How to Develop a Growth Culture

You've probably heard an adage: "The only constant in this world is change." Change is inevitable in today's fast-paced business climate and often happens quickly or unexpectedly.?

To operate successfully under these conditions, organisations must strive to develop a Growth Culture that promotes continuous growth and relevance. And to do that, it's essential to navigate change effectively by proactively cultivating an environment that fosters development. This is where the synergy of Organisational Development (OD) and Change Management becomes indispensable for growth leaders.

Change Management, at its core, is the strategic approach to cycling events that disrupt normal business operations and stimulate growth. However, the continuous process of Organisational Development ensures an organisation's ongoing relevance and goal achievement. Key focus areas often include understanding the organisation's vision and defining its value proposition, identifying the essential skills needed to deliver value, aligning processes with organisational goals, and clarifying roles, responsibilities, and governance to support the value stream. All developments in these focus areas should be oriented toward the organisation's future vision.?

Let's look at how growth leaders can develop a Growth Culture that reacts to or manages change constructively.?

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Getting Started on Your Growth Culture Journey

Besides focusing Organisational Development initiatives on strategic needs, ensuring that you include the support needed by your team will help you develop sustainably with bottom-up support. Therefore, a great place to start is by conducting an employee engagement survey to gain insights into the organisational dynamics. The survey should explore the perception of various vital aspects of your organisation.?

Here are some key elements to consider

Leadership

• What is the employees' perception of the organisation's leadership?
• How effective is leadership's decision-making?
• Do employees feel inspired by their leaders??

Workload

• How do employees perceive both their workload and its necessity?
• How complex is their work?

Employee Growth and Development

• Are there sufficient opportunities for professional and personal growth?
• How do employees perceive change, and how is it managed in the organisation??

Organisational Culture and Dynamics

• How do employees view the organisational culture??
• Do employees feel a sense of teamwork and collaboration??

Alignment with Organisational Goals

• Do employees easily understand the organisation's goals??
• Are employees aligned with the organisational goals??
• How well do employees understand how their role contributes to meeting organisational goals??

Feedback on Processes and Structure

• Do employees perceive current business processes and organisational structure as effective?
• What suggestions do they have for improving it??

Employee Satisfaction and Engagement

• Overall, how satisfied and engaged do employees feel?
• What are the factors that are detrimental to their engagement?

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This survey is one of the foundational steps in driving organisational development processes. But it's also an engagement tool in and of itself that can help with buy-in. It can make it easier to manage growth if initiatives develop within the team's needs. Your role as a leader is not to dictate change but to ensure that the steps taken in organisational development align with the vision, business objectives and needs.

Like most things in business, effective implementation of any developmental changes you identify should start with creating a comprehensive plan. This plan will include training, hiring, team building, re-organising, conducting additional assessments and annual employee surveys.

Whether or not your OD efforts are successful will primarily be measured by new engagement survey results and performance metrics such as productivity, quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. The overarching goal is to make the organisation flexible and agile, enabling it to respond quickly to contextual changes. By embracing Organisational Development and Change Management, growth leaders can pave the way for sustained success and resilience in today's turbulent business landscape.

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