Here’s How Your Culture Transformation Strategy Can Change Your Organization

Company culture is fundamental in every organization. It plays a key role in establishing a solid foundation that serves as the driving force behind actions and results.

It is important to keep in mind that company culture cannot stay stagnant. As times change and horizons shift, survival and growth depend on the ability to pivot and adapt to current affairs.

Despite culture being something rather intangible, Ricardo Semler shares an interesting anecdote about a business partner that had offices in the World Trade Center before September 11 2001. Unfortunately many of the people tragically perished. So there were a lot of new employees. The culture however was replicated, so this anecdote is an example how culture was not so much a function of its members but a characteristic of the organization.

Therefore cultural transformation needs a radical commitment to shift company culture. When we shift towards people-centered management, we strive to satisfy employee’s needs, so they are engaged, committed and productive. When your employees are happy and feel like they are valued, they, in turn, perform better.

In order to execute the cultural transformation, you need to take an introspective look at your company's core values, mission and goals. You need to assess your current systems and processes as well as your infrastructure and current team members and their behaviours.

The Link between employee and customer satisfaction

According to research by Glassdoor, there is a definite link between employee and customer satisfaction. They discovered that each 1-star improvement in an employer’s Glassdoor company rating out of 5 is associated with a 1.3-point increase in customer satisfaction out of 100. The research showed that this was most apparent in industries where employees had the most direct contact with their customers. That being said, the research proved a crucial argument that satisfied employees provide better service, thus resulting in happier customers.

Therefore, regardless of the industry you are in, it can be concluded that if you are meeting your employees’ needs, you are ensuring that their output and performance will be at a higher level.

Living your core values

In a survey conducted by Korn Ferry, 72% of executives said that culture is a key component to organizational performance. However, only 32% thought that their own organization was aligned with their business strategies and execution.

Your company culture is a reflection of your organization’s core values. Everything you do as an organization, from conducting business, workflow management, interactions amongst colleagues and client care, should represent what you stand for. Simply put, your company culture is the result of your values in action.

Attracting the brightest talent

According to surveys, 90% of employers say that it is extremely important to find candidates who are a good fit for their company culture. Furthermore, 46% of job seekers say that company culture is one of the top priorities when applying for jobs. 35% say that they are willing to pass up the ‘perfect job’ if they are not aligned with its culture.

If you want to attract the brightest talent, your culture transformation needs to reflect the kind of company culture that will bring in applicants who are the right fit.

Higher Retention with Semco Style

At the same time you want to also assure to retain people who are a good fit with your new culture, whereas some people might not be a good fit for the new culture anymore.

73% of professionals have said that they left a job because of poor cultural fit, and 82% have said that they have worked with a company where they disliked the culture. The average employee exit costs 33% of their annual salary.

Retention is an important concern for every organization. Constant turnover is not only expensive, but it disrupts the flow of work and communication. Semco across several decades had a retention rate of 98%. Onboarding new talent also comes with its own expenses and allocated resources. Do you have a problem with retention? Sculpting your culture transformation strategy may address this.

Transform your company into a team

When you pivot into a company culture that addresses employees needs and shows them support and trust, your relationship evolves from employer-employee to team. Instead of office politics and discord, you build the foundation for a team setting that is collaborative and an “everyone wins” mindset. Instead of trying to one-up each other, your team members will work in harmony because they know that they have a singular end goal and that their performance will result in success for everyone. Furthermore, when an individual performs well, their peers will have no problem acknowledging them and applauding their achievements. This type of supportive team spirit is phenomenal in driving excellent results and keeps employees satisfied and determined to always perform at their best.

Turn managers into leaders

The key to successful teams is a good leader. Instead of micromanaging, they master the art of knowing who they have in their team and figuring out how to maximize each one’s potential by knowing their strengths and matching them with tasks and projects where they will thrive. Management should be for things and leadership should be for people. When thinking about your culture transformation strategy, a goal should be to encourage the people you have set in charge to be leaders and to create a space where they can be one. While they may manage things such as objectives, schedules and operational matters, they should be able to lead their team members by inspiring them and motivating them to get the job done.

Culture transformation can be a huge and complex undertaking for any company. However, the returns will be just as rewarding, it will be reflected in your employees as they grow more productive and drive better results for your business.

What’s next?If you want to optimize the context in which your teams work and bring your team to the next level in autonomy and responsibility. If you want to sharpen the image of your ideal self-organization and find out how you can get there, then you should look into our Changemaker Program. This program is great for entrepreneurs, directors, leaders, and managers who are busy creating organizations that continuously develop themselves and successfully. You will also get access to the Semco Style toolkit with 100+ exercises and case studies. You will be able to create your own roadmap for the transformation, while benefiting from our experience of transforming over 100 different companies.

Click here to find out more about the Changemaker Program.