Are you building cultural sensitivity into your transformation plan?

It's well-known that 70% of change initiatives and transformational efforts don't work out as planned or expected.

There are several reasons why so commanding a percentage of initiatives don't rise to the goals set for them. One is a lack of cultural sensitivity in how changes are implemented.

If you think culture is a soft topic, think again. The data are clear: pit an entrenched culture against an objectively important change and culture will win every time. After all, as the expression goes, "culture eats strategy for breakfast". It's tough changing deeply ingrained behavioral norms. People distrust big changes and their durability ("flavor of the month, anyone?") and often resist actively or passively. People may not know how to change without personal career risk, or choose not to change; instead, they leave or "quietly quit."

But change we must. And therefore, the question isn't if but how. Corporate graveyards are chock full of companies that were once bigger or more important but leaders took the wrong fork in the road. They had the plan but flubbed implementation by underestimating the need for an approach to transformation that was business smart but also culturally sensitive.

Most of these companies just underestimated the need for help. They lacked the internal expertise to implement the changes the right way and at the right speed. Slow and steady is good, but not slow and unsteady. That just invites employee disengagement and distrust.

A better way treats cultural change in transformation as a positive feature, not a bug. For example, a midsized insurance company brought in quality circle experts to help identify cost savings. By creating a participative process, working with the culture, the transformation was able to harness greater employee support from the get-go. That led to stronger and more quickly implemented results.

Cultural sensitivity plays a practical role in all three critical elements of a successful change management initiative:

Well-defined and communicated

According to one report, 40% of transformations fail because of unclear or poorly communicated goals and plans. Employees want to know how the transformation will change their job, their opportunities, their work-life, and the reputation and attractiveness of the organization in future. A transformational initiative that doesn't address these cultural fundamentals is destined for the dustbin.

Well-implemented

A second 30-40% reflects problems of implementation. The way the organization communicates during change – who has access to information, frequency of updates, honesty in reporting – is a major factor in success or failure. How leaders make decisions, who is involved and how, is culturally influenced. How the organization is structured and accountabilities managed. How, during implementation, the organization deals with a wide range of inevitable conflicts. In all of these areas, cultural "tripwires" can derail the transformation, destabilize it, or slow its progress.

Well-resourced

The last 20% of failure is inadequate resources. We know change takes time; after all, we're dealing with people. A culturally sensitive approach includes change management experts who have been-there-and-done-that, know how to introduce and enable cultural change, and bring a systematic approach to eliminating obstacles, improving processes, and unblocking employee engagement and support.

At Mensch.work, we match great young and midsized companies with top change management professionals ...

Ask yourself, how well prepared are you to manage your next big thing: closing the acquisition, bringing on-board new leadership, a significant change in our cost structure, or a digital transformation that we know will have a big impact?

Interested? Call Jon or Alvaro ...