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Key Strategies For Leading Culture Change In 2022

Forbes Human Resources Council

Deputy Chief Human Resources Officer at UC Davis Health & Adjunct Management Faculty, San Jose State University. 

Of all the organizational phenomena that have been studied for decades, culture remains one of the more difficult concepts to define, yet is a foundational pillar for any organization’s success.   

Conceptually, culture is invisible, but it’s as powerful in its impact on a group or an organization as personality and character are on an individual. And just as our individual personalities may evolve after experiencing a catastrophe, organizational culture is ripe for renewal after surviving a crisis. 

Two years of unprecedented, unceasing upheavals and social unrest call for a new cultural landscape for societies and organizations alike. And an emerging new social order is defining how organizations are run. 

There is a lot of published data regarding the pandemic’s impact on organizations and their employees. Research by the O.C. Tanner Institute found that companies that experienced layoffs and furloughs experienced a 91% decline in employee Net Promoter Score, a 57% increase in disengagement, a 42% increase in a tense workplace atmosphere, and a 75% increase in feeling like the organization was underprepared. 

Employees fortunate to keep their jobs had to work remotely for so long that returning onsite itself is a big topic of discussion. Post pandemic, some cultures need healing, while others require considerable adaptations; as workforces are asked to return to onsite work, employee safety and digitalization becomes prime. 

Understanding the new paradigm, seeing our organizational systems with new eyes and developing a new language of interaction in the employer-employee relationship will shape the new cultural realities of organizations and determine their future success. 

For organizations that wish to stay relevant and find a new competitive edge, it’s critical they understand how the game is changing, and how they might successfully play by the new rules of that game. 

Let’s look at some key strategies for organizations who aim to inform, reshape and redefine the dimensions of their existing culture. 

Evolve leadership and challenge assumptions

All change requires leadership, and culture change is primarily about changing the basic assumptions and shared beliefs of organizational members. 

The uniqueness of the current situation is that leaders need to challenge the organization’s pre-pandemic assumptions that served to provide shared meaning and purpose to its members.  

To lead effectively, it takes a different level of thinking and worldview to undo or evolve the policies, practices, and protocols that were informed by the leaders’ own philosophy and management approach. 

Yet post-pandemic culture change is not necessarily about a complete overhaul. The barriers between the current culture and desired future need to be addressed and considered carefully. 

Though the pace of change has accelerated, reflecting before taking action is important. Ideally, this cultural transition is a thoughtfully considered process in which those cultural elements deemed worthy of preservation are kept, while those that no longer serve the organization are shed. 

Managing culture change for post-pandemic times requires an acceptance that organizations are now operating in a different business and talent landscape – where sense of community and wellbeing is valued more than the company brand, where upskilling employees to align to new ways of doing business is an organization’s core responsibility, and creating value from employee voice makes a strong business strategy.  

Revisit, reimagine and re-strategize DEI 

Diverse and inclusive workplaces don’t just happen, they need to be created. If there is one pillar of leadership and cultural influence that needs to be firmly rooted for a successful post- pandemic talent strategy, it’s your brand’s recognition of the importance of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 

DEI was an ongoing initiative for most organizations prior to the pandemic and social unrest 2020. What the past two years have highlighted is that programs and initiatives on the books perhaps do not address the core issues of respect and inclusion for all. The disparate impact of Covid for certain demographic groups, ranging from healthcare access to job and financial instability, brought to the forefront that there is much ahead of us to be done. 

Inclusion is a behavior, and starts with leadership. It then permeates through all parts of the organization. Creating a culture of inclusion requires proactive consideration of the entire employee lifecycle, acknowledging touchpoints where bias and exclusion can creep in. 

 It is so important to recognize that DEI training is just a beginning for opening the conversation – culture change happens when there is action. 

Integrate digitalization and institutionalize innovation 

The current labor market is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory. Businesses are positioning themselves for reinvention, growth and transformation. With the Great Resignation and the Great Rehiring, technology will be crucial to business sustenance and growth post-pandemic – particularly in interacting with and managing the workforce. 

It’s quite clear that while digital used to be about coding and IT, digital workplaces are now more about the human element. As tech and talent become more integrated going forward, it makes sense to integrate fragmented digital efforts in order to craft a well-integrated, digitally informed employee experience and make that employee experience the North Star when implementing new technology. 

Another challenge to address is creating a strong organizational culture that expands beyond the boundaries of physical space. One of the positive impacts of the pandemic was that its urgency for action broke bureaucracy in organizations and opened doors for innovation and reinvention. It's important that the journey continues as management practices are reinvented for the digital age. Align innovation to strategy formation and your employee value proposition to digitally savvy innovative offerings for employee wellness, recognition, engagement and growth – this allows organizations to effectively build and influence culture virtually. 

Culture is a force – an energy that influences every group learning situation. The “right culture” for an organization will depend on that organization’s True North, and the competency of the leadership to point the group in that direction.

Leading organizations from workplace space to culture space will require leaders to consider the organization’s ecosystem, create cultural stability through transformative practices, and strengthen the organization's competence by developing leaders as compassionate and empathetic strategists. 


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