How to change organizational culture?

The above quote is one of the most popular sayings about the importance of organizational culture. No wonder, one of the most common things leaders expressed to me is their desire to create a culture that would align with their strategy and help them advance it. They say, "I want my organizational culture to be more agile, more inclusive, more respectful, more open-minded, more innovative." Independent of what type of culture you want to create, there are a few important considerations before we get into the strategies that help you make that change.

Given that challenge, where do you begin? The first thing is to ensure that you have absolute clarity regarding how people should behave so that you can articulate what those expectations are for your dream culture for your organization. Once you have that, you can do three things. One is called an ASA framework, so Attraction-Selection-Attrition. The second is around socialization, and the last piece, it is around the leader's role. Let's begin with the first one.

Capture the Power Within Attraction-Selection-Attrition Framework

I know it's quite a mouthful talking about Attraction-Selection-Attrition. What it means is people perceive your brand and your organization in a certain way. People will self-select whether they want to apply to your organization or not because they're making assumptions about your culture based on what they see in the news and media, from other people, including what they see on social media. Once these people come into your organization or apply for jobs, now you are selecting which people are going to fit with the culture, and usually, it's not just about who's going to be the best performer for the job. Once you have these people in your organization, those that don't feel they fit with the culture either because of values or how things get done, they decide to leave, and that's the attrition piece.

Let me give you an example of how this gets applied. RBC, the Royal Bank of Canada, which is identified as one of the most diverse and successful organizations in Canada, actually use that framework in creating not just a diverse workforce, but also a very inclusive culture.

First, they articulated what diversity meant to them. Unfortunately, people usually think only about surface-level diversity: gender, age, culture, all these factors that are visible of whether somebody is different from you or not, but RBC also looked at deep-level diversity, which is looking at what are your values that guide behavior, how have your experiences shaped your perspective, and how you problem solve.

Once they had that clarity, they started communicating that across the organization and started attracting people who came from different backgrounds, different cultures, different age groups, gender, etc. They also created expectations around selection. Not only were they looking for the best people to fit the job, but they also wanted to make sure that they were selecting people that had strong values of inclusiveness, which were conscious about the biases that they were carrying. Once these people were in, they were promoting people that demonstrated those behaviors more.

As you can see, by attracting the type of characteristics you want in your culture, selecting for those behaviors, values, and performance examples from the past and then retaining that talent is what helps create culture over a long time. No wonder today, RBC is considered one of the most successfully diverse organizations in Canada.

Unleash the Power of Effective Socialization

The second thing is about socialization, and that's a fancy way of saying how do we introduce and integrate new people into our organizations.

You may have heard about this very popular research that was done with rhesus monkeys in a zoo. What the researchers did was to start with a group of monkeys in a large enclosed area with a ladder providing access to a banana hanging at the top. The very first time a monkey tried to climb up the ladder to get the banana, what happened? The researcher sprayed cold water on everybody. What was the outcome of that? Do this a few times, and all the monkeys started stopping anyone who was trying to climb up the ladder to get the banana.

Over time, they started replacing one monkey at a time with a new monkey. Within a matter of weeks, all the monkeys had been replaced, yet none of the new monkeys ever reached for the banana even though the researchers were no longer spraying anyone with cold water. That's the power of teaching people about how things are done in an organization. It's writing on the wall.

Even though none of them knew why they couldn’t or didn’t go for the banana, why were the monkeys still not pursuing that banana? Because over time, they learned helplessness. Similarly, in organizations, people quickly learn what you can or cannot do in that organization. What is acceptable and unacceptable gets tacitly communicated to the new people. Even when you think, "We have so much new blood in the organization," why is it that we're not able to change the culture? It's because you're not actively shaping the narrative and stories.

Start from the very beginning when a person applies to your organization. What type of messages do you want to introduce to them? Once they become part of the organization, how do you create an amazing orientation experience that shares your values with them? Eventually, make sure that you're reducing that reality shock because, eventually, the honeymoon hangover effect will happen after a few months of heightened expectations of this new organization. The new normal will be created. How are you controlling or shaping that narrative so that it is creating a culture or reinforcing the values that you really want to see in your culture?

Fulfill the Leader’s Role – Role Model the Way

The last piece is around the leader's role. You wouldn't be surprised if I say one of the most common ways that the Board of Directors of any organization decide to change the culture is by bringing in a CEO or senior leaders from other organizations that have demonstrated behaviours congruent with a brand of the culture that you want to create.

Nortel did that when hiring the Cisco executives for their chief operating officer and their chief technology officer. They thought they would be able to bring the aggressiveness of pursuing goals and being very competitive in the market. This strategy may or may not work every time. There are many other hurdles that must be considered, but the most important message here is that the leader has a huge role in shaping the culture of their organization. The number one way that they do that is through role modeling. People are not just listening to what you're saying. People are watching what you're doing. Because of the influence that you have, you're able to create structures in the organization that enables that culture to thrive.

Next time you're thinking about creating an organizational culture that will support and advance your organizational strategy, think about what you are doing regarding clarifying what those behaviors, values, beliefs need to be that sustain that culture, and then make sure you apply these three strategies. Think about the Attraction-Selection-Attrition framework. Think about how you will socialize the talent you want to share the culture, and last, reflect on how you are behaving and role modeling for the rest of your organization. These three factors cumulatively will enable you to change the culture of your organization to its desired state.

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Sandeep is a change strategist and speaker. She partners with leaders responsible for creating impactful changes in their organizations. She is passionate about finding “the better way” for doing everything. Sandeep teaches the Human Dynamics of Change Management ? program to build change leadership capabilities of those leading and managing change in organizations across organizational levels. She also delivers thought-provoking keynotes to inspire audiences to think differently.

Connect with Sandeep at https://www.multilevelleaders.com or email [email protected]