Time for a Change – it’s all about the “winning culture”

You may have faced a challenging time within your company recently, it may be from that time you have sat back and waited for the storm to pass. To become successful in business you need to become proactive, to identify what went wrong to become more successful in the future. To enable this, you need to take action.

You need to do this by acknowledging previous failings and errors and learn from them, it is crucial you encourage change within your team and embrace change management, you can achieve this through internal culture focusing on areas that will drive your commercial growth.

Below you can use the key areas of focus and learns:

Previous failings and errors – where did it go wrong

Taking the time to reflect on “the what”, this may be raw for you, but it is crucial in identifying the possible root cause. Your team are also crucial in the reflection process and can provide you with insights where you may overlook.

Acknowledgment – the catalyst for change

This can be seen as a reflective process, but it is imperative as it is the catalyst for change at this stage, by recognising the size of the challenge and acknowledging that cultural shift is required, this may be also seen as evolutionary it should not be overpowering but may feel that way in the beginning, all change can be and It can be difficult, you as a business owner or a manager need to be strong, this will mean making bold decisions, taking a critical viewpoint at behaviours and motivations of others, you certainly will need to remain impartial and focused as you will identify both positive and negative aspects of culture.

Upon completion of the process you will need to complete an action plan, with full detail, setting yourself clear dates for completion. You need to do this with absolute gusto and determination.

Culture change is not yours – it is for everyone

Quite simply you do not own the culture within your company, whether you like it or not, and creating a culture does not rest on your shoulders either, it belongs to everyone every day, people own culture, it grows and evolves daily.

You can adopt your company values tomorrow and keep them on your wall for one year, but in 3/6 months they will probably be out of date, why I hear you ask; simply because culture changes and as it does your values should change. It is for this reason that you must involve your people in the cultural changes and get them involved at the very start, they know your company probably more than you do anyway especially the little nuances.

Another reason to get them involved…. most people hate change or find it difficult to manage that’s why there are so many training courses and books on the subject out there.

If you acknowledge how your people are feeling it will help them, it can be emotional, stressful and cause real anxiety for some people. By involving your people, you will an open dialogue and encourage positive behaviours, by doing this you will create a winning culture from the start.

Working and communicating your winning culture

Communicate your winning culture with clarity and precision to your people, this needs to be relentless, gain the buy in of all of your people by focusing on the behaviours you all value. At this key stage it is imperative you have the full attention of all of your people and working toward the same winning culture, remember it is a collaborative approach.

Identifying who is in need of help

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You may find you have people who are not engaged – fact – change can affect people in many ways, it may mean simply you need to invest your time up-skilling your people, some individuals may be in need of development.

You will find when change occurs morale dip’s, you can boost this with L&D programs, it may also be a worrying time, for example “can I perform in the future”, “will I still be able to achieve”, these are all real feelings. It may be worth setting time aside to complete a review with your people to allay their fears.

Introduce a new environment

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Where you are making or introducing a new environment or moving, it can be daunting, exciting and bring about many mixed emotions.

Once again, your people are the key to this, their involvement is crucial to the success, as long as you have included them in the decision processes you should be fine.

A Q&A document can be a great tool when you are making changes/moves, I have used this before, and it has worked extremely well. Don’t forget input is everything.

Attracting and retaining talented individuals to your company is everything – don’t let them go.

Fran Crossland June 2019

HR and you Consultancy LTD

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