You must have been full of first impressions, first encounters, first surprises. You were greeted by your new colleagues, experienced lunchtime rituals, noticed how people spoke to each other and what kind of tone prevailed. In the evening you were completely exhausted, a kind of small culture shock had hit you!
In the first few weeks and perhaps even months, we often swim against the tide, question things, want to do things differently and make decisions in new ways. This can succeed if you encounter an open and learning culture. Wonderful – stay where you are!
But it can also happen that you bounce off one or two invisible walls. It’s a bit exhausting at first, but at some point you’ll just do it like the others and the culture in your company will have accepted you – and you will have accepted it too.
Taking a holistic view of change projects
For this reason, we take a holistic approach to every change project in our consulting services. In other words, with the awareness that the culture of the company is in everything and can support a lot, but can also prevent everything. It is reflected in how we think about something (mental models), how we talk about it (narratives) and how we behave, decide, collaborate and communicate (patterns). Culture is the fingerprint of the company and also the glue that holds it together. This is why this is exactly where we need to start if we want to achieve sustainable and successful change.
Let’s take common changes in companies as an example: A new tool is introduced, teams are reorganized or processes are adapted. Such things are consciously decided and then changed. The challenging part of the change is its impact on our thoughts and actions.
➡️ A new tool is only great if I know why and what I should use it for. If I don’t see a need and/or an advantage in it, it’s an annoying change that is more work, takes up more time and is inconvenient. I boycott it, consciously or unconsciously.
➡️ A new process can seem just as uncomfortable if I don’t see the point. We’ve always done it this way. What was wrong with the previous way? I can also avoid this change by maintaining shadow processes or taking short cuts.
➡️ A reorganization simply remains a new “box” if no visible improvements or synergies develop behind it.
And here we are back to mental models, narratives and patterns. They simply cannot be changed by decision. Real change requires understanding, experience, priorities and, above all, time.
What keys are available to make a difference at these levels of culture?
🗣️ Communication: Everything is communication, which is why we can explain (almost) everything using this powerful tool. Every change must be categorized and justified. Why do we want/need to do this? What does this mean for whom in everyday life? Who does it affect more, who less? What have we prepared to support employees? It is incredibly important to ask these questions and answer them clearly – and to do so while standing in the shoes of the employees, not the management. This can be the first cultural hurdle. If clear communication is not part of the culture, internal communicators will find it difficult to enforce it. It is always easier for external consultants to convince the C-level of this necessity.
👀 Visualization: Visualization helps to develop changes and bring about their acceptance. How will we work together once the change has been implemented? What will be different, but better? What will it look like in everyday life, how will it feel, how should I imagine it in concrete terms? These images can be created through a change story, but also through graphic recordings in workshops or videos. Podcasts or consultations with the management can also create images in people’s minds. What suits you and the people you work with?
♥️ Positive experiences: Every change process should arouse curiosity from the outset and provide elements to try out. In this way, words are filled with life and positive experiences are associated with the change. Employees realize that they can improve on their own, that changes have a positive impact and that they themselves suddenly become actors with an impact. Such experiences are enormously important on a change journey.
A long-term goal should be an environment in which people are open and curious, where they can get involved and try things out. Change becomes an integral part of the corporate culture. They encourage people to leave their comfort zone(s) without causing them to panic or become permanently overwhelmed. Change becomes something that comes naturally. This path is basically the only sustainable one, because the time of necessary change will not end in the foreseeable future. Keyword time: this process takes time and requires patience and perseverance at all levels. This is another reason why it is important to keep the goal high on the agenda, not to lose sight of it and, above all, not to let up when the first successes become visible. At the beginning, we compared culture to glue and it is just as tough in some places. It takes more than patience and spit to loosen the glue.