Road Map for Culture Change

While the term Corporate Culture has forever been used primarily for profit based entities, having
a strong corporate culture has become a key requirement for organizations in the development
sector as well in the recent years. ABC Development Organization can deeply benefit from a
culture that is geared towards professional excellence based on the values and mission of the
organization. Developing an organizational culture that is key towards effectively achieving the
Foundation’s targets requires a step by step approach that has been explained here:

Assessment Change Action Plan

Period Identifiers Development

Communicating Setting
Small is Big
Change Milestones

Induction of Employer /
urgency for Employee
change Coalition

Step 1: Assessment Period

The very first step that ABC Development Organization needs to take is assess its current
organizational culture. While there are several ways of identifying what the culture “means” to the
organization and its staff, one of the most effective ways to do so is to do a formal Culture Survey.
This would help identify the values that the employees of the organization currently hold and what
changes they desire to see in the organization’s culture. The management may also observe the
values that are currently adopted into the organization’s environment.

The ultimate purpose of this activity is also to identify the areas that need improvement / change
in order for ABC Development Organization to achieve their desired corporate image.
Step 2: Change Identifiers
The management needs to create a linking point for the employees to help them see the changes
that ABC Development Organization senior management desires to see in its culture. Having a
story that can directly portray what needs to be changed to achieve the new image can easily be
found from any of the Organization’s projects. This could be a performance/reward story or a crisis
situation that prompted the employees to act in a manner that could imply the need for change in
the culture of the organization.

Step 3: Action Plan Development

It is of paramount importance that the senior management of ABC Development Organization
identify the areas that require change of any sort during the process of cultural change
implementation. Knowing what areas need to be targets, what activities need to be added, modified
`1or removed is critical towards ensuring a smooth transition of culture within the organization.
Key stakeholders should sit together, discuss and identify such areas that need change and
determine a solid, material action plan for implementing the desired changes.

Step 4: Small is Big

It is never a good idea to make changes that are disruptive in any way to the environment of the
organization. Changing the culture is very similar to changing personal habits and therefore, a
strategic approach is required with small and gradual changes that eventually create the momentum
required for achieving the complete overhaul in the long term. Such steps can be as simple and
small as hanging a sign board promoting certain value or using specific terminology during team
meetings that discreetly instill the new values in employees.

Step 5: Setting Milestones

Without the ability to measure success, it would be impossible for ABC Development
Organization to identify whether or not they were able to achieve their targets of change in culture.
The management needs to identify points of success, prepare methods of measuring these points
and identify timelines for the achievement of each success indicator. Having a properly formulated
data gathering system that compares progress against timelines can be very helpful in measuring
the level of success that the Organization has in achieving their overall goals.

It is also important to make sure that the milestones identified are limited in quantity as overloading
every activity and project with too many changes could surely kill the change process. A strategic
approach needs to be taken where the management attaches a few key milestones to activities and
make sure that the people involved understand the culture change process.

Step 6: Communicating Change

For ABC Development Organization to effectively engage its employees in the process of culture
change, it is extremely critical that a broad channel of communication be kept open for all
employees through which information is regularly disseminated. Making the employees
understand the positive aspects of the changes being made can help make them more susceptible
to the planned change. At the same time, the management should also communicate the processes
that the Organization intends to leave behind without criticizing them in any way, as that could
bring resistance from employees / stakeholders involved in said processes.

It is very important that management forums, key meetings and employee communication sessions
are held on a regular basis to instill the desired change as a requirement in every employee’s mind.

Step 7: Induction of Urgency for Change

While slowly introducing change processes is critical in building momentum, it is a necessity at
the end to identify or even create a scenario that can be used by the management to give that “final
push”, thereby completing the overall change process.

A number of different tactics can be used by the management for “staging” a sense of crisis in the
employees. This could either be a case of donor dissatisfaction, financial losses faced by the
Organization or even a stark realization about the rapidly shifting landscape of the development
sector. Such scenarios often act as effective catalysts that provide enough motivation to tip the
overall environment towards the complete adaptation of the desire cultural changes.

Step 8: Employer / Employee Coalition

Engagement is the most important method for bringing acceptance in employees regarding cultural
changes in any organization. ABC Development Organization also needs to ensure that once the
stage has been set, employees are empowered in every way to champion the new culture and help
the management in minimizing resistance towards the new environment resulting from cultural
change.

Engaging the opinion leaders and individual affected the most by the change process can make the
employees feel a lot more in control and empowered, thereby not only accepting, but actually
driving the implementation of the changes envisaged by the management.

Finally, it is important that the senior management of ABC Development Organization be the first
to champion the changes in culture and act as a guiding and motivating factor for the employees.
In today’s rapidly changing world and economies, cultural change has become a key competency
for organizations like ABC Development Organization and utilizing the abovementioned steps can
ensure that it remains at the cutting edge of being the most up to date development organization,
both nationally and internationally.