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A new era of cultural transformation


Michael Daun - September 9, 2020 - 0 comments

A new era of cultural transformation

”Successful cultural transformation starts with insights and action.”

Several portrait of smily workers

The corporate world is experiencing a pervasive, disruptive digital transformation that affects every aspect of organizations and employees. In the wake of these changes, sound values and strong, positive corporate culture are integral to shaping sustainable, successful organizations. Time and again, traditional methods of driving change processes have proved to be disappointing and unsuccessful.

In the same way it is said that the medium is the message, the method of driving culture both shapes the culture and becomes a part of it. An inclusive culture needs to be co-created; an accountable culture needs to be followed up; an innovative culture is best built through experimentation. The way of driving culture needs to align with the desired culture.

Cultr and Insights for You have identified four fundamental factors that drive successful transformation in the new era: a people-up perspective, an action-oriented approach, built on verified insights that promote remote-friendly work environments.

People-up

Co-creation generates authenticity

A culture can be described using elaborate words, but it is only authentically described when it resonates with what people within the organization have to say about it. When everyone is included in creating and shaping culture, the collective voice keeps it real and authentic.

Perceived culture drives outcomes
While the values embraced by an organisation may guide decisions, it is the perceived culture that has the greatest impact on daily behaviours and, in turn, on business performance and outcomes.

Action-oriented

Walking the talk – actions beat communication

The actions of management usually mean much more than the words used to describe culture. Walking the talk, leading by doing and role modelling, are the best ways to impact perceived culture.

The impact of small actions

Perceptions and assumptions about culture will either reinforce the culture or change it. We are influenced by our peers, and we observe and imitate each other’s behaviors. For this reason, small actions in great numbers can have a larger impact than big events. The more people observe an action, the more they will copy it, and the more likely the entire group is to be influenced by it.

Insight-driven

Measured culture creates awareness
An organization’s culture is what its members perceive it to be; an individual’s behavior mirrors his or her own values and beliefs. When we capture individuals’ perceptions of their own cultural behavior and correlate those beliefs with how others perceive them, we can collect tangible feedback that creates deeper insights and willingness to change.

Insight drives action
Using data to highlight areas where our cultural gaps are most obvious makes the culture tangible and creates a strong insight platform. Teams on all levels are engaged in closing those gaps using best-practice behaviors that can spread throughout the organization. Data-driven improvements increase the quality of their insights and lead to desired action.

Remote-friendly

Adapting to the times creates possibilities
At present, organizational leaders are finding themselves with remote teams in need of guidance. Effective virtual leadership is not only a key to building successful teams, but also to securing desired progress in change initiatives such as cultural transformation processes.

A remote approach increases reach
Often, transformation processes within organizations are driven and supported by those who are already convinced of the need for change. Persuading and engaging the rest of the organization can be problematic. Modern technology provides multifaceted opportunities by increasing reach and opening up new ways of encouraging active participation in transformation processes.

Our 5-stage process

Know what to aim for
The first step in successful target management processes is deciding your desired outcome. For cultural changes, that means defining the culture as you want it to be.

Understand the gaps and my direction
An initial 360-feedback analysis among your employees will define the current perceived culture and help identify gaps between the present and desired states. Then, we prioritize goals for change that enable us to design activities and campaigns to reach those goals.

Make it happen
Activities and campaigns are run over weeks or months, using the Cultr functions in peer-to peer nudging. Based on the gap analysis, we can run leadership training along with campaigns in order to secure tempo and momentum for change.

Analyze the impact

Completing a second round of 360-feedback after the prioritized Cultr-nudging campaigns allows you to analyze the results. The analysis provides a clear view of whether the desired change is taking place and helps determine the next steps necessary to secure the change process.

Integrate and nurture
Cultural change requires continuous nourishment to stick. Additional monitoring, nurturing awareness and adapting the context to align with the desired culture, all increase the chances for a successful, sustainable culture change.

Expected Effects of the Cultr/Insights for You process

Woman and man on laptop screen in zoom meeting
  • Aligning teams and individuals creates shorter lead times for cultural change
  • Virtual remote tools using accurate data enable high quality, systematic monitoring
  • Involving the whole organization through a people-up approach perceived as fun and engaging
  • Efficient culture change and unification in remote organizations

Cultr and Insights For You offer an integrated process that enables transformation initiation and progress as well as concrete tools for engaging employees, turning values into actions and activating desired behaviors. In short – a new way to drive successful transformation!

Cultr is an award-winning solution for engaging employees and co-creating company culture.
Insights For You provides a new take on 360° feedback, embedding company values and desired behavior in a tailor-made, easy-to-use app.

Together, we deliver successful transformation in any organization, in any sector, anywhere.

For more information on our approach to successful transformation or interest in participating in upcoming webinars, please contact;

Michael Daun, CEO Cultr
michael@cultr.works

Or

Christian Lindholm, CEO Insights For You
christian.lindholm@ifyou.se

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