Too many workplaces are devoid of humanity and creativity, and are in desperate need of revitalisation. Bizarrely, many organisations still approach culture change as a clinical process that is ‘done’ to people, often because they don’t know any different.
Typically, the results are lacklustre or worse, create fear, stress and inertia. Sometimes they can be catastrophic. One thing is certain: people want to know that their contribution is making a difference and that they belong to something of significance that is bigger than them.
Is the solution a more experimental environment where employees and stakeholders can realise progress faster? What if I told you no quick fix or formula exists to getting change right?
What we do know is that cultural transformation in any measure requires deep courage, tenacity and ongoing commitment to empowering employees and stakeholders with confidence and capability to own and lead change.
Overcoming the fear and fatigue of change is a long game that is directly proportional to how human an organisation is prepared to be. This humanisation requires no less than radical transparency and collaboration at all levels, and commitment of leadership to welcoming the full expression of the human condition, both shadow and light. Stakeholders must be authentically engaged and part of the process — to feel a legitimate connection and sense of ownership in the design of culture and its success.
No silver bullet exists. If you’re a leader who wants to start being recognised as someone who makes a difference, however, start by calling BS on the soul-sucking practices that are so prevalent in the workplace. Find out what lights your people up and amplify this. Have honest conversations. Be real. Be compassionate. Anything less is subscribing to a manufactured ideal of culture that isn’t real or sustainable.
Change is a messy business that involves risk, experimentation and real accountability. If the literal billions of dollars in failed culture and innovation programs tell us one thing, it’s this: something is systemically wrong with the way organisations approach change. Notwithstanding this huge failure, human beings are creatures of habit and unless something diabolical happens, we keep going round in circles chasing our tails, making the same mistakes over and over.
Companies such as zappos and Apple, however, established their businesses around empathising with customer feeling, and are now beacons of innovation and inspiration in the truest sense. Importantly, these brands didn’t just happen upon success.
What did they do differently? How do they sustain deity-like status in the marketplace? Their success all stems from a commitment to listening and collaborating, and from continuously learning to build around empathising with how customers feel. They made countless mistakes along the way. They failed repeatedly and were almost buried in the process before something magical happened — they learned that it wasn’t all about them. They started to connect, serve and inspire. They enabled people to see these brands as extensions of themselves, their own dreams and aspirations — as partners in life, so to speak.
So what are you waiting for?
Let’s look at how you, too, can transform.