How to Change a Company’s Culture
- Written by NewsServices.com
To change a company's culture, it is important to understand what culture means and how it is created. A company's culture can be defined as the "shared beliefs, values, and social patterns that help define how members of an organization interact as well as the general behaviors that are expected".
A company's culture can be further broken down into two main components: organizational norms and corporate identity. Organizational norms are what make up the fabric of a company's office; these include elements such as working hours, vacation time-off policy, dress code, etc. Corporate identity is the "personality" of a company; it is how the members of a company view themselves and how they view their organization. This can be distinguished by how employees feel about a company and if they are proud to work there.
Change management
To change a company’s culture, an organization has to examine itself and figure out what its culture is made up of. To establish how your company's employees feel about the organization it is important to measure the current beliefs. This is the company culture and the base from which any changes are measured. To achieve this baseline, the organization will need to adopt an employee survey platform that can be utilized over time to measure the impact of the changes being made.
Six key areas must be addressed to effectively change company culture:
1. Trust
Trust is necessary for an organization to function in a healthy manner, and is also key for employees to live up to their duties. When new managers are appointed, they must be able to establish themselves as credible and trustworthy within the organization so that the employees will trust them and come forward with honest opinions about the new additions to the team.
2. A culture of openness
For change to happen, the employees must be willing to let go of some of the work habits that have been established over time. This means that the employees must be willing to share information with each other, talk about the changes taking place, and collaborate with each other.
3. Respect for others
All employees should receive respect from their peers and managers. This could be shown in several ways, including carrying out what they say they will do, listening to their ideas and suggestions, and so on.
4. Consideration for others' time
Consideration for others' time is crucial when trying to establish a culture of openness in an organization. It is important that employees take some time away from their jobs and do not feel like they have to do everything at once.
5. Open communication
Open communication means that all employees must be knowledgeable in terms of what is going on in the organization, where change is happening, and how they will be affected. For this type of transparency in an organization, employees need to understand what they are being told and why.
6. Teamwork
In order for a company to achieve its goals teamwork is necessary. When employees trust each other enough to work together, they can achieve much more in a shorter amount of time.
When an organization has identified how its culture is made up, it can begin to change the negative aspects of its culture and begin to promote the positive ones. This can be accomplished through an examination of what is currently being said, done, and thought by employees. Once a good idea of what is going on in an organization has been established, it becomes much easier to improve communication and create a healthy environment for everyone to work in.
