Ian Miell, Partner, Container Solutions, says the importance of leadership ‘getting their hands dirty’ when encouraging cultural change as part of a broader transformation cannot be understated.
Leading from the front is generally considered to be a sound strategy. Some business leaders can suffer from a degree of Impostor Syndrome, but whatever you feel internally, your staff look to you to tell them what’s important. And a crucial time to get this right is when you’re aiming to change a team’s culture, perhaps as part of the process of making a transformational change or implementing a ‘turnaround’ project.
Showing your face on the ‘shop floor’ of the business is paramount. The exact form this takes depends on the nature of your business, but what matters is that you exhibit a willingness to get involved in making the changes; your staff will definitely notice if you are only willing to talk about it. Show that you appreciate there is detail to be worked through.
Engagement with the ‘floor’ allows you to set the tone fast by making quick wins and beginning to address what’s not working with the status quo.
Many people instinctively resist change. They develop comfort zones; they know what they’re doing and can be nervous of being asked to do something new. A good way to expand their thinking is to introduce them to the work done by their colleagues. This can be achieved by shadowing or (where possible and appropriate) having a go at a different job in the organisation.
There are many benefits to this. Not only does it tease everyone out of their single-task silos, it produces an increased appreciation of the work done by colleagues, and it provides greater insights into how the organisation works as a whole. This is absolutely critical when an organisation is looking to change. When people have seen things from all angles, they can make real and effective adaptations to changing circumstances or effect real change within a complex organisation.
With one of my clients, all the central IT staff spent a couple of weeks sitting alongside the developers to better understand the job they did. The results were immediate. Relations between teams improved dramatically. Areas of tension that had been bubbling for years were resolved as central IT staff got to see things ‘from the other side’. This changed their view of why certain blockers needed to be removed, and (equally important) how they could be removed using more creative means that the ‘other side’ perhaps could not see. Once staff saw the drivers of frustration, they could implement solutions for the problem itself, and not necessarily what was being asked for.
The perceived downsides of this kind of initiative (lost productivity, for example) are more often than not quickly compensated for by improved empathy and communication. This ultimately results in improved efficiency across the organisation.
People don’t like to talk about this, but one of the most effective ways to change culture is to remove people that are being obstructive. There’s a (probably apocryphal) story about an Orson Welles management technique he used as a film director. He would get a friendly stooge to show up to work on the first day of a shoot, do something Welles didn’t want, and Welles would immediately fire him. The message to the crew would be unambiguous: my way or the highway.
That’s obviously an extreme example, but I’ve seen time and again the powerful effects of removing people who are obstructing change. That doesn’t mean you don’t follow due process, or give people clear warnings or help them to mend their ways, but nothing sends a message of ‘I disapprove of this bad behaviour’ better than dealing with it firmly.
Founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos sent a single memo outlining the changes he wanted to see within what was to become AWS. There were seven points on the list. Seventh was ‘Thanks! Have a nice day’, probably because he didn’t want to end it on the sixth: ‘Anyone who doesn’t do this will be fired’.
One of the first questions I generally ask myself as a change consultant when considering the latest attempt from on high to bring cultural change to a group is: what behaviour will now get someone fired?
Taking responsibility for hiring and training
Another critical signal for how seriously management is taking the proposed change is how much they take responsibility for hiring. You want to ensure that a delicate balance is achieved: new hires need to work well within the existing business, but also be able to carry the business to a new place.
A few critical hires can accelerate your transformation significantly. By the same token, mis-hires can set you back years as you spend time undoing their missteps and organising their removal and replacement.
When training new or existing staff, remember to be more than a talking head. Get in the field and show people how to respond to problems, how to think about things and where they need to go next. The point is, as a leader, you need to take ownership of the changes you’re making.
Conclusion
The importance of leadership ‘getting their hands dirty’ when encouraging cultural change as part of a broader transformation cannot be understated. By spending time on the floor, hiring, firing, moving and training, you are sending messages about what’s important to the business. You don’t have to get everything right, but if you show that you care about what people are doing, then they will quickly share your passion for the right outcome.
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