As I was chatting with an HR friend who had just joined a new company, she shared how challenging her work is because she needs to drive culture change.
I laughed and answered, “That’s why they hired you!”
And we continued our conversation talking about training programs they’ve been doing that didn’t seem to make any difference.
The truth is, culture is not built or changed with training alone.
Training addresses gaps in knowledge and skills, but it is not enough to address performance gaps or even shift culture.
Yet, sometimes, just because there is a training budget available to spend, you use it anyway, tick the box to mark the task as done and cross your fingers that it will move the needle.
If not training, then what will shift culture?
Align Your Core
Start with the basics.
In my work as a Coach, Facilitator and Consultant, I found that there are still some organizations that operate and get by without clear mission, vision and values. There are also others that have them, some even painted on their walls or displayed as a screen saver, yet people do not even understand what these mean.
Without these, your organization’s brand and what employees do everyday would feel empty. Think of a person without any goals, aspirations or preferences, who would just go with the flow and say yes to everything that comes his way. Do you want your organization to function that way? When precious investment, resources and talents are at stake, there must be a solid purpose behind every task.
And because your Mission, Vision and Values are at the core of the whys and hows of what you do, driving a shift in culture may also mean revisiting and realigning it with your core.
Set up the Environment
“When you point a finger at someone, remember that three of your fingers are pointing right back at you,” – Unknown
“We hired the wrong people.”
“We are understaffed.”
“The training program was not engaging enough.”
“They were too busy focusing on last week’s issue.”
Isn’t it easier to say these, than to assess what the real root of the problem is.
If you want to change culture, change your ways of working first.
If you want to change your ways of working, change the habits first.
If you want to change habits, set up your environment for success.
Kurt Lewin (a German-American Psychologist) viewed behavior as “a function of a person in his environment” or B = f (P,E). In this equation, Behavior (B) is a person’s personality, motivations, history (which we’ll get into later), and Environment (E) refers to the physical and social surroundings. That said, one’s behavior is not solely determined by a person (who he is, what he can do, etc), but also by the impact of the environment.
For example, if you’re looking to build a culture of appreciation in your organization, you don’t just wish people are more appreciative per se, but you curate an environment that would encourage them to appreciate more. You could…
- Put up a big appreciation board in the main pantry area where employees are encouraged to post appreciation notes for their colleagues
- Start each meeting by appreciating the members of the team or celebrating wins
- Run information campaigns that talk about the benefits of appreciation, and share tips on different ways to show appreciation
- Give incentives to reward and encourage the behavior
Engage the Employee
In the Behavioral Engineering Model (or Six Box Model) by Thomas Gilbert (psychologist and founder of performance technology), similar to Kurt Lewin’s equation, the Individual (person) is of course, an important aspect in shifts in behavior, performance and also culture.
In Gilbert’s model, he identified three factors to consider in the individual, knowledge, capacity and motivation. Employees need to feel equipped with the skills and knowledge, understand the expectations, feel aligned and moved by the mission, vision and values, and feel valued.
And because shifting culture is essentially a change, this means that change practices like transparency, open and timely communication, involvement, training and support all come in. This requires not just a peanut butter approach or a one-way communication update, but an individualized approach where both parties are heard. After all, some culture shifts also require a shift in mindset… And that is not something you can just plug and play.
Run the training, but don’t stop there.
Training is still an important step in driving change in culture. Employees (leaders included) need the knowledge and skills to do what they need to do in new ways you want them to.
Want a coaching culture? Train the managers on coaching skills.
Want them to be agile leaders? Train them on agile principles.
Want them to practice empathy? Train them on emotional intelligence.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Create alignment of the culture change with your core, and set up your environment (and systems!) for success.
And most importantly, buckle up because this is going to be a long game.
No Special tools needed. You can start today, and do it consistently to make a difference. Coach Kurly de Guzman is a Career and Leadership Coach and one of a LinkedIn’s Top Voice based in the Philippines. She continuously seeks ways to help coaches, leaders and teams thrive through her newsletter, leadership and career development workshops as well as group and 1:1 coaching session for clients.
To work with Kurly, send an email to hello@kurlydeguzman.com or book an exploratory call to discuss your organization’s needs here
