You have decided to change the culture of your company. As the leader, you have started to change how and what you communicated. You have changed some of your direct reports responsibilities and you start demonstrating the behaviors you want your direct reports to emulate, then what? You wait!
Changing the culture of a company is not unlike trying to lose weight. There are a lot of “quick fixes” that you can try. You can go on the protein shakes for 3 months or buy the specialty foods that will help you lose the weight, but that is all they do, they help you lose the weight. The real problem is keeping the weight off! Once you stop eating shakes all day every day and effectively cutting your calory intake to nothing and go back to “normal” eating, all that weight comes back.
The best way to lose weight and keep it off is by changing your lifestyle and eating habits. You need to eat like a skinny person, and not those people whose metabolism is so high hummingbirds have trouble seeing them, a normal person. That is not an easy thing to do and what is worse, the results take a long time to show. It can take weeks or even months for you to lose enough weight that you notice it in your clothing or the mirror.
The interesting thing about that lifestyle change, the one to lose weight, is that once you start to notice the changes, the momentum increases. You keep losing weight and it doesn’t require additional changes. You might lose enough that you start to exercise and lose even more and tone and feel better about yourself. Then you have to buy new clothes because what you had doesn’t fit and the new stuff looks better than the old and you get encouraged to lose even more…. Momentum!
Culture change in a company is the same as losing that weight. You have to change how you run your business and manage your people. At first, the changes will take a long time to show, but if you keep at it, the changes will accumulate and then accelerate as you build momentum.
One day, a customer or friend of the business will come by and walk the halls like they always did and at some point, they will turn to you and ask, “What did you do?” “What do you mean?” you might say in response. Then you hear about how people are happier, and they see a better attitude and you will smile and thank them for noticing. But is that it? Is that how you know?
No, having your friends notice you lost weight because they have not seen you in weeks isn’t when you know. You know when those people on your team who you always thought, “I don’t know that they are the best, but I don’t have a reason to get rid of them,” start to complain. They will start expressing how the company is not the same, just like when your jeans are not as tight after the wash or you run out of holes in your belt.
But that isn’t the biggest tell that the culture in your company is truly changing, the biggest indicator of cultural change is when people start to leave the company. I like to call it the “Auto Correct Effect.” When you have people, who were always in the margins, come up with excuses as to why they need to get a different job, you know that your company’s culture has changed. Now you have to replace them, but what you find is the person coming into the role has a better attitude and they get a lot more done without all the drama.
How long it takes for a company’s culture to change is dependent on how far you want to take the change – how much weight do you need to lose equivalent. What to do seems easy, but it is best to have a coach or partner to help you through the change – not unlike having a weigh in person that keeps you honest and on track. Then you have to adjust almost everything when people start to leave – you have to buy new clothes. How long it takes isn’t as important as accepting it will take time and rewarding yourself and the team as you make progress towards the goal. But, never forget that you can’t go back to your old habits without bringing back the old culture – you can’t go back to eating poorly and expect to keep the weight off!
If you want to know how to start culture change in your company for the better, or how to set up milestones to recognize the change, just drop me a note at rick@gramatges.com.
Gramatges Consulting 