Culture Change

What is it?

Organisational culture evolves continuously from interactions with employees, customers, suppliers and the wider community. It is the DNA of the organisation, the way things are done, and it influences every action and interaction.Whilst some of these influences act as a force for good, others can result in the development of practices which act negatively on the image, ethos and profitability of the organisation. The need for culture change may become apparent from 'trigger signals' but it also may be required following a merger or acquisition or a change of leadership.

Why is it so important?

Why does one company succeed whilst another fails? What made one business survive the recession whilst others went under? Dress it up in any way you like but the answer boils down to organisational culture.

Innovative, agile, constructive cultures with engaged people who seek answers and strive to create strong outcomes. Me first, short-termism cultures lead to disengaged employees, low productivity, poor quality and a damaged reputation. Following mergers, even two strong cultures can come into conflict resulting in a loss of performance. In fact, studies have shown that more than two thirds of M&As fail to match up to expectations and cultural mis-alignment is one of the prime causes of this failure.

75% of CEOs say that fast changing market conditions are forcing them to reinvent themselves quicker than ever before. If change is not culture-lead and employee engagement driven then the results can be catastrophic. It may take time to explain the change, to engage employee hearts and minds both in the need for change and in the change itself but with engaged employees embracing the new beliefs and behaviours there is a far greater chance of success.

The Benefits

Strong company cultures = successful businesses. When beliefs and behaviours are aligned with strategy and vision great things can happen. The converse is silo-driven, disengaged, back-biting, unprofitable failure. 93% of executives hitch their companies long term success to their ability to innovate and according to research from Bain, companies in the top quartile for innovation see a significantly higher growth rate than other companies. But company culture is not just purely about innovation. Risk management, compliance, reputation, creating competitive advantage, employee engagement; all these and more stand or fall on the back of the organisation's culture.

Every organisation has a culture. Whether the culture benefits or hinders the long term future and growth of the organisation is down to the way in which the culture is designed and delivered. Our practitioners all have a track record of getting the best out of people and of delivering a strong culture.

Measurement

You may already believe that the business culture needs an overhaul but until you understand the depths of the problem you won't be able to design a solution. Conducting a cultural assessment enables businesses to fully evaluate every part of the organisational culture including identifying enablers and inhibitors to company performance. For any change journey to be successful there has to be an agreed 'case for change' and the assessment can form a vital part of this.