Culture Change, Where do you start?

March 25, 2011 - PRLog -- As a HR business partner, or a manager that wants to make a difference, you think you've got a good idea? In fact you're certain you have a good idea. You're convinced the business needs to do something and the something needs to happen now. But you can't make it happen on your own.

You need sufficient support in order to implement it and make things better. You know that the change needs to happen, but you don't really know how to go about delivering it. Where do you start? Who do you involve? How do you see it through to the end? How do you establish the gaps and the level of detail required to get this thing off the ground? Whether you're considering a small change programme or an organisational change, it's perfectly common to feel uneasy and a little daunted by the scale of the challenge.

I recently had a conversation with HR business partner that was asked by a talent director to "take care of the culture thing, it's not really within my job description to tackle the subject."

Businesses are continually asking us to do more with less, improve performance and continue on "business as usual". My view is that Change IS business as usual! In today's climate we cannot afford to stand still, what worked a year ago may not be the best approach now. Globalisation, market conditions, the economy, demographics are key drivers behind the need to change. Isn't it about time our leaders were prepared to stand up and help make change happen? It's not enough to let someone else "take care of the culture thing".

A professor at the Harvard Business School and world-renowned change expert, John Kotter introduced his eight-step change process in his 1995 book, "Leading Change." Kotter suggests that for change to be successful, 75% of a company's management needs to "buy into" the change.
 
Let's take a look at Kotter's 8 Steps:

Step One: Create Urgency
For change to happen, it helps if the whole company really wants it. Develop a sense of urgency around the need for change. This may help you spark the initial motivation to get things moving.

Step Two: Form a Powerful Coalition
Convince people that change is necessary. This often takes strong leadership and visible support from key people within your organisation. Managing change isn't enough - you have to lead it.

Step Three: Create a Vision for Change
When you first start thinking about change, there will probably be many great ideas and solutions floating around. Link these concepts to an overall vision that people can grasp easily and remember.

Step Four: Communicate the Vision
What you do with your vision after you create it will determine your success. Your message will probably have strong competition from other day-to-day communications within the company, so you need to communicate it frequently and powerfully, and embed it within everything that you do.

Step Five: Remove Obstacles
If you follow these steps and reach this point in the change process, you've been talking about your vision and building buy-in from all levels of the organisation.
But is anyone resisting the change? And are there processes or structures that are getting in its way? Put in place the structure for change, and continually check for barriers to it.

Step Six: Create Short-term Wins
Nothing motivates more than success. Give your company a taste of victory early in the change process.

Step Seven: Build on the Change
Kotter argues that many change projects fail because victory is declared too early. Real change runs deep.

Step Eight: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture
Finally, to make any change stick, it should become part of the core of your organisation. Having a methodical plan and champions on board to create the excitement and urgency around the change are a great place to start. I'd like to think I fall into the category of someone who cares and is prepared to take the risks required to champion change. I'd hate to think the opportunity of impacting lasting cultural change just passed me by, or worse still, just "wasn't in my job description" enough to care!

Capita People Development is a FTSE 100 talent management consultancy partnering organisations in the private, public and third sectors to help improve performance.

Our business comprises five specialist practice areas that cut across the entire employee life cycle. These are; Diagnosis, Selection, Development, Diversity and Outplacement. They are the foundations from which we partner organisations.

Whatever the size, shape or industry sector of your business, we will help you to manage your talent and improve performance. We do this using our expertise and best practice in the areas of talent management, behaviour, people and business.

Within these five core areas we have the expertise to provide solutions that can be small tailored interventions that compliment your existing programmes - through to entire bespoke solutions for all your business needs.

Karis Burton, Learning & Change Consultant
Capita People Development
17-19 Rochester Row
London
SW1P 1LA
Tel: 08700 100 375
Email: peopledevt@capita.co.uk
www.capitapd.co.uk

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Capita People Development is a FTSE 100 talent management consultancy partnering organisations in the private, public and third sectors to help improve performance.

Our business comprises five specialist practice areas that cut across the entire employee life cycle. These are; Diagnosis, Selection, Development, Diversity and Outplacement. They are the foundations from which we partner organisations.

Whatever the size, shape or industry sector of your business, we will help you to manage your talent and improve performance. We do this using our expertise and best practice in the areas of talent management, behaviour, people and business.

Within these five core areas we have the expertise to provide solutions that can be small tailored interventions that compliment your existing programmes - through to entire bespoke solutions for all your business needs.