Deciding to develop your leadership team can be a really large decision for any business. You need to get a group of stakeholders to buy into the idea, figure out the gaps in key skills or knowledge and then find the right person to deliver the culture change program.
If we miss any of these steps, it is likely that the whole project will fall by the wayside and never gain the success that we hoped for. So how do we as Human Resources get this right?
There are a few key tricks that can make this process easier:
- Let a professional do a full learning needs analysis – if you are serious about making a culture change for the better of the business, the best advice is too let a natural third party do the discovery piece. They will be able to advise on all areas, even the ones that you might have become too close to.
- Get the Senior Team onboard first – make sure that everyone on the Senior Team has a complete understanding of what culture is trying to be achieved and why this is really important to the success of the business. If the leaders are not going to back the change, it might as well not happen.
- Make sure you have a plan to embed the learning – we all know how important it is that people take action following training courses. Make sure that objectives are set around the culture change program and those manager meetings are held regularly to ensure those actions are being met. If this isn’t followed through they change will not be as successful.
- Communication is key – once a program has been agreed and the Senior Team is backing the change program, it is critical that this message is delivered to the whole business and in more detail to the people affected by the program itself. If people don’t understand what the aim is for the program, it will be impossible for them to achieve it. So being clear is very important.
If you feel you want to change the culture in your business, these four steps should help you start that journey. If you want to get a professional opinion on any of your culture change ideas, please get in touch with me and I would be happy to assist.