Successful Cultural Transformation Begins With Leadership Team

The actions of the leaders have a powerful effect on the organizational culture and impact the company’s performance. Leaders have the capability to spearhead cultural changes within the organization according to the evolving business needs.

An organizational culture that aligns with its business objectives is the key to move towards high-performance, remain agile, stay competitive, and adapt to the constant changes in the external environment. 

Who shoulder’s the responsibility of defining the organization’s culture?

The culture within the organization develops over time and is the product of the beliefs, values, and interactions of every employee in the organization and every employee plays a significant role in shaping the culture. However, the leadership has a pertinent role to play in shaping the culture and reinforcing it throughout the organization.

Many believe that a company’s culture is more about how the employees interact with each other and develop without any involvement from the management. However, culture involves more than daily interactions. It also includes the unspoken behaviour, beliefs, commitment, and purpose of the employees and is rooted strongly in the organization’s values. Leadership can lay the foundation for a strong and positive culture where every employee feels appreciated and recognized.

Modern business spans across diverse geographies and creates the need to smoothly integrate the culture of stakeholders from various geographies into a single unit. The involvement of the leadership team is important to ensure a collaborative culture where each employee has a say in the decision-making process and feels valued regardless of their cultural or geographical background.

So, how does leadership shape the organizational culture?

Leaders are vital in providing a sense of vision and inspiration to the employees. They manage a diverse team, coach and mentor each employee, provide them a purpose at work, align their tasks to the organizational objectives. When a leader interacts positively with the employees, they build a team that feels connected to the organization and its culture.

Here are a few effective techniques the leadership can follow to inspire the employees and shape the organization’s culture.

• Walk the talk - The leadership has to practice what they preach. They must demonstrate adherence to the company culture in all their interactions, as this would automatically inspire the employees to follow the actions of the leaders. This is an effective method to reinforce the trust of the employees in the leadership and organization.
• Follow an open door policy - Top management has to be easily accessible to the employees. Such open and transparent communication makes the employees feel heard and is also an effective approach to communicate the company’s values and goals to all employees. An open-door policy gives the leadership an opportunity to interact with employees at all levels and understand their grievances. They can define the culture in a better manner using the information gained through such interactions.
• Act on employee feedback - Leadership should not ignore the feedback received from the employees. They have to take meaningful action immediately and promote a culture of transparency within the organization.
• Employee empowerment and collaboration - Employees appreciate a culture of autonomy where there is more room for innovation and problem-solving. Leaders should extend more freedom to the employees in executing their daily tasks and involve them in the decision-making process. Measures are also needed to increase the collaboration among the employees so that they are clear of their roles and responsibilities and are better aligned with the organizational objectives.
• Consistent communication - The vision and goals of the company have to be consistently communicated to the employees. Today’s business has projects that involve employees from various geographies which demands transparent communication for smooth execution of the projects. Leadership has to proactively ensure that all employees receive regular updates about the company’s progress and its values.
• Accountability - A great company culture encourages accountability at all levels. It can significantly improve the performance, morale, efficiency, and growth of the company and eliminate the risk of fraudulent actions. Every employee including the top leaders of the organization must adhere to the norms of accountability and ensure that it is embedded in the organization’s culture.
• Avoid blame game - The culture must be lenient on human errors. Leadership has to take steps to eliminate the blame game from the organization and encourage learning through experiment so that employees are not reluctant alternative methods for an issue. The blame game can create a denial mindset among the employees and result in negativity across the organization. Leaders have to encourage a collaborative culture where all employees work together and have the opportunity to share their views.

Wrapping it up

Defining an organization’s culture is not the sole responsibility of the human resources department. The leadership has an active role to play in defining and reinforcing the company’s culture among the employees. Good leadership can inspire and influence the employees to perform better while adhering to the defined culture.

The role of leadership in establishing the right organizational culture cannot be stressed enough. Employees adapt to the changes in the culture faster when the leaders demonstrate acceptance and encourage others to follow suit.

Transforming an organization’s culture to meet the needs of modern business is a challenging task, and the success of the transition rests primarily on the leaders.