We started listening to the people we see as change leaders and unleash their collective wisdom. This magazine is inspired by their views. Here below are our fundamental beliefs about culture change.
On engaging with people to get to know a culture
The danger of experience
Curiosity, questioning, and active listening are essential; avoid assuming you know what you are seeing or hearing already; stay open-minded. Business leaders are often celebrated for their sharp minds, quick judgements and decision making. In the context of understanding a culture these qualities are a full-blown risk. It is the ability to postpone judgement, explore the unknown and notice the contrary minority voices that provide richness to your culture views.
You have to care, before you dare
Care relates to creating the connection and building trust. Without a connection no single hostage taking was ever ended. It was hostage negotiator George Kohlrieser, who came up with this phrase. It comes in many different phrases: ‘Tough love’ is in essence the same, just phrased the wrong way around. Love tough is the order of things in getting to know people and thereby a culture, before challenging it.
Emotions create connection
So, if connecting and caring are your first goals, then emotions are the magic potion. Emotions are energy in motion. You want to find out what moves people, both literally and figuratively. It is this feminine quality of seeing the emotion in others and using your own emotions to ‘liberate the energy in others’ (Boyatzis). So, especially in tough circumstances, those who are able to give words to the emotions in the room and their own emotions are the ones who connect. Collaboration thrives when people feel emotionally connected.
I Am OK, You Are OK
Embrace a mindset of mutual respect and acceptance. I am not weak, and you are not mean and vice versa. Originally laid out as ‘Transactional analysis’ by Thomas Harris back in 1967. Nowadays it gets renewed attention in times when transgressive behavior is called out more and more. The moment you de-escalate transgressive behavior, by clearly showing your boundaries and emotions you can stay in a winner’s circle, rather than dropping to a drama triangle, in which there are only losers through external investigations, painful dismissals and organizations and individuals losing reputation.
On mobilizing people to change
You can’t change a culture; you can change behavior
Culture is singularly persistent, so there is no way to change a culture. However, you can influence behavior. First and foremost, by your actions (more than your words) and by influencing the behavior of all leaders. See also next belief. We all know how deeply ingrained our habits are and how resistant to change. Yet the Covid19 Pandemic taught us how adaptable we can be, if our context changes dramatically. So, change the context in which people work.
Leaders go first
Congruence is simple: walk your talk! It is hard to teach others to put their phone down, if you are using your device. Leaders are visible and must lead by example. Their actions are under heavy scrutiny, especially if core values have been defined and activated. If you proclaim openness, you will be challenged to show all figures and facts, also when some of these facts “can’t be shared for good reasons yet”. You will compromise the value, if you choose not to share that data. This is why senior leaders must be closely involved, carry the values in their heart and be willing to sponsor and explain these repeatedly.
If you want people to change, change the smell of the place
Psychology is overrated, context is everything, like we said above. Sumantra Ghoshal argued that most organizations stink like Calcutta in summertime, his hometown. If you are able to increase the levels of discipline and stretch targets in the result dimension and increase the levels of trust and support on the relationship dimension, you have better chances to change behavior than spending time on personality profiles. The physical surroundings can impact behavior significantly, especially if these contain compelling messages around discipline, stretch, trust and support.
If people don’t feel seen, nothing will move
Great bold statement about the necessity of making people feel seen, heard and understood. You don’t need to agree at all, but first acknowledge the point of view of others, especially those with opposing interests. Appreciation is undervalued and goes a long way. So does ‘sorry’.
If you can’t change people, change people
This is a tough one and probably also the most influential belief. Once you have established connection and trust, you have been clear about direction and results, you have agreed to disagree about some key topics and/or someone does not buy into new values at all, it may be time to say goodbye. Changing people accelerates culture change, as it also sends a message to the people who stay. New people, new energy, new views shift the balance remarkably.
On designing the culture change
Culture is the ‘how’
we want to achieve our strategic goals. Any definition of what the culture is, should be closely related to the strategy the organization has set out for itself. The story of how the two are aligned will need to resonate with all stakeholders. Especially the ones who make the strategy happen: leaders and employees. It is the “flexible muscle strength around a well-defined strategy spine”, we wrote in the Magazine: Benefits of Culture Change. Cultural anchors resonate more if they carry some of the history that has made the company successful in the past and provides stretch towards the future. ASML did a great job weaving together many attempts to describe the culture in different parts of the business in three key words: Challenge, Collaborate, Care. They did not only formulate the behavioral descriptions, but they also wrote an extensive historic document of how the company had grown in its then first 35 years of history.
Customer alignment
Connect your culture to the customer journey. Alignment
with the strategy can be made more practical by looking at the customer journey and noticing how cultural values can become the cultural anchors for the improvement and simplification of the customer journey. It can also be helpful defining where to invest in making the customer journey simple, more effective and connect investments in the employee journey to that.
Cultural anchors
We have started talking about values as anchors that provide stability in rough times like anchors do for ships. In challenging times, your cultural anchors—core values and beliefs— guide decision making. When strong performers repeatedly violate the core values of a company, are you willing to eventually let them go, after early warnings and courageous conversations? This sends a clear message to everyone in the company.
Bring lightness and humor
into an atmosphere of terminal seriousness. It lightens the atmosphere and encourages creativity. This is at the heart of the success of Frisse Blikken, who often get involved in the activation of values and strategy. Serious games, events where people can experience the values and interact with each other in new and imaginative ways create a positive spirit in a culture movement. Five positive impulses to one negative one, is the rule of thumb. It is also interesting how you focus your mind’s eye: on the people who embrace the new initiative, or on the skeptics?
Trust and Performance are two inseparable currencies
The currency of relationships (trust) and the currency of an implemented strategy (performance) are intertwined. Farshida Zafar explains beautifully that trust needs to be confirmed through short term results and the other way around. This is how it works at a personal, team and organizational level. In high-performing teams, trust is the currency alongside continuous performance. They invest in deepening trust in times that results are great. It is this virtuous upward circle of high performance. The other circle is clear and disastrous: when low trust and poor performance reinforce each other: the vicious circle.
