Blog Roundup: Culture Change

Change is necessary, inevitable, and not always easy. As an individual, managing our own change is challenge enough, but as a leader, managing change throughout an organization filled with various teams, departments, and employees takes additional capabilities. Planning for it, following a process that works, and committing ourselves to the change can make all the difference. The following blogs were pulled together to help support you on your change journey and represent our views, lessons learned, and tips on change management.  We hope they help and as always, feel free to reach out for guidance, support, or coaching along the way!

Why Culture Change is Hard Before we start to discuss the steps necessary to manage and promote change, let’s explore why change is so hard in the first place.  Accepting that it will be a difficult process is important, but knowing why it is difficult is critical to the success of the change initiative.  In order to change, you have to commit to doing something differently, which means changing your own way of thinking and doing things first.

If You Want to Change Your Business, Start With These 3 Steps You have come to terms with that fact that a change or cultural shift throughout the organization is necessary.  Congratulations!  A solid understanding of where you are now and where you want to be can become the foundation of your change management plan.  In the beginning stages of planning for change, be realistic about where you want to go, be humble about where you are now, invite others to help design and pave the way, be creative, and have fun!  The mindset in which you begin your change journey will affect the choices you make along the way.

The 8 Vectors of Organizational Change Now that you have a solid foundation of where you are and where you want to be, it is time to align the forces that already exist within your organization to help move the change forward.   A common mistake in rolling out new processes or undergoing change initiatives is to tell employees about the change, tell them why, and tell them how.  Notice a theme?  Telling or communicating to others is only 1 of 8 forces that you need to drive change throughout an organization.  Make them all your ally and watch the change roll out!

Leaders Change Perspective, That Changes Everything Now that you have initiated the steps of change, it is time to look carefully at the role you are playing in the change.  There are many things that you as a leader need to consider and change about yourself and your actions if you want to see change in others.  Doing something differently will not be sustainable unless you consciously decide to shift your perspective and the reasons behind your actions first.  If you want to lead change, you have to go first…and step one starts with changing your perspective.

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