As a company grows and adapts to the dynamics of the business world, changes are bound to happen. There will be new hires and fires, leaders will leave and new ones will come, and the business may go through a more life-changing event such as an acquisition or an IPO, among other changes.
Amid the changes, however, company leaders should be careful not to lose sight of the company culture, the positive atmosphere, behaviours and values of the organisation. Change can shake up an organisation and is sometimes painful to bear. So how do you ensure that any changes leave the company culture unscathed?
Here’s our guide to implementing change without sacrificing company culture.
1. Communicate clearly
Being transparent and open about change builds trust between a company and its employees, helping to keep employees engaged and productive throughout periods of transition.
For instance, if a company decides to ditch the traditional office in favour of a remote setup, it’s imperative to keep employees informed of every decision throughout the process. For example, employees may be required to work in a co-working space from time to time. While it might seem overwhelming for someone who is used to working in a traditional office, they stand to gain a lot from the new arrangement, not least an improved work/life balance and the freedom to set their own schedule. Informing employees of how they will benefit by working remotely hastens their acceptance of the change.
Equally, being open about the likely challenges and assuring workers of your support will go a long way to enhancing a company’s values and its commitment to efficiency.
2. Train new entries to the company
As a company diversifies and expands its human capital, it can be easy to overlook the company culture when it comes to on-boarding new hires. This can slowly dilute the company culture to a point of non-existence.
Start the effort of preserving company culture from the early stages of the hiring process. For instance, ask questions based on your company culture during the interview. Seek to find out how candidates interact with colleagues. Talk about your company culture with them and ask their views. These efforts will help you find a candidate that fits well with the company culture.
It’s also important to train new hires about the company culture. Create a great team with user-friendly training modules to ensure that every new employee is immersed in the company values and behaviours. Current employees should also be trained on embracing diversity, ensuring that everyone recognises that diversity strengthens the company culture.
It’s also important to train new hires about the company culture. Create a great team with user-friendly training modules to ensure that every new employee is immersed in the company values and behaviours. Current employees should also be trained on embracing diversity, ensuring that everyone recognises that diversity strengthens the company culture.
3. Promote from within
Still on the topic of adding new talent, change can often take place when a senior member of staff leaves the company.
Instead of bringing in someone new, promoting from within can be very positive for the company culture since existing members of staff are already immersed in the culture and well-placed to maintain it. And if promoting from within becomes a generational behaviour, it can sustain and protect the company culture for future generations.
4. Listen to employees’ recommendations
Of course, a company’s employees are the people who will be actively involved in effecting change, so it’s imperative that their contributions are heard. Deploying an idea management software is a great way of obtaining employees’ ideas and feedback. If managers fail to involve employees in making final decisions, they risk damaging their company culture.
Ensure that employees have the opportunity to comment on their colleagues’ recommendations. Hold meetings to discuss feedback and encourage them to speak their minds. In addition, try to tackle any concerns that they may have. These steps make employees feel valued, helping to increase employee engagement, commitment and productivity.
5. Integrate two company cultures seamlessly
Change that involves global expansion can often mean bringing two companies from different regions together. Coming from different cultural norms, integrating two company cultures can be a tricky process.
However, taking the following steps can make integration a much smoother process:
- Employ a plan to gradually introduce the elements, processes and expectations of the acquired company.
- As with the integration of other processes, ensure that you closely monitor the integration of the two company cultures.
- Seek to clearly understand the cultural norms the acquired company holds dear in order to gain a clear understanding of which ones fit with your company culture and which don’t.
- Carefully and delicately transition the elements that don’t fit to align with the acquiring company’s culture.
- Avoid micromanaging the acquired company. In a company where innovation is integral to its culture, micromanaging can destroy employees’ enthusiasm to innovate. Micromanaging can also hinder the growth of new relationships among the employees of both companies.
6. Give employees time to process change
A good change strategy can often involve hundreds of meetings with executives and top managers. By the time it’s being rolled out, management has most likely already come to terms with the proposed changes.
What about the employees? Most organisations expect their employees to get on board with changes almost immediately. But this can put company culture at risk during a transition. While some people can process change quickly, others need time to do so. Not giving these employees enough time can greatly affect their performance and engagement.
When a company introduces change, it’s important to bear in mind employees’ feelings. Avoid forcing through abrupt changes and have a window for mistakes until everyone gets on board. In addition, help your employees accept change much faster by offering training on having a positive mindset. No matter how much the change has affected them individually, thinking positively can breed a positive attitude towards the change and help them onboard more quickly.
7. Make efforts to preserve what matters the most
A lot is at stake when change involves downsizing or cutting budgets. Things like training programs for employees, team-building activities and reward and recognition programmes can often seem like the easiest things to sacrifice.
Yet these things significantly affect employee engagement and company culture. Team-building activities, for example, enhance workplace relationships and teamwork among employees. And reward and recognition programmes show that a company values great performance, motivating employees to work hard while training programmes sharpen employees’ skills and improve productivity.
Rather than forgoing these activities at the expense of the company culture, it makes sense to think of creative alternatives. The monetary element can be eliminated if essential, but continuing with the activities can really preserve the company culture. Praising an outstanding employee during a meeting costs no money, for example, but goes a long way to maintaining a strong culture.
8. Don’t let go of the small things that hold you together
On the flip side of cutting back, change can mean diversifying, resulting in an increased workload and busy schedules. This can pose a risk to the simple things that glue people together in organisations; having lunches together, celebrating each other’s life milestones or even asking about employees’ welfare can easily become things of the past.
Even as a company diversifies, it’s important to not lose sight of these vital aspects of company culture. If having company lunches weekly seems impossible, consider a bi-weekly or monthly routine. Make deliberate efforts to find the time to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. No matter how busy the organisation becomes, maintaining these habits is invaluable for preserving company culture.
9. Lead by example
When any change happens, employees focus more than ever on their leaders to see if they are practicing what they preach.
For instance, if a company eliminates hierarchies and embraces a flat organisational setup, employees need to see the management live up to this change. Some employees might test their newfound ‘authority’ with their leaders. If managers react against this, it highlights that they aren’t ready to adhere to the new policy. If, on the other hand, management consults with employees and actively consults on what they want to achieve, it communicates to the workforce that their leaders are authentic, sincere and intent on leading by example.
In addition to practising what you preach, recognise employees who are doing the same. Make them ambassadors of the company values for others to emulate. That can go a long way to ensuring that the company culture remains in tact during periods of change.
Conclusion
It’s said that change is the only constant in the universe. Whether organisations seek it out or not, change is something that can’t be avoided. The bottom line? Ensure you don’t lose the company culture that’s often been years in the making.
