The data shows that, now more than ever, people need to feel like they belong at work. In McKinsey’s 2023 State of Organizations research, 20 percent of the more than 2,500 people polled said they were concerned about the lack of community in their organizations, and among the top reasons employees gave for leaving a job were that they did not feel they were truly valued and appreciated, and they didn’t feel a sense of belonging.

In a world of hybrid and remote work, both on- and off-site employees are looking for more connectivity, more purpose, and a sense of how and where they fit into a company’s long-term talent strategy. When workers don’t find those things in an organization, they disengage, retention takes a hit, and performance and productivity can suffer.

Culture transformation needs to start with four actions:

  1. Fostering understanding and conviction
  2. Reinforcing changes through formal mechanisms
  3. Developing talent and skills
  4. Role modeling

These four factors are critical for changing and then sustaining the mindsets and behaviors that allow for high performance. They are the building blocks. But within this influence model, there are five power moves that leaders can take to reinforce their transformation plans and drive a culture movement in their organizations:

Don’t just tell – show. It’s difficult for everyone involved in culture transformations—leaders, middle managers, and frontline workers alike—to look beyond what they know toward future possibilities. Senior leaders need to actively expose individuals to ideas and best practices they might not have previously considered, encouraging them to take lessons from wherever it makes the most sense.

Don’t assign – enroll. In any sort of transformation initiative, there can be a sense among employees that change is happening to them rather than by or for them. This can be especially true in culture transformations. Large-scale change requires everyone to step up on their own and contribute to the cause of their own free will. Without such voluntary enrollment, the odds of a successful transformation will decline.

Shake it up – all of it. For a variety of cognitive and behavioral reasons, it can be hard for employees to let go of what’s entrenched. For a culture transformation to succeed, senior leaders need to shake things up—and not just incrementally. For a transformation to take hold, leaders should introduce and embed new rituals into the workplace and continually revisit and refine employees’ roles, mindsets, and behaviors.

Connect the dots. Every organization has hidden influencers who can have an outsize impact on their colleagues’ actions and behaviors. Particularly in a cultural transformation, it’s important to bring these individuals out of the shadows. Leaders should provide these individuals—some of whom may be the mavericks in an organization—with the tools and information they need and turn them into change agents.

Remember, it’s personal. It’s difficult for people to drop long-established ways of working, take up new roles, and otherwise change the way they think and operate. Business leaders therefore need to attend to employees’ minds, bodies, and spirits during a transformation. They should reiterate the connections between the company’s culture and its role in helping employees achieve peak performance.

Organizations can launch a culture movement using the transformation principles discussed here—five moves that can help set the foundation for greater employee engagement, increased productivity and performance, and a lasting competitive advantage. Being bold in this approach can have lasting effects that set the organization up for success.

 

References:
McKinsey (2024, May 17) Brooke Weddle, John Parsons, Wyman Howard, Andy Voelker: Five Bold Moves to Quickly Transform Your Organization’s Culture