I once heard a leader lament that the business had lost its culture. The reality was that it had several cultures that were developed by various departments and teams. Some of these subcultures did not connect very well with each other or reflect the company’s vision and goals.
The challenges of these past three years are creating significant business culture changes. Working from home; remote meetings; minimal in-person interactions; and lots of other factors are driving this change. Business leaders may be struggling to adapt to ensure that evolving cultural changes reflect the new realities while enabling continued success.
Here are some tips for addressing business culture changes:
1. Ask your leadership team what the vision is for the ideal company culture moving forward. Then do a reality check among your employees and other stakeholders. And remember, if you ask for input, you need to strongly consider it.
2. Disband top-down edicts-your employees have more autonomy now than perhaps they have ever experienced. Taking it back without doing front-end work, may be very unwise.
3. Encourage diversity within the organization. Racial, ethnic, gender, and disability status, along with diversity of opinions, helps create a healthy organization.
4. Spend time creating the business culture you envision; constantly communicate about it; and model it by ensuring that the company practices align with the culture you are striving to achieve.
5. When you develop business strategies, always consider your company culture. Unless you do, the likelihood of success diminishes significantly.
Leaders today need to be very active in shaping the company culture. If they aren’t, they may be surprised by what it ends up being.
As Peter Drucker stated, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”