In my previous article, I explained how to successfully manage projects and emphasized the significant influence that company culture has on a project's success. I promised to discuss how a necessary cultural change can be achieved in a future article.

I would now like to fulfill that promise.

What is corporate culture?

For me, the term “corporate culture” encompasses the values, beliefs, and convictions that are shared by the majority of a company's workforce. Based on these, leaders and employees assess what is “acceptable” and what is not — how things are done or not done, what behavior is encouraged, and what behavior is discouraged.

Corporate culture determines how people within an organization collaborate and, as a result, how efficient and successful a company is.

However, culture is not easily shaped or changed. It emerges from a company’s traditions, national cultures, and employees’ personal value systems. It is also influenced by the priorities and values that the company's management reinforces or penalizes through its leadership practices.

A deliberate change in corporate culture requires several prerequisites, which I will discuss here. Furthermore, specific tools and approaches are needed to transform a desired culture into a lived culture.

There's a specific reason why I included the phrase “From Resistance to Habit” in the subheading. The beginning of a cultural change is always met with resistance. People don’t want to change their culture—they like it the way it is. They would have left anyway if not.

If the cultural change is successful, the new culture becomes the new habit. People have embraced the new way and wish to maintain it. Once the resistance has disappeared and the change has become second nature, the cultural transformation is complete.

Well—until the next cultural change becomes necessary.

Conveying the urgency for change

In every change process, there must be a willingness to change, otherwise the transformation will not succeed.

If people don't want to change, they can't be helped.

That’s what makes it so difficult and emotionally draining. At times, I struggle with frustration and hopelessness. However, I’ve always managed to hold on to hope and stay motivated through persistence and a strong will to implement change. As a change agent, I know that only if I exude confidence in the process can I inspire others to embrace change. It also helps to have trusted individuals to talk to about it confidentially.

I mostly work with engineers, and I often find myself having to explain and justify the need for change in an objective and factual manner. This makes sense, especially among highly rational individuals, as the facts need to be laid out clearly for them. Most of the time, it's not that complicated. People are intelligent and can recognize the shortcomings of the current situation and understand why change offers hope for improvement. We usually reach agreement on that quickly.

It is much more difficult for me to reach an agreement on the target state with the people. The existing culture regularly acts as a barrier. They want to change as little as possible, with only the minimum amount of change being acceptable for consensus. The target state that the minimal change is meant to achieve is typically also viewed controversially.

An intensive debate is therefore necessary to align on the scope and goal of the required change.

Never skip this step—it takes bitter revenge if you do.

The time required for the intellectual acceptance of the planned cultural change always takes longer than I anticipate. That’s why I have to start implementing it before full acceptance is achieved. But I persist and don’t give up until the goal is reached, even though it’s exhausting and tedious.

In addition to intellectual acceptance, however, I must also create a prerequisite that is much harder to achieve. I call it 'emotional acceptance.' It’s the realization that everyone is personally affected and must question and change their own values, standards, and approach.

It’s much easier to accept that others need to change than it is to accept that each individual must change themselves.

What follows from this?

* Unlike in a project, I can't wait for the completion of the first phase—the intellectual and emotional acceptance of the cultural change. I begin working on creating a sense of urgency and a clear target vision, but I start implementing it in practice relatively quickly. The more tangible the new culture becomes, the easier it is to gain acceptance.

* I cannot vote on the necessity and direction of change in a grassroots democratic way. As a change agent, I have to set the direction! I deliberately say the direction, not the target state. In the course of the transformation process, I remain flexible and constantly adapt the goal to the realities and feasibility.

Methods for Successfully Implementing Cultural Change,

In the cover picture you can see that I use 4 methods to bring about a culture change. These methods differ in difficulty and effectiveness. Let's start with the method that is the easiest to implement.

Procedural support

Procedural support involves providing instructions on work processes, handing out checklists, defining responsibilities, and establishing committee or meeting structures that support the new culture.

This forms the didactic framework for the teaching of the new culture.

I want to explain this point using the example of agile product development, because I believe that makes it easier to understand than an abstract explanation.

Agile development embodies a desired culture, I won’t elaborate on in this article — I’ll cover it in a separate one. Here, however, I will highlight methods that reinforce certain cultural aspects.

Ensuring accountability for core values

The roles of product owners, Scrum masters, release train engineers, and others assign clear responsibilities to individuals and teams, reinforcing a value stream-oriented approach. Each role has distinct responsibilities and is accountable for delivering value within its scope. In this way, these roles and responsibilities actively shape the value stream-oriented culture that forms the cornerstone of agile development.

Implementing accountability for delivery

Discipline and synchronized working methods are enforced through predefined time frames and meetings (artifacts). The structure is so tight that prioritization and coordination become inevitable. This instills efficiency and effectiveness, which are key cultural aspects of agile development.

Providing Structure Through Checklists

Feature Definition, Definition of Ready, Definition of Done, etc., are essentially checklists designed to ensure that critical work steps are completed and not overlooked.

I hope that these examples will make the way in which procedural assistance is used easy to understand.

I hope these examples help clarify how I use procedural assistance.

Of course, such assistance is not limited to an agile context; similar approaches can also be found in Lean, quality management methods, and more.

The use of procedural assistance is a proven method that has been used many times over. It is effective when these tools are recognized as such, and when I am clear about which tool is useful for which purpose.

I have also developed my own tools, which have proven to be very effective.

If you have any questions about this, or if you'd like to apply procedural assistance in a different context and need my help, feel free to reach out and we can discuss it in the chat.

Asking the right questions

I wrote at the beginning that culture consists of values, beliefs, and behaviors.

This is exactly where the questions come in.

I usually work on two levels with questions that encourage reflection on the cultural aspect of actions.

Value-Based Questions

The value system that defines the new culture should be consistently present, everywhere and at all times.

It is advantageous if not all values are new. Some existing values may be good and worth preserving.

This value architecture should be visually sophisticated and omnipresent. It should be displayed on the wall in every meeting room, placed on tables as handouts, used as a screensaver on computers, and featured on stickers for briefcases, among other things.

Now I can pose the question at every opportunity.

* Does this correspond to our values?

* Do we really want to do it that way?

The benefit of this approach is that it does not dictate a solution, but rather encourages reflection. As the solution is pursued, acceptance of the change grows, as does confidence, because the result seems achievable.

Procedural Questions

The second level at which I ask questions is procedural assistance, including the processes, responsibilities, and workflows described above.

The questions here are highly diverse, requiring me to utilize all my experience and expertise to formulate the appropriate question at the right moment.

* What's the problem?

* What is the root cause of the problem?

* Is that really the most important priority?

* Does it make sense to do it this way?

* Is this plan realistic?

As already mentioned, the questions are extremely diverse at this level, but they all have one thing in common:

Questions encourage individuals to engage in critical thinking and arrive at solutions self-sufficiently.

Since procedural support didactically leads to a new and desired culture, the interpretation and cognitive processing anchor the new culture in the minds.

New thought structures emerge and solidify in people's minds over time, eventually becoming habits. There comes a moment when individuals begin to ask themselves these questions, and that is what I aim to achieve.

Of course, it is not solely the responsibility of one individual to ask these questions; all managers must participate, and colleagues should also engage in asking each other these questions.

Practice, Practice, Practice

This brings us to the next element and takes the step towards greater effectiveness.

The old saying: "Practice makes perfect." also applies to the transformation process.

I ensure that the elements discussed are continuously reinforced. I begin with simple tasks and gradually increase the complexity, in accordance with the capabilities of the individuals within the organization.

Even in a marathon, one does not run 42 kilometers in the first training session.

In this context, I require what seems like boundless patience and perseverance. Often, I am tired of hearing it myself, and I feel exhausted, but I understand the necessity of persisting. Training demands numerous repetitions and a high degree of discipline in execution to develop the desired skills.

Sometimes I think: they'll never get it right if the practice just doesn't seem to work.

I convince, I motivate, I force, I use all the means at my disposal to move people to use the procedures, workflows, checklists, committees, meetings, values, tools over and over again.

This also serves the goal of forming a habit. If I no longer have to intervene and it has become automatic, then the transformation has succeeded.

Leading by Example

The final element is the most challenging, yet it is also the most effective.

The exemplification of the new culture!

It is entirely unacceptable for me, as a change agent, not to implement the new culture within my own environment.

That can be a bit bumpy, people know that I'm not perfect either. This even makes one likeable and believable and encourages others to help shape it. However, preaching one thing and doing another is not acceptable.

I implement the new culture at every possible opportunity. I utilize the procedural tools whenever I can, ask myself the same questions I pose to my colleagues, and continuously practice, practice, and practice.

And, of course, all managers must be on board with it!

You can trust me, employees consistently observe their boss's actions and follow suit.

When people sense that the boss thinks, 'Culture is something for those down there; it's none of my business, I have other priorities,' it becomes fatal.

Without the involvement of managers and everyone, from the team leader to the board of directors, sustainable corporate culture change cannot be achieved.

In my daily practice, this means that I must work just as diligently with the top managers to implement the new culture as I do with the employees in the organization.

This is not easy, as even bosses are human—and they are allowed to be. They can make mistakes, ask questions, and show emotions. However, employees will understand and accept this.

There is one thing that managers must never do: stand on the sidelines during a cultural change, remaining uninvolved or, worse, not showing up at all.

I will provide more detailed articles on project management topics, transformation, and change in the future. Please subscribe if you are interested to ensure you do not miss any updates.

If you have any questions, need my help or want my advice on changing corporate culture in your environment, you can contact me in chat.

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