As a U.S. Army officer who served in Bosnia, Tyler Durham experienced perhaps the ultimate organizational culture. He now helps companies with their own cultures as managing director of Ketchum Pleon. Here are some tips from Durham on creating a culture shift within your organization.
1. Understand the current culture. Perform robust culture assessments—employee (and other stakeholders) surveys—quantitative and qualitative—that deconstruct the attributes of the existing culture.
2. Identify the strengths of the current culture. “You’ll be more successful in working off the strengths as opposed to working from the gaps,” says Durham.
3. Involvement equals commitment. Get stakeholders involved in the change by asking them to participate.
4. Support the shift by measurement. “If you’re asking the organization to be more customer-centric, focus metrics on customer service,” says Durham.
5. Sustain culture support. Not just from a leadership perspective, but from a time and resources one as well, says Durham. “It’s easy to lose track of how a culture is progressing,” he adds.
PR News subscribers can read more about driving and shifting corporate cultures in: "Culture Cultivation: When a Poster on a Wall Just Doesn't Cut It."