The path to successful cultural transformation
From analysis to implementation: we help you on the path to successful cultural transformation
Corporate culture is a driver of economic success and ensures that both the competitiveness and the economic success of the company are secured in the long term. However, existing corporate cultures that have grown over years or decades and have never been adapted or have only been adapted slightly are often no longer suitable for new requirements such as the agile and digital world. A cultural transformation is therefore required to ensure the continued existence of the company. But what is corporate culture anyway, what does cultural change mean for an organisation and how can cultural transformation be implemented and anchored in the company in the long term?
What is corporate culture?
Corporate culture refers to the system of values and norms as well as the convictions that characterise an organisation. It is therefore the collective memory of the company. Corporate culture includes both visible elements such as symbols and formal structures as well as deeply rooted aspects such as routines, rituals, shared ways of thinking, beliefs and convictions. Depending on its characteristics, corporate culture can therefore promote or weaken cohesion within the company and provide guidance on how to deal with tasks, challenges and crises.
How does corporate culture develop?
Corporate culture arises from the shared beliefs, values and norms that are developed and consolidated by the members of an organisation over time. In the course of its history, an organisation makes certain (learning) experiences and determines which actions have positive or negative consequences. Over the course of months, years or decades, the organisation is constantly faced with new challenges or crises that require the corporate culture to change dynamically and adapt to changing circumstances.
How can corporate culture be anchored?
Establishing a corporate culture within an organisation requires routines that are supported and stabilised by formal structures. Corporate culture is therefore always an active endeavour that needs to be supported and continuously developed.
How do cultural changes occur in an organisation?
A genuine cultural change requires a critical mass to support and sustain the change. As corporate culture often develops unconsciously, a change can only work if enough employees actively participate in the change and there are strong structures in place to prevent a relapse into old patterns of behaviour. Successful cultural change requires patience, perseverance and commitment from everyone involved.
Cultural transformation as the basis for lasting success
Cultural transformation refers to the process by which organisations systematically and purposefully change their corporate culture. This is by no means just about superficial adjustments. Rather, the aim is to bring about far-reaching changes in values, beliefs and behaviour that will make the company competitive in the long term. Advancing digitalisation and constantly changing markets and market conditions act as dynamic drivers that make it necessary to break up existing cultures so that companies can fully exploit their innovative potential.
Goals of cultural transformation
The objectives of a cultural transformation are diverse, but are primarily aimed at shaping the corporate culture in such a way that it supports the long-term success of the company. One of the central objectives is to establish a culture that promotes innovation as well as agility and collaboration in order to increase the organisation's adaptability. At the same time, however, the transformation should also motivate employees to identify more strongly with the company and its values and goals. A strong corporate culture and shared values lead to greater commitment and better work performance, which in turn is reflected in excellent products and services. In addition, a cultural transformation helps to adapt the corporate culture to the current and future requirements of the market and, in the best case, to secure competitive advantages.
What are the challenges of cultural change?
Genuine cultural change is never a linear process. Rather, sustainable cultural change requires regular management and adjustment. The biggest challenges here include resistance within the workforce resulting from insecurities, habits or a lack of understanding of the need for change. At the same time, it is difficult to break existing behavioural patterns, as these are often deeply rooted. In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to integrate and support not only individual teams or managers, but all employees in the change process. Without clear communication, transparent rollouts, visible role models and a systematic anchoring of structures within the organisation, there is a risk that the change process will stall or that the changes will remain superficial.
Are there occasions that make a cultural transformation unavoidable?
There are a number of indications that the corporate culture needs to change. The causes can be categorised into internal and external performance gaps, personnel and structural changes and overarching crises. Some concrete examples of the need for action are
- Declining employee satisfaction
- Lack of innovative capacity
- Compliance violations
- Demographic change
- New management board or restructuring
- Unexpected events such as the corona crisis
The above list is not exhaustive, but shows the heterogeneous landscape of events that can trigger a cultural transformation.
What needs to be considered during cultural transformation?
Transformation is always an overarching process that cannot be achieved through a single, detached measure. The focus of a change in corporate culture is therefore on the interplay of routines, rituals, structures, processes and governance, which influence each other and therefore need to be harmonised. However, beliefs, values and norms also need to change, as they shape the way work is done, how employees interact with each other and how the company presents itself to the outside world.
How can cultural change be implemented sustainably within a company?
The sustainable implementation of cultural change in a company is based on classic change processes and usually comprises three phases, which vary in length.
Phase 1: Initialisation
In this phase, the first small-scale changes are initiated. Success factors for this phase are credible role models and a clear vision of the future corporate culture. Visible successes that demonstrate the project's lighthouses also play a key role. The recruitment of strong and authentic advocates and the expansion of this group are also essential components of this phase.
Phase 2: Mobilisation
The second phase is called mobilisation and focuses on increasing reach in order to drive cultural transformation within the company. At this point, it is important to reach a critical mass that supports the changes and lives them anew in the company every day. This is the only way to ensure that changes become established in the company in the long term.
Phase 3: Institutionalisation
In the final phase, known as institutionalisation, the changes are anchored in the company. The aim here is to re-examine existing structures for compatibility with the new ways of thinking, behavioural patterns and beliefs and to make any necessary adaptations.
A guide for the team journey
From a loose group to a high-performing team
Team performance is a key factor for business success. In the 1960s, the American psychologist Bruce Tuckman developed a phase model for sustainable team development with the aim of promoting high-performing teams. This model consists of the four phases "Forming", "Storming", "Norming" and "Performing". Since Tuckman's publication, the model has helped managers, team members and HR developers to correctly assess group dynamics over the duration of a team journey, deal constructively with emerging conflicts and thus maximise team performance.
Each phase of the team journey brings its own opportunities and challenges. Of course, not every team has the same starting conditions. The starting point of the respective team is influenced by various factors - e.g. how long the team members have been working together, how intensive the collaboration is and whether the work is predominantly virtual, hybrid or face-to-face. The right team journey also depends on this. In the following, we will use an example to explain how you can optimise team performance in your company. This exemplary team journey actually starts at the point in time when the team finds itself in a new composition. We also give you tips on how you as a manager can make a meaningful contribution to the team journey.
A team journey can look like this, for example:
Top Team Effectiveness
The 7 characteristics of high-performing teams
In this article, you will learn why high-performing teams are a key success factor for companies and how they contribute to increasing organisational performance. We present the seven core characteristics that transform a team from an "average" to a "high-performing" team. We also highlight the challenges that teams need to overcome to maintain their effectiveness in the long term and provide practical tips on how organisations can successfully develop their teams. The article offers valuable insights and strategies for fostering teamwork, leadership and cultural change to ensure the long-term success of your organisation.
HR review as a success factor for a future-orientated HR strategy
Why an HR review is the key to a successful transformation
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In many companies, the need for HR transformation is recognised as an essential prerequisite for ensuring competitiveness, similar to the ongoing digital transformation throughout the company. Nevertheless, those responsible often struggle with the implementation. A common reason for this is that they focus too quickly on the introduction and use of certain tools, on ideas for organisational changes or similar topics, while a systematic analysis of the initial situation is not carried out or is only rudimentary. This is fatal insofar as a meaningful and effective HR transformation is only possible if the individual steps and measures are tailored to both the individual situation in the company and the objectives defined in the specific case. A look at medicine may serve as an illustration here: Even the best and most modern medication can be of little help or possibly even harmful if it is administered before a thorough diagnosis has been made and an appropriate indication has been derived from it.
Analyse the initial situation - the basis for success
If you are responsible for Human Resources (HR) in your company and want to contribute to the overall success of the company with a future-orientated HR strategy, you cannot avoid a detailed analysis of the initial situation. Conversely, a well-founded analysis will provide you with an important basis for ensuring a sustainable transformation in HR for the benefit of the entire company.
Important questions for a comprehensive assessment
Key questions that should be answered as part of the HR review relate on the one hand to personnel and their integration in the company and on the other to the HR department. In this context, people analytics, the analysis of HR data in conjunction with data from other areas of the company, also plays an important role. With regard to personnel, it is particularly important to clarify how they currently provide which services, which resources are accessed and which tools are used. In the area of HR, the main question is what its key strengths and areas of action are. This must be answered from an internal perspective as well as from the perspective of customers and the market, as this is the only way to gain a meaningful picture.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
