Changing Corporate Culture: Role of HR

Most organizations agree that an outdated corporate culture can stand in the way of success.

Luckily, HR has a strategic role to play in transforming culture. By taking the right steps, HR can rally support, define new values, realign policies and practices, measure impact, and sustain positive change.

In this post, we'll analyze the critical part HR plays in updating corporate culture. You'll discover a step-by-step framework covering how to assess the current state, secure allies, craft inspiring values, realign systems and processes, track progress with metrics, and sustain cultural evolution.

The Imperative of Changing Corporate Culture in the Workplace

Organizational culture plays a vital role in a company's success. As the workforce and business landscape evolve, companies must be willing to adapt their cultures to stay competitive. HR professionals are uniquely positioned to influence and shape corporate culture in a strategic way.

Understanding the Essence of Organizational Culture

An organization's culture encompasses its values, beliefs, behaviors, and environment. A strong, positive culture leads to engaged employees, better talent retention, and higher productivity. However, outdated or toxic cultures can hamper a company's ability to attract top talent and drive innovation.

As the global workforce becomes more diverse and millennial employees now make up over 35% of the workforce, companies must evolve their cultures to align with modern employees' values and expectations around flexibility, purpose, inclusion, and more. Changing corporate culture is imperative for continued success.

HR's Strategic Position in Cultivating Cultural Change

HR plays a critical role in shaping organizational culture through key programs and policies related to:

Recruitment and onboarding - Attracting and selecting candidates that align with the company's cultural values and providing immersive onboarding that reinforces the desired culture
Learning and development - Ongoing training around cultural norms and modeling desired mindsets/behaviors
Performance management - Evaluations and incentives tied to cultural metrics
Internal communications - Messaging and campaigns bringing the culture to life
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) - Ensuring all employees feel welcomed, valued, and able to thrive

By taking a strategic approach, HR can systematically transform an outdated "command and control" culture into one focused on transparency, collaboration, and innovation.

What are the 5 steps in changing culture?

Changing an organization's culture can be a challenging yet rewarding process. Here are 5 key steps HR professionals can take to drive positive cultural change:

Determine your culture goals

Clearly define the desired cultural traits you want to achieve (e.g. increased collaboration, customer focus, innovation)
Identify problems in the current culture you want to fix (e.g. lack of accountability, unethical behavior)
Get leadership alignment on culture vision and buy-in on changes

Assess your current company culture

Conduct employee surveys and focus groups to gather feedback
Review workplace policies and practices that shape culture
Analyze engagement, turnover, and performance data for insights

Revisit and define core values

Re-examine existing values against desired culture
Refresh or rewrite core values if needed to align with goals
Communicate updated values company-wide

Map out a plan with benchmarks

Set specific, measurable goals and timeline for changes
Define initiatives to embed values and train people on changes
Establish qualitative and quantitative metrics to track progress

Evaluate your progress

Continuously gather employee feedback on culture shifts
Analyze data on turnover, engagement, performance over time
Refine approach based on insights; changing culture is ongoing

What are the 4 C's of corporate culture?

The Four C's are key elements for building a strong corporate culture:

Cooperation

Encourage teamwork and collaboration across departments
Break down silos, open communication channels
Provide opportunities for employees to work together on projects

Collaboration

Foster a transparent, open environment for sharing ideas
Implement tools like Slack, Asana for improving collaboration
Host team-building events and activities

Contribution

Recognize and reward employees for their unique contributions
Empower people at all levels to provide input and ideas
Make everyone feel their work has meaning and impact

Community

Promote inclusiveness, diversity, and belonging
Build personal connections and relationships
Support employee causes through corporate social responsibility

By focusing on cooperation, collaboration, contribution and community, companies can develop an engaging culture where employees feel motivated, valued and aligned behind shared goals. This leads to better retention, innovation, and business performance over time.

How do you change a culture in a workplace?

Changing an organization's culture can be challenging, but HR professionals play a critical role in guiding and supporting this transformation. Here are some key recommendations from HR experts:

Collaborate with Employees

Involve employees from all levels of the organization in defining the desired cultural values and norms. Get their perspectives on what is working well and what needs to change.
Encourage managers to regularly seek input from their teams on improving culture. Create channels for employees to share ideas and concerns.
Recognize that culture change often requires gradual shifts in mindsets and behaviors. Provide coaching and resources to help employees embrace changes.

Lead by Example

Executives and leadership need to model the desired attitudes and behaviors on a daily basis. If leadership does not walk the talk, culture change efforts will lack credibility.
Share stories of leaders demonstrating the cultural values. Celebrate wins and milestones that exhibit cultural evolution.

Align Systems and Processes

Review talent management processes like hiring methods, performance systems, compensation structures to ensure they reinforce the intended culture.
Eliminate outdated policies and procedures that conflict with cultural goals. Implement new guidelines that align with values.

Measure and Monitor Progress

Define cultural metrics and regularly survey employees for feedback on whether culture is improving. Track trends over time.
Address areas of weakness revealed in survey data through additional training and communications. Share results and action plans openly.

Why is it difficult to change corporate culture?

Changing organizational culture can be challenging for several reasons:

Lack of commitment from leadership. Culture change must start at the top for it to permeate through the entire company. Without proper executive buy-in and modeling of desired behaviors, other employees are less likely to embrace changes.
Fear of change. Significant culture shifts can be unsettling for long-tenured staff who are used to "the way things have always been done." There may be anxiety about having to learn new ways of working.
Focus on results over respect. Some companies promote cutthroat, win-at-all-costs mentalities. These cultures view empathy, collaboration, and work-life balance as secondary. This makes it harder to shift towards more humanistic values.
Undefined or unmeasurable values. Culture can't be improved if it hasn't been clearly articulated and benchmarked. Companies struggle to evolve cultures that lack explicit statements of principles.
Long process. Meaningful culture change takes years, not months. Lack of patience for long timelines hampers progress.

In summary, changing culture is difficult because it requires deep commitment, overcoming fear, balancing priorities, defining the current state, and persisting through a lengthy journey. But culture ultimately shapes organizational success, so it is worth the investment.

Assessing the Current State: The Foundation for Cultural Adaptation

HR professionals can utilize several techniques to thoroughly evaluate an organization's existing culture and identify gaps between the current and optimal states. This provides a critical foundation for adapting the culture going forward.

Utilizing Surveys to Gauge Employee Engagement

Employee surveys are a common method to gather direct feedback on corporate culture. Questions can assess satisfaction, belonging, trust in leadership, etc.
Supplementary techniques like focus groups, interviews, and exit interviews can provide qualitative insights to augment survey data.
Analyzing survey response rates and trends over time reveals levels of employee investment in the culture.
Surveys should incorporate standardized benchmarks on cultural dimensions like those from research firms.

Behavioral Analysis: Observations as Cultural Indicators

HR can track behavioral metrics indicative of corporate culture:
- Collaboration patterns
- Information flows
- Employee recognition
- Leadership decisions and messages
Experiments like A/B testing cultural changes in certain groups can isolate cultural causes from outcomes.
Techniques like sentiment analysis of workplace communication can quantify cultural sentiment.

Benchmarking with Culture Change Models

Frameworks like McKinsey's 7S Model provide comparative benchmarks on:
- Structure
- Strategy
- Systems
- Skills
- Staff
- Style
- Shared values
Gap analysis of current vs optimal states on these dimensions informs a roadmap for culture change.
Maintaining updated benchmarking ensures continual alignment between culture and organizational objectives over time.

Securing Allies: Creating a Coalition for Culture Change

Crafting the Narrative: Communicating the Need for Change

Effectively communicating the reasons and vision behind a culture change initiative is crucial for securing buy-in across the organization. HR should craft a compelling narrative that makes a clear business case, linking culture transformation to improved performance, retention, innovation, and other organizational goals.

When rolling out messaging, it is important to:

Articulate the current culture gaps and why they pose a risk to the business. Provide concrete data and examples.
Define the envisioned cultural state, highlighting how it will benefit both employees and the company's bottom line.
Emphasize that culture change is a continuous journey rather than a one-time project.
Leverage multiple communication channels to spread the narrative from leadership memos to team talks.

Engaging Leadership: The Role of Executive Support in Culture Change

Research shows that culture change programs with strong, visible executive sponsorship have 3x higher rates of success. To secure leadership commitment:

Connect culture to business strategy: Demonstrate how values alignment and cultural cohesion can accelerate strategic objectives.
Make the ROI case: Use benchmarking data and analytics to quantify the potential profit and performance upside of culture initiatives.
Gain input and involvement: Invite executives to actively participate in culture diagnostics, visioning and program design.

Securing executive endorsement and budget ensures initiatives carry legitimacy and importance throughout the company. Leaders can demonstrate commitment by referencing culture in communications, participating visibly in programs, and holding teams accountable.

Cultivating Culture Champions Across the Organization

In addition to leadership, culture change requires a grassroots network of passionate evangelists across the business. HR should identify and empower culture champions by:

Tapping into employees with influence amongst their peers to promote initiatives.
Providing tools and content for champions to spread awareness and drive adoption.
Recognizing champions for their efforts through rewards and exposure.
Creating a formal, volunteer culture committee for sustained momentum.

Equipped with the right knowledge and support, an army of culture champions can create energy and belief around the transformation at all levels.

Crafting Core Values: The Blueprint for a Positive Work Culture

Defining and Collaborating on Cultural Aspirations

Defining a company's cultural aspirations and core values requires an inclusive process that gathers input from all levels of the organization. HR can facilitate focus groups, surveys, and workshops to collaborate on defining the ideals and guardrails that will drive culture. Some best practices include:

Holding small group discussions with employees from different levels and functions to gather perspectives on current culture strengths and weaknesses. Compile key themes.
Conducting organization-wide surveys to quantify cultural elements employees value most. Analyze results to shape cultural aspirations.
Facilitating visioning sessions with executives and mid-level managers to align on cultural ambitions and guardrails.
Validating final vision/values statements through another round of focus groups and surveys to ensure they resonate.

This collaborative process gives a voice to employees, while allowing leaders to guide cultural aspirations. Defining ambitious yet grounded cultural ideals lays the foundation for HR initiatives down the line.

From Values to Action: Operationalizing Cultural Behaviors

Bringing values to life requires translating high-level ambitions into definable, observable employee actions. HR has models to operationalize expected cultural behaviors, including:

Behavioral Competency Frameworks: Outline specific mindsets and actions under each value e.g. "Collaboration" value includes "proactively shares information with colleagues."
Individual Development Plans (IDPs): Employees draft IDPs aligning personal goals to cultural values, outlining measurable steps for modeling target behaviors.
Performance Evaluations: Update frameworks to assess and incentivize cultural contributions - not just business results.
Rewards Programs: Recognize employees demonstrating admirable cultural behaviors.

These methods make desired actions tangible. They also reinforce that all employees have a role to play in cultivating culture.

Communication and Training: Tools to Embed New Values

Ongoing communication and training give continuity to cultural change efforts, embedding values over time. Tactics HR can implement include:

Multi-channel campaigns: Leverage intranet, email, signage, events and more to spotlight different values each month.
Immersive training: Offer interactive courses helping employees apply values to everyday work scenarios through role plays and group discussions.
Reinforcing stories: Have leaders and managers share stories demonstrating values in action during meetings and events.
Listening channels: Keep pulse-checks going through quick surveys and open office hours to address misalignments.

Combined with operationalized behavioral frameworks, these initiatives make values stick - transforming ambitions into cultural reality.

Realigning the Organizational Ecosystem: Policies and Practices

To realign an organization's policies and practices to support cultural change, HR leaders must take a holistic, ecosystem view. This involves auditing and evolving all talent programs, workflows, guidelines and systems to model and incentivize the desired culture.

Revamping Talent Management to Reflect Core Values

The talent management lifecycle - from recruiting to onboarding, performance reviews, learning programs, and more - offers opportunities to manifest an organization's cultural values. Some best practices include:

Recruiting and hiring for culture add: Update job descriptions and interview practices to select candidates that embody the core values. This "culture add" approach prioritizes mindset and soft skills alongside technical abilities.
Onboarding for enculturation: Structure onboarding around deep cultural immersion. Have new hires hear stories of the culture in action from leadership and tenured employees.
Performance management aligned with values: Tie individual goals and reviews to upholding cultural values and behavioral competencies. Recognize those modeling desired mindsets.
Learning priorities linked to culture: Make training on vision, values, leadership principles, and diversity a consistent focus through multiple learning channels.

Reward Systems as Catalysts for Cultural Behaviors

Compensation, rewards and recognition programs should visibly incentivize and celebrate employee behaviors aligned with cultural values. Considerations include:

Incentives for collaboration: Offer group bonuses, profit sharing, and team awards to motivate collaboration and break down silos.
Peer-to-peer recognition: Enable peer reward programs for employees exhibiting cultural values like innovation, customer centricity, or inclusion.
Culture leader rewards: Identify culture carriers and champions. Spotlight their efforts through high-visibility rewards like trips, cash, or leadership opportunities.

Leadership and Operations: Exemplifying the Aspired Culture

Ultimately, leadership and broader organizational systems must authentically role model and give life to the aspirational culture. Key focus areas:

Evolving policies and norms: Revisit guidelines around flexibility, decision rights, and work venues to enable empowerment, trust, and work-life balance.
Changing language and behaviors: Ban toxic and exclusive language. Celebrate behaviors like active listening, vulnerability, and speaking up.
Walking the talk daily: Leaders must consistently and openly discuss, recognize, and live the cultural values in their everyday management. This takes constant vigilance.

By realigning multiple organizational components - from people practices to leadership habits and incentive structures - HR can systematically nurture the cultural evolution over time. The path requires broad commitment, role modeling, and continuous reinforcement.

Measuring the Impact: Company Culture Metrics and ROI

Continuous Feedback: Employee Surveys as Cultural Thermometers

Conducting regular employee surveys can provide insights into how employees perceive the culture and whether cultural initiatives are moving the needle. Surveys should track progress on key cultural attributes like trust, collaboration, innovation, customer focus etc. Comparing survey results over time can indicate if culture is evolving positively.

Some ideas for survey questions:

I understand the core values of this organization
Leaders demonstrate commitment to our values
There is open and honest communication here
I feel psychologically safe to express concerns
My team collaborates effectively with other groups

Response trends will reveal areas working well or needing more focus. HR can course-correct cultural programs based on this feedback.

Applying Diagnostics: Measuring Progress Against Benchmarks

Revisiting organizational culture diagnostic models annually provides quantifiable before-and-after data. Assessments like the Denison Model analyze traits like involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission. Comparing scores year-over-year tracks transformation.

HR should set targets for improving problematic cultural traits revealed in the initial diagnostic. Subsequent assessments will determine if interventions are moving the needle.

For example, if "involvement" scored low initially, HR might launch initiatives to improve engagement and autonomy. A higher score next year would validate these efforts.

Linking Cultural Transformation to Business Outcomes

Evolving culture should ultimately impact the bottom line. HR should correlate cultural improvements to metrics like:

Employee retention
Productivity
Revenue per employee
Customer satisfaction

For example, increased collaboration could boost team output. Higher consistency and cohesion could improve retention. This underscores culture's business value.

HR might compare groups who have deeply adopted cultural changes versus those who haven't. Better performance in progressive areas would verify transformation's financial ROI.

Sustaining Change: Best Practices for Long-term Cultural Evolution

To sustain cultural changes long-term, HR professionals should focus on:

Embedding Culture in the Employee Value Proposition

The evolved organizational culture should be prominently featured in employer branding and recruiting efforts to attract talent that fits the new cultural vision. Highlight cultural attributes in job postings and showcase the vibrant culture during the interview process.

Once hired, onboard employees with immersive cultural training and regularly reinforce cultural values through company communications, events, and leadership behaviors. Recognize employees that exemplify desired cultural traits.

Diversity and Inclusion: Enriching Culture Through Varied Perspectives

Actively nurture diversity and inclusion across all levels of the organization. Seek out varied voices and perspectives when making decisions to incorporate diverse viewpoints into the cultural fabric.

Foster an environment where all employees feel psychologically safe to express themselves and collaborate across differences. Provide unconscious bias and empathy training to enhance mutual understanding.

Adaptation and Collaboration: Agile Responses to Cultural Shifts

Continuously monitor employee survey feedback and regularly refresh culture to meet evolving needs. Nimbly adapt cultural programs based on usage metrics and participation rates.

Give employees a voice in shaping cultural initiatives. Crowdsource ideas for cultural events and solicit input on policies impacting culture and work environment.

Collaborate cross-functionally to quickly respond to cultural friction points. Be transparent about changes and clearly communicate the why behind adaptations.

Ethical Business Culture: The Bedrock of Trust and Integrity

Uphold ethical values even when difficult tradeoffs arise. Leaders should role model integrity through consistent alignment of words and actions.

Implement ethical nudges into workflows and provide ethics training reinforced by incentives. Celebrate employees who demonstrate ethical decision-making.

Frequently evaluate policies and procedures to ensure alignment with ethical values. Be accountable for ethical lapses and transparent in addressing them to rebuild trust.

An ethical culture centered on integrity and transparency establishes a solid foundation for enduring success.

Conclusion: Cementing the HR Legacy in Cultural Transformation

Recapitulating HR's Role as the Architect of Culture Change

HR plays a pivotal role in spearheading cultural transformation within an organization. As the custodians of culture, HR professionals are responsible for assessing the current culture, envisioning the desired cultural state, communicating that vision, getting alignment from leadership and employees, modeling the expected behaviors, and measuring progress through surveys and metrics.

Some key responsibilities include:

Conducting cultural audits to diagnose pain points and growth opportunities
Facilitating visioning exercises to define the cultural ambition
Developing detailed roadmaps outlining cultural initiatives
Securing buy-in and participation from all stakeholders
Equipping managers to exemplify and reinforce cultural values
Tracking leading indicators through pulse surveys and focus groups

By taking ownership of the culture change process, HR enables organizations to evolve their cultures in an intentional, methodical manner.

The Strategic Advantage of a Well-Cultivated Organizational Culture

An organization's culture directly impacts performance across all facets of the business. Companies with clearly defined, well-understood cultures benefit from:

Increased employee engagement and retention
Enhanced innovation and creativity
Improved talent recruitment and onboarding
Higher customer satisfaction and brand affinity
Reduced risk through ethical behavior and conduct

In essence, organizational culture can be a competitive differentiator that delivers tangible results. HR has the opportunity to create immense value by shaping a culture that aligns with business strategy and fuels organizational success.

Future-Proofing Culture: Continuous Improvement and Engagement

To sustain cultural momentum over time, HR needs to make culture management an ongoing priority, not just a one-off initiative. Important activities include:

Conducting regular pulse surveys to monitor cultural health
Refreshing and reiterating values through internal campaigns
Publicly celebrating cultural wins and quick successes
Continually evaluating and enhancing cultural programs

By keeping culture top of mind, HR enables the organization to continuously refine and optimize its culture as needs and challenges evolve. This cultural dexterity is key to remaining competitive in today's fast-changing business landscape.