on what you've only heard. They have to live in the culture, actively participate in the culture and own it! Too often leaders say “How can others change?” The real question leaders need to ask themselves is “How do we, as leaders, need to change to meet the needs of our employees and the business?” They also need to believe they can change so they can change others. ??self-accountability.

Organisations prosper when the leaders cultivate a culture of shared vision and commitment. The leaders in any organisation who resist the "silo" model and are open to the big picture, show others in the bigger team that support and collaboration becomes a positive culture. Organistions who invest in their leaders and employees build an inherent focus on becoming an employer of choice and excel in their field. Engaging employees in the vision and purpose while providing regular coaching, feedback and recognition will assist in retaining their biggest investment. Retention of employees requires no "big ticket" investment. As an engaged leader, your employees will feel valued and know that their contribution is as important as anyone else.

Improving the culture in your business needs one thing above all else. Trust and psychological safety. Without this, all of your efforts are a waste of time. The most compelling way to build trust and psychological safety is when leaders authentically and transparently practice the discipline of challenging their own behaviour. Use the business values as the yard stick. Allow scrutiny from your people on how your behaviour stacks up. Own it if you drop the ball, and demonstrate a commitment to improve. Jocko Willink would call this 'Extreme Ownership' and it's the only way you stand a chance to start modelling the culture you want to build in your business.

Engaging leaders at the outset of any change process is fundamental. Focusing on educating them about the 'why' behind the change, the ultimate goals aimed to be achieved, and the tangible benefits for both the organization and its people lays a solid foundation for meaningful transformation. It's not just about informing leaders but making them active participants in shaping the culture. Encouraging them to share feedback, act as ambassadors of change, and embody the new directions through their actions, rather than mere words, is critical. The transformation led by example is the most powerful!

Definitely your leaders need to be involved in the creation of this new culture. People react much better when they feel part of it than when they just need to obey some imposed change. Address their concerns, struggles but also promote openness, creativity, motivation and specially bring on an expert with no bias. Asking your leaders to change some of their attitudes and ways of working may be hard to sink at first so make sure someone profesional, neutral and empathetic delivers the messages. They will highly likely take messages and a new attitude better when it is and feels like a safe space. Make sure they have this type of support throughout the process.

Leaders need to hear from people throughout their organization in order to fully understand how the culture is received by others. On top the sun is shining brightly and everything feels pretty warm and fuzzy, if you’re stationed underneath the ledge, the warmth of the sun isn’t so effective. Those employees might think that things are dark and dank. Same situation with two very different perspectives. Engaged leaders create opportunities to learn more about what their employees are experiencing. The two-way dialogue increases buy in on both sides which is important.

A method for engaging others into a large-scale change without compromising the strategic direction: Focus on "what" is changing, and allow input for "how" it gets changed. You can drive the overall mission/vision/end result and leverage leadership input to help map out how it gets achieved. This will enable leaders to feel like they have had control over the process, while you still drive the overall purpose of the initiative.

As a leader if I am not fully aligned to the vision of the company I can guarantee it will be difficult for me to sell that vision to my team. I have found myself in situations like this and I always make sure to go back and query that vision to the point where I am satisfied to align with it. I encourage my team to do the same with any directive I give. I have found that when the team knows they don't have to follow me blindly I get them more engaged and willing to do more for the team.

Change also takes time, you won’t see the results right away so make space for this change. Release unnecessary pressure and allow them to implement with their own teams. At this point it should be evident that your leaders are aligned so allow them to move through this new waters. Have them share regularly what changes have worked, which ones have been more difficult, share tips with each other. I recommend having a culture committee to assess the implementation, design new strategies for better impact, invite guests from other levels. Money shouldn’t be the primary motivation for a culture shift, they really need to embody it but It can’t hurt to have a special bonus for the implementation of a new project that will take time.

Permitirle a los líderes ser role model de cultura o de cualquier comportamiento que queremos que se instaure en la cultura de la organización también implica entregar las herramientas y acompa?arlos / motivarlos para que las usen. Hoy en día, las organizaciones buscan instaurar el uso de la IA en sus procesos, ?cuántos líderes conocen las ventajas de la IA en sus procesos, las usan y promueven su uso?

Executive coaching is a proven way of empowering leaders and managers. They determine the agenda but over a series of sessions they gain insight, knowledge, confidence and then know how to prioritise and plan the actions to achieve their goals.

Provide education and raise awareness within the leadership team as to the topic of culture. Lots of leaders talk about culture in a nebulous way, but giving people tangible means of impacting culture positively can be incredibly powerful.

Es importante frente a este punto, el definir muy claro las reglas del juego, el terreno sobre el cuál el líder tiene la atribución en la toma de decisiones para que sea mucho más ágil y con autonomía

Leadership development is critical to culture change. Your leaders may not be ready, they may not know what they need to do, and they may not know how to do it. Don’t be discouraged! If you’re facing any of those challenges, START with leadership development, don’t make it a part of your project plan. Develop leaders first and the other pieces will fall more easily into place.

The vast majority of touchpoints across the employee experience succeed or fail based on the quality of leadership. Now is the optimum moment to build a talent pipeline of human-centred and experience-driven leaders - the everyday experience of work and all the moments that are connected with it is exactly the space to develop leaders into and that's exactly why your organization will thrive - along with your people.

El liderazgo es uno de los pilares más grandes de la cultura, en la medida que los líderes se alienan con los símbolos, procesos y sistemas de la cultura que quieres consolidar esto hace que de manera natural se instauren comportamientos y conversaciones que refuerzan y posicionan la cultura deseada. Para el desarrollo de líderes como role Model de cultura funciona muy bien instalar la estrategia de cultura en los planes de liderazgo y en las mediciones de desempe?o (comportamientos culturales deseados) desde el accountability.

Firstly, the top management needs to walk the talk and then share the same across the next level managers and so on. Secondly, the top level managers need to enforce the same among their team members. At times they may need to reprimand their team members if the identified behaviours are not being implemented by the middle managers. Also it is seen that the top level managers do walk the talk however; the next line dilutes the message and is often ambivalent towards the same behaviours. By the time it reaches the bottom level of employees there is hardly any life in it and only remains as a pair of commandments that need to be practiced and remembered before and audit or before the visit by the CEO of the top level managers.

When shifting a company's culture, prioritizing leader development is key. Equip leaders with communication, emotional intelligence, and change management skills. Empower them to embody the new culture, listen to feedback, and drive the change effectively.

To effect self-sustaining organisational culture change, it is essential to understand the often hidden or unspoken current assumptions, beliefs, myths, feelings and values that underpin the evident or espoused culture. Edgar Schein’s model of culture explains this more fully. Focusing activity and communications and modelling new behaviours that forensically address them is key. They will act as a block or drag if left unattended.

Culture is a word we use to refer to observable patterns in the behavior of people in organizational settings. Those patterns are the product of the interactions of people over time. These patterns develop and are sustained owing to their utility, to the benefits those behaviors provide. To change an organization’s culture you must change the patterned behaviors that define it. Hence, a list of questions. What are the patterned behaviors that define the current culture? What are the benefits they provide? To whom? What patterned behaviors define the new culture? How can the current benefits be attached to the new patterned behaviors?

As I said elsewhere in this segment, the role of top-down steered and communicated culture change is sometimes overestimated in culture change initiatives. Pay just as much attention to identifying those middle managers and *informal* leaders - network nodes, people with long tenure in the org and who everybody goes to for 'how things work in this org' - are just as important to have on your side. Horizontal communication and social proof - the fact that people want to emulate the habits, behaviors and practices of those they admire and those they are most in immediate contact with -- is just as important. So culture change happens both bottom up and top down, if it is going to happen.

The wording of this question is a nonsense. If you're seeing culture change as a task, it indicates managerial and controlling intent, and this is very probably a core part of the problematic culture ...

No existen culturas mejores que otras o liderazgos mejores que otros. En realidad si queremos un cultura armónica y funcional los valores del líder deberían estar alineados con la cultura de la empresa. Dependiendo del tipo de empresa que tengamos tendremos x cultura y x tipo de liderazgo en cual los símbolos, valores, habitos y hasta creencias deberían estar alineados a la empresa a la par de los que el propio director de compa?ia pretenda instaurar. Lo que comúnmente se llama organización requerida.