Managing Organisational Culture should be a Top Priority for Every CEO

Before we go into how we can change organisational culture it’s important to understand what culture is and its key facets. Organisational culture according to Edgar Schein (2004) is “the pattern of shared basic assumptions - invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration - that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (Schein 2004, p17). According to Hofstede (1991), “culture is the collective programming of the human mind which distinguishes the members of one organization from another” (p180). It is evident from these definitions that Culture is built through shared learning and mutual experience. This shared learning and experience are at the heart of any culture change program.

Organisational culture is poorly understood leading to culture initiatives that fail and waste money. Others have mixed employee engagement with culture again creating unnecessary wasteful confusion. Organisational culture and employee engagement are what environmental climate is to weather.  Organisational culture, like climate is more stable and very difficult to change. Employee engagement is like whether it can change from minute to minute, hour to hour.  It is important to note that employee engagement is heavily influenced by the organisation culture. If you want desired lasting change focus on organisational culture instead of employee engagement. It is however important to periodically gauge your employee engagement. If you discover persistent areas that are negative you may want to dig deeper into the organisation’s culture.

As part of the change program you need to understand what type of culture you have. The best approach to understanding culture incorporates both quantitative methods and qualitative methods. A word of caution though is that when using the quantitative approach use validated instruments, not a questionnaire designed over a cup of coffee. Using instruments that are not validated is waste your money and time and it leads to nothing tangible. In the qualitative approach also use tried and tested methodologies that have been validated. In both approaches always measure the current culture and desired culture.

Before you start the culture change you must be absolutely clear on what business problem is being negatively impacted by the culture. There is no point in going through a culture change program designed as a “joy ride” without targeting a business problem. Once the business problem is identified and commonly understood by the leadership the whole process assessing your current and desired culture can start. This should enable you to establish the gap between current and desired culture. In your assessment, you may discover that in the same organization there are various subcultures supporting different business and personal agendas.  The level of change planning and initiatives will depend on the size of the gap between the current and desired culture, and the number of subcultures operating within the organisation. 

When starting the culture change program remember no culture change program will happen as long as it does not have a shared learning and mutual experience component. Any culture change program that does not incorporate this important element is unlikely to succeed.  The biggest hurdle to changing culture lies in first having a clear understanding of your current culture to enable you initiate changes that will take you to your desired culture. After understanding your current culture and where you want to go the next step is to come up with a solid change program that takes into consideration the shared learning and mutual experience.

Piecemeal changes to the system without a shared learning experience will not work. Team building and other peripheral activities such as training based on lecturing people on culture lead to failures in culture change programs. The culture change program should be largely be made of a change program that incorporates experiential learning led by the executive team. Do not stick religiously to a culture change program when new dynamics emerge. Remember culture change involves very fluid dynamics in human interactions. New relationships and partnerships are forged as you are going through the change program. Redirect these to support your bigger business agenda as per your change plan.

You must also remember that every business system or policy must be reviewed and checked for alignment to the desired culture. This includes basically everything; how things are done, how people are managed, how financial resources are managed and accounted for. Realign your leadership team and check if their management styles are in line with the desired culture.

Once you have implemented this initiative do your review after 12 months. However remember culture change can be very painful and it takes time. Do not expect immediate change but if you are doing it well the positive signs show early.

Memory Nguwi is an Occupational Psychologist, Data Scientist, Speaker, & Managing Consultant- Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd a management and human resources consulting firm. https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/memorynguwi/ Phone +263 4 481946-48/481950/2900276/2900966 or cell number +263 77 2356 361 or email: [email protected] or visit our website at www.ipcconsultants.com