Corporate culture is the shared values, beliefs, and practices that define an organisation's identity. It shapes how employees think, behave, and interact with each other and with customers.
And we seen how a strong, lekka positive culture can lead to increased employee engagement, productivity, and loyalty, while toxic cultures can undermine morale, creativity, and even staff retention. In my corporate days, I've heard many colleagues want to look for another job blaming the bad "attitudes of people" around them.
However, changing corporate culture is not an easy task.
In fact, it is one of the most challenging and complex undertakings that a company can embark on. In this blog post, we will explore why changing corporate culture is so difficult, and provide some tips on how to do it successfully.
Some factors that make changing corporate culture difficult:
Resistance to change is a natural human reaction. People are creatures of habit and feel more comfortable with what they know. Changing a company's culture means disrupting familiar patterns and routines, and employees may feel uncertain or threatened by this.
Legacy culture is another factor that makes changing corporate culture hard. The culture of a company is often deeply ingrained in its history, and may have developed over many years. It is shaped by the values and beliefs of the founders and the early employees, and can be a source of pride and identity. Changing such a culture requires a significant shift in mindset and behaviour, which may take time and effort.
Lack of leadership support is also a significant barrier to changing corporate culture. Leaders must not only communicate the vision for the new culture, but also model the behaviour and values that they want to see in their employees. If leaders are not fully committed to the change, or if they send mixed messages, the effort to change culture is likely to fail.
Inconsistent messaging is another challenge that companies face when trying to change culture. Employees need to understand what the new culture is, and how it aligns with the company's goals and values. If the messaging is unclear, or if different messages are sent from different parts of the organisation, employees may become confused or skeptical.
So why would CIRCLES blog about company change. Well!!
A successful culture change can have a significant positive impact on a company, because we would like to make our exclusive ridesharing a benefit to our corporate clients we have noticed it will strengthen connection and bonds between colleagues. When employees feel engaged and aligned with the company's values and goals, they are more likely to be productive, innovative, and committed. To us at CIRCLES, that's a great value added benefit to our very basic every day product.
Perhaps, selfishly, if our clients look and feel good with a positive culture, their reputation is enhanced and we recognise our very micro part in that moment. A positive culture, makes our clients more attractive to potential future employees but also our mission of change we want to bring to South Africa.
In conclusion, we know changing corporate culture is a challenging, but essential task for companies that want to succeed in today's business environment. Our product is all about corporates putting their social responsibility into action to deliver the impact on the climate we have all been talking about for years.
It requires a clear vision, commitment from business leaders and super effective communication, and a committed focus to create a positive work environment this is the same when we adopt new concepts like a lift club into the office environment.
As Laszlo Bock, former SVP of People Operations at Google, said, "Culture change is hard, and people will resist having their norms and behaviours changed. But the most effective leaders are the ones who recognise that and set expectations accordingly. The right culture can mean the difference between success and failure."
We think we changing culture, together with our clients!
Let's!
Alvira Fisher
Co Founder CIRCLES
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