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The Challenge of Culture Change: Ownership
Oceanic Pharmachem Private Limited (OPPL) believes that one major challenge for an organization creating a culture change is ownership, which is just as much a leadership concern as an HR priority. A strong culture is vital for organizational success, as evidenced by its influence on leadership, employee commitment, customer satisfaction, and innovation. However, a strong culture is never static, and as organizational goals change over time, so too should culture. But there's one barrier that holds many organizations back from genuine and successful culture change: ownership.
The Role of HR in Culture Change
The answer is, too often, HR. As with most medium-to-large organizations, official responsibility for shifting organizational culture lies in the hands of senior HR executives and their team. While culture change can be an important and exciting project for HR, making it HR's sole responsibility doesn’t work out. Too often, it devolves into a transactional "box-ticking" exercise because of competing priorities. So unless it’s the official responsibility of business unit leaders, it’s hard to move culture change to the top of their agenda when there are so many other formal responsibilities. Particularly when they know that HR, who tend to have greater skills and expertise in this area, is supposed to be leading the charge.
True Culture Change: A Collaborative Project
True culture change means altering the way the organization operates. It shapes the way people make decisions, get their work done, what they prioritize, and how they interact with colleagues, clients, and customers. It is really only successful and powerful when business leaders see it as their responsibility and see HR as a resource for helping them achieve it. That’s why culture change has to be a collaborative project.
How HR Leaders Can Facilitate Culture Change
HR leaders can help business executives successfully execute culture change by doing four things:
Facilitate the Research Phase
To move from an existing culture to a desired, future culture, a lot of time is spent facilitating conversation and consultation for the change, but not enough time to have a tangible, meaningful understanding of the existing state. The current culture has to be studied at all levels—values, behaviors, processes, policies, and artifacts. Business leaders need to know, and HR can be a huge resource in facilitating this process.
Convince Leaders Culture Can Change
Many senior leaders are, in reality, very skeptical that culture really can change. Most have only seen culture change when drastic internal or market circumstances have forced it upon the organization. This skepticism is justified, as there are many examples of culture change not transpiring despite all the "talk" or of the change not turning out well. HR can help by sharing examples of how organizations have, in line with their long-term strategic objectives, proactively and positively driven culture change.
Teach the Leaders How to Change It
It cannot be assumed that business leaders will know how to influence culture. Some may have the expertise already, while others may find that it comes instinctively. But for the rest, it can be a new and uncertain path, since they may not have been involved in leading culture change before. It is not enough to engage business unit leaders to get their input on what needs to change and their buy-in to the initiatives. Only when these business leaders are equipped with the skills to drive culture change can they be given ownership and be held accountable for its success.
Have a Formal "Handoff"
When the culture change project is handed over to the business and changes are made to facilitate the new culture, the message to business leaders should be clear from the very top that the project is of the company, not of the HR. HR is there to support, help, and facilitate the change, but ownership of making these changes does not lie with them; it lies with the business unit leaders themselves.
It is clear that in the life cycle of an organization, culture should change, and this change is best led from the very top, driven through equipped, accountable business unit leaders, working collaboratively alongside HR.
From India, Mumbai
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4The Challenge of Culture Change: Ownership
Oceanic Pharmachem Private Limited (OPPL) believes that one major challenge for an organization creating a culture change is ownership, which is just as much a leadership concern as an HR priority. A strong culture is vital for organizational success, as evidenced by its influence on leadership, employee commitment, customer satisfaction, and innovation. However, a strong culture is never static, and as organizational goals change over time, so too should culture. But there's one barrier that holds many organizations back from genuine and successful culture change: ownership.
The Role of HR in Culture Change
The answer is, too often, HR. As with most medium-to-large organizations, official responsibility for shifting organizational culture lies in the hands of senior HR executives and their team. While culture change can be an important and exciting project for HR, making it HR's sole responsibility doesn’t work out. Too often, it devolves into a transactional "box-ticking" exercise because of competing priorities. So unless it’s the official responsibility of business unit leaders, it’s hard to move culture change to the top of their agenda when there are so many other formal responsibilities. Particularly when they know that HR, who tend to have greater skills and expertise in this area, is supposed to be leading the charge.
True Culture Change: A Collaborative Project
True culture change means altering the way the organization operates. It shapes the way people make decisions, get their work done, what they prioritize, and how they interact with colleagues, clients, and customers. It is really only successful and powerful when business leaders see it as their responsibility and see HR as a resource for helping them achieve it. That’s why culture change has to be a collaborative project.
How HR Leaders Can Facilitate Culture Change
HR leaders can help business executives successfully execute culture change by doing four things:
Facilitate the Research Phase
To move from an existing culture to a desired, future culture, a lot of time is spent facilitating conversation and consultation for the change, but not enough time to have a tangible, meaningful understanding of the existing state. The current culture has to be studied at all levels—values, behaviors, processes, policies, and artifacts. Business leaders need to know, and HR can be a huge resource in facilitating this process.
Convince Leaders Culture Can Change
Many senior leaders are, in reality, very skeptical that culture really can change. Most have only seen culture change when drastic internal or market circumstances have forced it upon the organization. This skepticism is justified, as there are many examples of culture change not transpiring despite all the "talk" or of the change not turning out well. HR can help by sharing examples of how organizations have, in line with their long-term strategic objectives, proactively and positively driven culture change.
Teach the Leaders How to Change It
It cannot be assumed that business leaders will know how to influence culture. Some may have the expertise already, while others may find that it comes instinctively. But for the rest, it can be a new and uncertain path, since they may not have been involved in leading culture change before. It is not enough to engage business unit leaders to get their input on what needs to change and their buy-in to the initiatives. Only when these business leaders are equipped with the skills to drive culture change can they be given ownership and be held accountable for its success.
Have a Formal "Handoff"
When the culture change project is handed over to the business and changes are made to facilitate the new culture, the message to business leaders should be clear from the very top that the project is of the company, not of the HR. HR is there to support, help, and facilitate the change, but ownership of making these changes does not lie with them; it lies with the business unit leaders themselves.
It is clear that in the life cycle of an organization, culture should change, and this change is best led from the very top, driven through equipped, accountable business unit leaders, working collaboratively alongside HR.
From India, Mumbai
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The views of the author are doubly correct. HR has to play the crusader role and bring about change. Having witnessed OD activities from close quarters, it was exciting to see the evolving organizational culture "from conflict to cooperation," "from cooperation to development," and "from development to excellence" witnessed by the organization from the 60s to the end of the 90s.
From India, Mumbai
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From India, Mumbai
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The Role of Senior Leaders in Organizational Culture Change
Organizational culture grows over time, and people often become comfortable with the current culture. For a culture change to be considered, a significant event usually must occur. When individuals within an organization realize and recognize that their current culture needs to transform to support the organization's success and progress, change can occur. However, change is not easy; by its very nature, changing workplace culture is messy and challenging.
The cold, hard truth is that the responsibility for culture leadership lies solely with senior leaders. HR plays a supportive role. They are the only players who can change policies, procedures, systems, and incentives, which can formalize your desired culture and reinforce it over time by personal example.
Most importantly, senior leaders set the tone for the culture with every plan, decision, and action. How leaders treat others becomes the default standard for treatment across the organization—for good or bad! If you want a culture that demonstrates integrity, excellence, service, and respect (as an example), senior leaders must define those values in behavioral terms and then model those behaviors in every interaction, every day.
We can’t let senior leaders off the hook. Creating a purposeful, positive, productive culture must be a strategic imperative for your organization—driven by senior leaders and supported by HR.
The Vital Role of HR in Cultural Change
The role of HR in cultural change is vital but must be driven from the top and strongly supported by senior leaders for it to be successful.
From India, Pune
Acknowledge(1)Amend(0)
Organizational culture grows over time, and people often become comfortable with the current culture. For a culture change to be considered, a significant event usually must occur. When individuals within an organization realize and recognize that their current culture needs to transform to support the organization's success and progress, change can occur. However, change is not easy; by its very nature, changing workplace culture is messy and challenging.
The cold, hard truth is that the responsibility for culture leadership lies solely with senior leaders. HR plays a supportive role. They are the only players who can change policies, procedures, systems, and incentives, which can formalize your desired culture and reinforce it over time by personal example.
Most importantly, senior leaders set the tone for the culture with every plan, decision, and action. How leaders treat others becomes the default standard for treatment across the organization—for good or bad! If you want a culture that demonstrates integrity, excellence, service, and respect (as an example), senior leaders must define those values in behavioral terms and then model those behaviors in every interaction, every day.
We can’t let senior leaders off the hook. Creating a purposeful, positive, productive culture must be a strategic imperative for your organization—driven by senior leaders and supported by HR.
The Vital Role of HR in Cultural Change
The role of HR in cultural change is vital but must be driven from the top and strongly supported by senior leaders for it to be successful.
From India, Pune
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(Fact Checked)-The user's reply contains relevant insights on the importance of senior leaders in driving culture change, with HR playing a supportive role. The emphasis on leadership setting the tone for culture is accurate and aligns with best practices. (1 Acknowledge point)