Culture Development
What is a corporate culture?
A corporate culture is the sum of all common norms, values, (un)written rules and behavior within an organization. These elements shape how activities are carried out and what is stimulated or hindered. When the corporate culture is in line with the business strategy and the personal culture of employees, this acts as a catalyst to achieve shared goals.
In order to start a sustainable cultural change, it is necessary to know where you are now and where you want to go. We believe in making the underlying factors measurable, and in combining the "hard" aspects (systems, structure and strategy) and the "soft" aspects (leadership, behaviour, core values and mindset) . We do this in close collaboration with the formal leadership and the informal leaders within the organization, as leadership and culture are closely linked. In addition, during culture processes, we focus on promoting open communication and involving all employees in the change process, so that the cultural change is supported at all levels of the organization. In this manner, we create a sustainable cultural change that aligns with the organizational objectives.
We identify two phases in cultural change: initially we conduct a culture scan, followed by a culture change process. Read on for more information.
The company culture scan: making your culture measurable
The company culture scan consists of two parts that are combined: a quantitative survey for a general overview of the organization and culture, and a qualitative survey with open follow-up questions for deeper insights. Co-creation is crucial for both parts - a plan of action is developed in collaboration with the client for both the quantitative questionnaire and the qualitative exploration. The components of the questionnaire are based on constructs from scientific research or constructs developed and validated by us. To gain deeper insights into respondents' answers, open follow-up questions are added to the survey.
The key insights from both the quantitative and qualitative research are presented to the client in a management report. This report also displays all relevant results for subgroups. Many of our questions are also asked in our own benchmark studies, allowing the results to be directly compared with similar companies. In addition to the management report, Highberg provides tailor-made dashboards. These dashboards are interactive and visualize the results of the company culture scan. Customers can easily extract insights from them and compare the results of multiple surveys effortlessly.
Cultural change: how do you proceed next?
Based on the insights from the culture scan and the customer's needs we can start building a change plan. The current situation (A) and future situation (B) have both been thoroughly mapped out. Now the biggest challenge begins: moving from A to B. We believe in co-creation, both in the design and implementation of the cultural change. From day one, we will mirror the client on 'B,' as setting the right example is crucial for the new situation. This begins with exhibiting the desired behavior. This is already a major challenge in itself and we will stand next to the customer in this process to realize the cultural change together. Then, it is time to implement the plan. This plan can include living through and implementing core values and having sessions with employees about the company's history and culture. but also using an informal network (based on a network scan which shows where the informal leaders are within the organization). By building an informal network, we can realize culture change bottom-up. The informal leaders start working on tiny habits; small behaviors that fit “B”, the desired behavior and strategy. In this way they spread the new behavior like wildfire (Herrero, 2008). Finally, leadership is a crucial part of culture change. Because ultimately, a company can only change as far as leaders are able to lead. Openness and vulnerability in their own process, the challenges they encounter and leading in the desired behavior is key. See more information about our vision on leadership here.
In short, we do not have a 'standard' culture change process. Based on the results from the culture scan, we create a suitable plan together with the customer, reflect where necessary and develop appropriate interventions.
FAQ corporate culture, culture research and culture change
References
*Hemerling, J., Kilmann, J., Danoesastro, M., Stutts, L., & Ahern, C. (2021, 1 november). It’s not a digital transformation without a digital culture. BCG Global. https://www.bcg.com/publicatio...
*Herrero, L. (2008). Viral change: The Alternative to Slow, Painful and Unsuccessful Management of Change in Organisations. Meetingminds Publishing.
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