We have to work differently now. We must live our values. We need to behave differently in this organisation.
These phrases, or variations thereof, are common themes in our many conversations at the moment. There is a widespread acceptance that re-imagined visions and values and new business models and plans, can only be delivered if there are significant changes in how people within organisations work with each other and with audiences, partners, and stakeholders. To help you think about how we might approach this challenge we wanted to share what we have learnt through our work with organisations.
You can only change yourself
We regularly work with clients and stakeholders who say that their staff need to change their behaviour; for example to become more welcoming, take more personal responsibility, be more collaborative or more financially responsible. The challenge is that the only person you can really change is yourself. This has three implications.
- If you want others to change you have to be ready to change yourself, first
- You need to give people a compelling, exciting, and positive reason to change and the tools with which to change. Learning opportunities are essential, not a nice to have that gets cut when budgets are tight
- Top down change usually has limited effect. If the changes you seek are not embraced and shaped by your whole organisation all you will achieve, at best, is compliance
Organisational culture, ‘the way we do things round here’ is the legacy of past behaviours that worked.
People act in certain ways for a reason. Organisational cultures are usually created over many years, they encode a sometimes contradictory collection of behaviours that worked well in the past, that is why they were remembered and copied. If you want to replace these behaviours you need to change how success in your organisation is defined and rewarded. This is particularly important if your organisation has a number of long serving staff.
People don’t fear change, they fear loss
We do ‘change’ all the time. We grow up, leave home, go on to higher education and/or work, move into and out of relationships, have children, change jobs, move house and even learn how to use Zoom and Teams. Most people are actually ok with change, what we are not ok with is loss. Loss of status, familiarity, confidence, colleagues, mastery of our work and identity. Changes in behaviour come when people stop being fearful.
Changing your behaviour is hard and rational argument will only get you so far.
Think about how hard it is to quit smoking, drink less alcohol, lose weight, or get fit. You will need to establish new habits and keep working at them until they become old habits.
Alignment is essential
- Words and actions must align. Especially in the early stages, actions that undercut your words will destroy your project.
- ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast!’ If your organisational behaviours and strategy are not aligned and do not reinforce each other, culture will win every time.
- Cause and effect need to be clearly spelt out. ‘If we behave in these ways this will enable us to ….’.
- You need to enable and motivate the behaviours you want and discourage the ones that you don’t. Think about how your systems and processes could be redesigned to help create the changes you want. You will need to invest.
Less is more
If the changes you seek are deep and organisation wide there is often a desire to tackle everything at once – don’t. Focus on one or two key changes that will have a big and visible impact and that are not too hard to do. Embed those changes then move onto the next set, which will be easier to do because of the tangible gains from the initial changes. This will also allow you to reflect on the impact of the changes to date and adjust your next steps as appropriate.
Productivity will fall, temporarily
When people learn new skills and adopt new ways of working, they will be less productive for a while whilst they are learning. This is natural, inevitable, and healthy. People need time to learn, to try stuff out and to fail. Build this learning time into your project plans and budgets. People under pressure will revert to old behaviours because they are the ones, they are most familiar with so tight budgets and timelines with no float are counterproductive.
People can change – we do it all the time – but the right conditions make it much easier, faster, and more enjoyable.
Do let us know what is working for you and where you would like some help.
Dawn and Susan