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LEADERSHIP AND VISION - culture change - LV4
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Key Questions
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‘Does the existing business culture support the organisation’s vision of sustainable development?’
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Alignment with principles
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Organisations should ensure that:
| The prevailing culture is supportive of their vision, mission and operating principles and will allow for sufficient allocation of resources to ensure the effective implementation of the strategic and tactical plans that underpin them. |
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When
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Ongoing – an assessment is required in the early stages of the SIGMA implementation process to ensure that the business culture is supportive of a move towards sustainability.
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Who
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Project Champions, Board Members, Senior Management Team and SIGMA Implementation Team.
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Cultural change
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Key activities
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Analysis of the current business culture and any change required to achieve organisational vision and strategies, e.g.
| - | Ability to innovate and respond to changing markets and stakeholder expectations and priorities |
| - | Capacity and ability to manage change successfully |
| - | Organisational learning ability |
| - | The prevailing and required leadership and empowerment culture (if different!) |
| - | Changes in organisational or departmental structures and functions |
| - | The development of strategies and programmes for cross-functional collaborative working |
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| Perception/reality audits with internal and external stakeholders. |
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Suggested resources
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Outcomes & outputs
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| Comparative analysis of business culture against organisational vision, mission, adopted operating principles and strategies. |
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Report and recommendations on requirements for cultural change, including changes in organisational structure, policies and management and operational practices. |
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Key Issues
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Useful documents:
| Staff attitude surveys and questionnaires. |
Real-world tips:
The SIGMA research into the role of learning, innovation and culture change in sustainable development found that the key characteristics that reflect a ‘learning company’ are:
| A learning approach to informing organisational strategy – a concerted effort is needed to develop a strong company policy and strategy geared towards the development of a learning environment. |
| Participative approach – although it is vital to have strong leadership to drive change, it is also equally important to engage stakeholders in a proactive partnership, especially employees. |
| The spread of information – this involves empowering employees by making information widely available, disseminating information in order to promote understanding about the organisation’s systems and processes. |
| Formative accounting and control – ensuring that the systems of accounting, budgeting and reporting are structured to assist learning and innovation. |
| Internal exchange – fostering working environments where individuals, groups, departments and divisions can engage in a regular dialogue with the aim of exchanging information on expectations and negotiating and providing feedback on issues. |
| Enabling structures – specific context-bound remits reduce scope for sharing ideas and innovation. Therefore roles need to be fluid and loosely structured, in order to allow for growth and development, thus creating a pool of resources and of creativity and innovation. |
| Inter-company learning – joint training, sharing in investment, research and development, and job exchanges can be excellent ways of pooling resources and learning from each other. |
| A learning climate, where individuals are encouraged to take advantage of a range of learning opportunities with the full support of the organisation. |
| Personal self-development opportunities – all stakeholders need to be encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning and development. However, it is the responsibility of management to provide guidance as well as the opportunity for self-development. |
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