How To Create A Culture Of Change

Emerging technologies produce disruptive changes all over the world, fostering innovation in industries, challenging business models, as well as the way we communicate and work. As this culture shift continues, leaders must try and achieve one constant: resilience through sustainability on all fronts. The only way to achieve lasting change is to create a culture that prioritizes wellbeing. A healthy environment where employees feel safe, valued and taken care of leads to more efficiencies across the board – whether that be to further corporate, financial, or sustainability goals.?

This is discussed in a recent article in Salesforce’s Vantage Point magazine. Jen Fisher, chief wellbeing officer at Deloitte, best-selling author of “Work Better Together” and the host of podcast WorkWell, works to provoke lasting change in ‘office’ culture, identifying how organizations can contribute to fulfilling and balancing the lives of employees. In the article, she summarizes this notion best when she says, “Not having a workforce with resilient capabilities is actually a huge risk to your organization.”

As we continue to adapt to the ever-changing technological landscape and build resilience for unforeseen challenges, the human component behind driving a sustainable future must not be overlooked.

Technological Disruption in the Workforce

Technological changes are now transitioning from a progressive rate to an exponential rate of development, from episodic to continuous change.? Like never before, the use of technology has spread in all aspects of daily life, and yet, in spite of cyber risks, more and more devices are connected to networks for both personal and professional use.?

Technology has been a leading driver of change, disrupting the way we live, and with a huge impact on how we work, and communicate. Most recently, the sudden reality of the pandemic has become a key driving force of technological advancement. From the very beginning of the global health crisis, organizations were forced to adopt remote work arrangements to stay operational and ensure business continuity.

The pandemic has fueled the widespread use of remote work, hybrid work, or work from anywhere – and everywhere.?

With these changes, companies were forced? to increase technology usage and implement better systems: the use of video conferencing, and online productivity and collaboration tools expanded widely; more IT solutions were developed to combat and prevent cyber threats, and to make every connection smarter and secure across devices, infrastructure and people to deliver personalized employee experiences.?

The impact of the implementation of new technologies, creates in many cases a sense of urgency, a new way of doing things, challenging not only the existing structures, but also the human capacity to react, adapt and accept changes.?

?Driving Change Through Wellbeing

Above all, leaders must have a focus on creating a human-centered organizational culture, whose principles and values can foster workplace well-being, an actionable commitment to sustainability, as well as all organizational business capabilities.

As Jen Fisher notes, a culture of change is one that “allows and empowers individuals to take care of themselves in whatever way that means to them.” The bottom line is that there is a close relationship between wellbeing and high performance. Organizations must create an environment where employees feel encouraged to discover and act on what wellbeing means to them, knowing that no matter what disruptions may occur, their health and safety is at the forefront.?

When we envision a human centered organization, culture and values must drive decision-making. In the day to day, the working environment should strive to foster authentic human connection where having? conversations with colleagues is encouraged at all levels, regardless of whether you work at home or in the office.