Organisations are complex.

Delivering new products and services to customers? Great! Improving internal ways of working? Fantastic. But digital transformation always requires a shift of company culture, mindsets, behaviours, and ways of working – from leaders and managers to front line staff. 

Culture is one of the main reasons why mergers and acquisitions fail to realise their full value. Aligning cultures stretches well beyond the harmonisation of people and HR policies. It needs to include working practices, behaviours and employee experience. 

With rapid growth comes culture strain. When your business expands, you naturally outgrow certain ways of working. Adaptability is needed, and new disciplines are required. Your people need to be upskilled, management practices enhanced, and the employee experience refreshed. Left unresolved, the culture strain will impact on performance and future growth.

Do you have a diverse workforce? Is your culture inclusive? The wellness of your employees directly influences how agile and innovative you are as a business,  and how appealing your offerings are to your diverse customer base. It also affects how engaged and productive they are. 

The need for authentic, connected and forward-thinking leadership is greater than ever. We’re all working in a fast-paced environment: increased demands and moving goals. Higher uncertainty and greater complexity. Blurred boundaries between home/work. All this can create challenges for business leaders.

When you’re dealing with a complex situation, your culture change programme needs a robust underlying methodology. A multi-layered approach may not be simple, but it spreads responsibility, resources and creates impact to achieve faster traction. Attention to detail and a flexible approach to implementation are key.

Improving performance, productivity and impact is a constant challenge for leaders. Whether it’s for a team, department, a division or for the overall company, creating a climate and culture that enables high performance is key for delivering results and fulfilling strategic ambitions.

Most organisational cultures are not totally conducive to sustainable remote working. It can affect productivity, engagement and wellbeing. Organisations will need to reset their internal culture, and ways of working, so that remote working is sustainable.