TRANSFORMING CULTURE...TRANSFORMING CULTURE The debate about whether culture matters . is well and...

T R A N S F O R M I N G C U LT U R E

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Strategy. Culture. Leadership

© C o m p o s u r e G r o u p


TRANSFORMING CULTUREThe debate about whether culture matters is well and truly over. Culture has the power to transform organisations and become their greatest asset. It can also cripple organisations. The difference lies in each organisation’s leadership; between those who understand culture and those who pretend they do.

W H AT I S C U LT U R E ?

We all know when we have a great culture. There is a sense of purpose, a rhythm to the way work gets done, energy to go the extra mile and positive conversations about how good the organisation is to work for. We also know when a culture is weak or toxic. There is constant blame, lack of accountability, disengagement and a distinct lack of trust.

So if we know a good or bad culture when we see it, why do so many organisations fail to put effort in to get it right?

Culture is about patterns of behaviour or the ‘way things are done around here’. Humans are tribal by nature and so one of our most basic driving forces is ‘the need to fit in’. When people enter an organisation, they immediately start working out from the messages and signals they

receive, what behaviours are accepted or not accepted in that work environment. Over time these behaviours become the norm and people make choices about how they behave and act to fit in with these norms.

You have a choice. Let the culture find its own path or you shape it, shift it and strengthen it to maximise the chances of achieving your vision and strategy.

T H E C U LT U R E J O U R N E Y ?Having supported some of Australia’s leading businesses for over 20 years as they transform and build great cultures, we have developed a simple methodology that works. The process follows three main stages:

“Culture has the power to transform organisations and become their greatest asset. It can also cripple organisations”

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S H A P E Preparation for the Culture Project Engaging the leaders of your organisation and ensuring they can communicate clear, consistent and compelling messages about ‘what’ the organisation is doing and ‘why’ the culture transformation is critical to sucess. In particular, it is important all staff understand the context and need for this change, and its connection to the organisation’s overall strategy.

Assess & DefineIn order to objectively assess an organisation’s culture, we use a proprietary tool ‘Culture8’. The Culture8 survey measures employee’s perceptions on what they believe are the prevailing culture messages embedded in the business. This provides a reliable and valid measure of the current culture across 8 commonly seen cultural qualities, as well as providing a baseline against which future improvements can be compared.

Having obtained an objective assessment of your culture, we then work with your Senior Leadership Team to clearly define the aspirational culture required in order to achieve your strategic objectives.

“The Culture8 survey measures employee’s perceptions on what they believe are the prevailing culture messages embedded in the business.”

321STRENGTHENSHIFTSHAPE

Ø Prepare Leaders

Ø Assess Current Culture

Ø Defi ne Aspirational Culture

Ø Communicate & Connect

Ø Leading the Culture

Ø Audit the Culture

Ø Create Quick Wins

Ø Implement Culture Roadmap

Ø Embed the Change

Ø Review

CULTURE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS

Following the identification of the aspirational culture we work with your Senior Leadership Team, or a designated steering group, to shape your culture story. Building a unique cultural story is an important component of engaging all employees in the culture journey, and is critical to the successful re-engineeringof your organisation’s culture.

Communicate and Connect

This phase involves communicating the results from the Culture8 survey and the aspirational culture story to all employees, beginning the work of shifting your culture. The emphasis here is not only on communicating the culture survey results, but importantly, engaging and educating your people to ensure they are on board for the culture journey.

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© Composure Group 2014

Culture8 proprietary tool


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S H I F TIn this phase we help you put the actions in place that will create your desired culture. As culture experts, Composure can help guide you around the potential pitfalls and provide a more effective path to transform your culture. This includes supporting the Senior Leadership Team and HR in the management and effective implementation of critical actions.

Successful shifting of a culture requires change across 3 critical areas ideally in the first 100 days of initiating the program:

Leading the CultureLeaders play a pivotal role in shifting the culture. People take their cues from what leaders do, not what they say. Therefore we work with leaders to:

• Set clear behavioural expectations• Lead by example• Hold each other accountable• Manage emotional responses to change• Educate teams on the benefits of change

Audit the CultureIn order to identify the critical areas of cultural alignment and misalignment across your organisation, we conduct a Culture Audit. Just like other forms of audits (financial, IT, risk, safety etc.) We identify the ‘Hot Spots’ or areas in your organisation that will require change in order to achieve your aspirational culture. The Culture Audit involves spending time in the business observing the business in action, speaking with key staff to collect evidence on the way the culture is enacted across eight key factors. This data will provide critical information needed to shape your culture and unearth unique ways to embed the change. It provides Boards and Executives empirical evidence based facts from independent experts on a critical factor for success – your culture.

The Culture Audit process gets ‘behind the scenes’ and helps the business make more informed decisions.

Create Short Term WinsIt is vital people see progress, otherwise momentum can be lost. We encourage leaders to identify and highlight actions, no matter how small, to their people to explicitly show changes that are occurring. This is where momentum for the culture change begins to happen.

S T R E N GT H E NOnce the short-term wins are achieved, the embedding phase of cultural transformation is strengthening and consolidating the culture change. To do this we help you identify specific work streams that will constitute your Culture Roadmap. The Culture Roadmap identifies ‘What’ needs to be done, ‘Who’ will be responsible for the specific action, and ’When’ this will occur. It ensures any initiative is linked to the Culture Story and avoids conflicting actions or messages.

One of the surprising outcomes of this stage is the level of momentum that can be created with your people. In fact we often see culture initiatives going way beyond what the leaders thought was initially possible.

A F I N A L WO R DTransforming your culture can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your working life. It won’t happen over night. Lasting change can take three to five years but it’s worth it. To create a great organisation that not only enriches lives but also achieves its vision and goals is a profound achievement.

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C U LT U R E A U D I T

CULTURE AUDIT REPORTAREA OF FOCUS OBSERVATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS

PEOPLE FACTORS

LEADERSHIP

MINDSETS

TALENT

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AVERAGE

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LEADERSHIP

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MINDSETS

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TALENT

6Strategy. Culture. Leadership

C U LT U R E A U D I T

CULTURE AUDIT REPORTAREA OF FOCUS OBSERVATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS

ORGANISATION FACTORS

STRUCTURE

SYSTEMS

TECHNOLOGY

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Culture Audit report examples

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A B O U T C O M P O S U R EAt Composure we help, support and advise people in organisations to play at their best. We do this by developing clear strategies, great cultures and strong leadership.

The 3 important questions we ask are;

1. To what extent is your strategy clear, consistent and compelling?2. To what extent do you have a well-designed and robust culture to successfully execute your strategy?3. To what extent do your leadership teams have the capability to successfully lead the desired culture?

We partner with our clients to:• Create strategic stories that truly engage people and customers• Define, assess and develop the organisational culture needed to achieve their strategy• Develop the capability of team and individuals to lead the desired culture and align people to the strategy.

For more information on Composure services please visit our website www.composuregroup.com.au or

call on 1300 680 878.


TRANSFORMING CULTURE...TRANSFORMING CULTURE The debate about whether culture matters . is well and...

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