Want to make an organisational change or cultural change in your business? Start at the top.
I was talking to someone yesterday and made this point about improving environmental performance. She said it reminded her of what another colleague had said about the firm’s diversity strategy.
Be the change you want to see
Organisational change simply does not happen if the board, the MD, the boss, the senior management team, however you define your leadership, don’t acknowledge, desire, promote and demonstrate it to all around them.
Without leadership buy-in, colleagues become disillusioned and cynical. And the impact may be worse for the firm than not making the change at all.
So, how do we get leaders’ attention?
Make the business case.
To take one example. Suppose you feel that your firm is lagging behind others in terms of environmental progress. Your business case may include data which demonstrates the value of a change in terms of:
- cost reduction
- enhanced reputation
- sales growth
- external investment
- licence to operate
- supply line resilience
- staff engagement
- recruitment and retention
You will demonstrate how the costs of taking strategically coherent action are far outweighed by the benefits. In many cases, environmental action you take may create new product development opportunities. Look for products and services you can sell on to your customers for the benefit of their environmental performance. DP World, which runs container ports in Southampton and London, has done just that – it offers environmental services which draw more customers to their ports.
Employee-inspired solutions
Once your leadership team has embraced the concept, take it to the whole workforce to develop it into effective action. We find that employees, those on the front line, often have a much greater understanding the head offices of the issues faced and some great solutions to overcome them. Don’t be shy of asking for ideas.
If this all feels a bit daunting, learn with others. Hampshire Chamber of Commerce has just launched the Hampshire Sustainable Action Network to ensure no one moves forward alone.
The aim is to create a community of like-minded businesses making progress together.
If you are not in Hampshire, there may well be similar initiatives near you. If not, badger your local business organisations to set one up. For more ideas on how to engage all stakeholders with your cultural and organisational change, drop me a message. Together we can create better business.