3 Initial Steps You Can Take to Begin a Culture Change

A while back I wrote Culture is What You Do, Not Something That You Create in a Day pointing out that culture is always there, the summation of the behaviors of everyone in your organization. That is what defines your culture, not what you espouse it to be. Don’t get me wrong; great cultures are created by having a vision where everyone behaves in a way that matches that envisioned environment. However, it takes continual efforts to establish and maintain those behaviors.Southwest Airlines is always a good example of a culture of service, safety, and what they describe as LUV. Through their leaders and their front line people, that vision comes to life and is the culture that most customers and employees experience. With organizations as large as an airline there will always be breakdowns in those behaviors, and something will not go as planned. However, when the culture is strong, someone that is choosing not to live the values and support the ingrained culture will not last. They will either leave by their own choice or likely will be asked to leave for their actions. That is the sign of a healthy culture. One where the environment and people flush out or welcome those who come in from the outside.Another example of how this can be accomplished is seen in the Container Store’s hiring process. At the store level, group interviews are conducted by the store associates to ensure the candidate would be a good fit for the store and company. They measure the candidate's ability to become a part of the culture they have created and choose to continue.“We need to change the culture’ is a common refrain in many businesses. You certainly hear it within the retail setting. I cannot tell you how often I have heard in my career, ‘we need to create a selling culture.’ Or, ‘we need to have a strong customer service culture.’ Both of which are noble causes to undertake, but rarely are the steps needed to accomplish those tasks understood. Creating or changing a culture is not an overnight process as I mentioned in the previous article.

Define the Steps Necessary to Move Forward

Beyond just laying out the end results you are looking for, it is essential that a step by step plan is built to understand how you will progress to getting to the new environment you desire. Define what behaviors it will take. Be as specific as possible in defining what that looks like in action. What will people be doing? What will they be saying? How will they treat each other? What will the customer experience? Once those are crystal clear, then you can begin to measure.

Measure Your Steps

Much like the fitness tracking devices we wear today, you need to look at multiple indicators to see how healthy your culture is. Using the specific vision you have defined, measure the real actions from different points of view. This may include personal observations or the observations of other leaders. Internal surveys on engagement and the associate experience are other ways to capture information about the progress you are making. Ask customers to participate in focus group sessions to have open discussions and conversations about their experience. Those sessions are a good supplement to regular customer experience surveys. Utilizing these different perspectives will be a much better way to understand if you have the culture you desire and the progress you are making towards it.

Take it in Stages

Establishing specific milestones and stages you want to get to always helps to ensure you can move from point A to point B. Don’t be fooled by what may seem to be a short distance. “We just need our associates to do this or that and we will change the culture” is not going to happen. You need to take small steps, reinforcing the behaviors you have established. Utilizing consistent recognition is the best way to help establish the foundations for each stage of moving forward. Celebrate the wins you hear from the team and the customers, show everyone what a difference the steps are making.Culture is a living, breathing thing. Even in the best cultures, it has to be nourished, embraced and developed to remain healthy. Creating a team full of believers and supporters ensures that your way of business will have many champions of its value. When a change is necessary, set yourself up for success by taking the individual steps required to establish long-standing behaviors and actions that your team will embrace, support, then live each day.Have you ever experienced a culture that changed? Share your experiences in what that was like and the role you played in the comments section.Join other retail leaders in continuing their development journey with Effective Retail Leader.com. SUBSCRIBE today to receive leadership tips directly to your inbox and monthly newsletters that provide many tools to help further develop your leadership skills. JOIN NOW!No spam ever - just leadership goodness.Photo by Mikito Tateisi on Unsplash