By Kim Jong-nam
In my work helping organizations change their corporate cultures, I often hear the complaint that cultural changes are difficult because it is difficult to change people.
The implicit belief hidden in this statement is that the only ― or at least the best ― way to change a culture is to change the people. However, this view is mistaken. Changing a culture requires changes at both the vertical (change in people) and horizontal (change in the perceptions of policies, procedures, and practices) levels. Employees are not just the objects of change, but the subjects of change.
Some corporations suffer from a misalignment between the desired culture and actual behaviors of employees. If employees behave in a way contrary to what is desired by the organization, it is because the direction(s) pursued by the organization is/are not unconditionally accepted by its employees. Merely making an official announcement that the culture will be changing in this or that way will not have an effect if it contradicts what employees have been experiencing and led to understand.
Organizations need to acknowledge that the new organizational values will be different from the values that employees already have. Thus, it is important that sense-making activities are part of the change process so that employees and the organization can have shared meanings. It should be proven that the new organizational values are worth pursuing and will benefit everyone―urging employees to blindly follow the organization's values instead of their own individual values, without providing a specific why, is ineffective.
Individuals see changes in society faster than their organization does: they can easily find out what is happening in the outside world and with what values other companies are treating their employees. Since they can make up their own minds about what values are best, the organization will have to persuade them that the values that it has chosen are the most appropriate for this particular organization.
Another alignment is needed between the organizational climate and the psychology at the individual level. The policies, practices, and procedures of an organization have a big impact on employees, because employees will consciously or unconsciously analyze these constructs to create their collective understanding of how the organization sees its employees, what it wants from them, and how it wants them to achieve its strategic goals.
The nature of the organizational climate will determine how employees will react or respond to it collectively. What is important now is to align these constructs with what psychological reactions individuals need to have. If employees believe that their organization cherishes them and they understand the reasoning both behind what the organization wants from them and how the organization wants them to accomplish that, this collective understanding will create a psychological climate that will be fruitful for the organization.
What's indispensable to creating this psychological climate is ensuring a speak-up culture. This does not only mean that management listens to the employees. A true speak-up culture is one in which there are mutual exchanges between executives and employees. These can help employees understand the reason for cultural change and the organization's position if executives can explain them clearly and sincerely. Although some people may think of cultural change as primarily coordinating a direction and a strategy, what is actually more important is ensuring that employees are aligned and on board with these. That is, it is vital that employees are willing participants without the reward of remuneration or the threat of evaluation. To accomplish this, persuasion is a must. Listening to employee voices is not enough: there must be two-way conversation between leaders and employees if the cultural strategy direction is to take hold.
Another crucial alignment is that of leaders' values and the new values and assumptions that their industry needs. If leaders think their values are perfect and their assumptions are sufficient for the existing market and organization without even checking to see if this is so, this negligence will result in their organization remaining as an island in the industry.
Furthermore, they won't be able to implant the new organizational values that their market and employees want. The target of their cultural change should be the connection between the market and their employees, not the market and the organization or the executives only. Employees are typically the ones interfacing with customers more frequently, which is where and when they will be able to transmit the organization's values. If the organization's values are only mandated but not truly alive, the attempted culture change will fail.
The success of any attempt at change hinges on whether employees are placed at the center and whether leadership can create an aligned environment. Alignable leadership will bring about an alignable culture.
Kim Jong-nam (jongnam@sas.upenn.edu) is the founding CEO of META (www.imeta.co.kr) and a global organizational development consultant who works both virtually and in person.
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The implicit belief hidden in this statement is that the only ― or at least the best ― way to change a culture is to change the people. However, this view is mistaken. Changing a culture requires changes at both the vertical (change in people) and horizontal (change in the perceptions of policies, procedures, and practices) levels. Employees are not just the objects of change, but the subjects of change.
Some corporations suffer from a misalignment between the desired culture and actual behaviors of employees. If employees behave in a way contrary to what is desired by the organization, it is because the direction(s) pursued by the organization is/are not unconditionally accepted by its employees. Merely making an official announcement that the culture will be changing in this or that way will not have an effect if it contradicts what employees have been experiencing and led to understand.
Organizations need to acknowledge that the new organizational values will be different from the values that employees already have. Thus, it is important that sense-making activities are part of the change process so that employees and the organization can have shared meanings. It should be proven that the new organizational values are worth pursuing and will benefit everyone―urging employees to blindly follow the organization's values instead of their own individual values, without providing a specific why, is ineffective.
Individuals see changes in society faster than their organization does: they can easily find out what is happening in the outside world and with what values other companies are treating their employees. Since they can make up their own minds about what values are best, the organization will have to persuade them that the values that it has chosen are the most appropriate for this particular organization.
Another alignment is needed between the organizational climate and the psychology at the individual level. The policies, practices, and procedures of an organization have a big impact on employees, because employees will consciously or unconsciously analyze these constructs to create their collective understanding of how the organization sees its employees, what it wants from them, and how it wants them to achieve its strategic goals.
The nature of the organizational climate will determine how employees will react or respond to it collectively. What is important now is to align these constructs with what psychological reactions individuals need to have. If employees believe that their organization cherishes them and they understand the reasoning both behind what the organization wants from them and how the organization wants them to accomplish that, this collective understanding will create a psychological climate that will be fruitful for the organization.
What's indispensable to creating this psychological climate is ensuring a speak-up culture. This does not only mean that management listens to the employees. A true speak-up culture is one in which there are mutual exchanges between executives and employees. These can help employees understand the reason for cultural change and the organization's position if executives can explain them clearly and sincerely. Although some people may think of cultural change as primarily coordinating a direction and a strategy, what is actually more important is ensuring that employees are aligned and on board with these. That is, it is vital that employees are willing participants without the reward of remuneration or the threat of evaluation. To accomplish this, persuasion is a must. Listening to employee voices is not enough: there must be two-way conversation between leaders and employees if the cultural strategy direction is to take hold.
Another crucial alignment is that of leaders' values and the new values and assumptions that their industry needs. If leaders think their values are perfect and their assumptions are sufficient for the existing market and organization without even checking to see if this is so, this negligence will result in their organization remaining as an island in the industry.
Furthermore, they won't be able to implant the new organizational values that their market and employees want. The target of their cultural change should be the connection between the market and their employees, not the market and the organization or the executives only. Employees are typically the ones interfacing with customers more frequently, which is where and when they will be able to transmit the organization's values. If the organization's values are only mandated but not truly alive, the attempted culture change will fail.
The success of any attempt at change hinges on whether employees are placed at the center and whether leadership can create an aligned environment. Alignable leadership will bring about an alignable culture.
Kim Jong-nam (jongnam@sas.upenn.edu) is the founding CEO of META (www.imeta.co.kr) and a global organizational development consultant who works both virtually and in person.
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