National & Corporate Cultures

Culture Change Presentation to Russian Delegation

Earlier this week, Directors of Russian Energy companies and a Managing Director of a Kazakhstan Bank attended a presentation on culture change delivered by Philip.  The event was at the White House Hotel, Central London, and organised by the Trans European Centre of Commerce and Finance.

Secrets of Leading Culture Change

This senior group were targeting ‘best practise’ in culture change.  They wanted to get a practical grasp on defining, shaping and changing corporate culture to lead to improved performance in productivity, growth and ROI.

Philip designed a tailored presentation to meet their needs, incorporating aspects of research and practise when working cross border in other geographies.

Cross Border Cultural Change

He drew on his work in a consultancy in Switzerland where the focus of attention was post acquisition integration across geographic boundaries in many European countries, as well as talking about the more specific elements of shaping culture.

He also discussed his personal experience and case studies of global US businesses which had been merged with major European competitors.  He clearly drew out the distinctions between the cultural issues of the Nation State and tied this into a model of culture change.

Corporate Cultures are not ‘Fit for Purpose’

Philip maintains that most corporate cultures are not designed specifically to be ‘fit for purpose’, but instead evolve by default or accident, rather than being designed to meet specific behavioural, business and financial objectives.

Philip maintains that “culture change takes as long to implement as the senior management team deems necessary”. This means culture change can  and usually doesdrag on for years without any measured improvement.  “People just tend to think that culture cannot be managed whereas the opposite is the truth.  Change can take place at a much speedier rate and with much more impact if planned and managed well and supported by real commitment of the top team”.

Cultures can be shaped to achieve the desired Bottom Line results

He referred to some of his clients who deliberately shape the culture of new acquisitions very quickly with post acquisition implementation strategies. He states, “there is a plethora of work in the field that can be applied but is largely disregarded.  The important issue is, knowing what is valid and what works and doesn’t work and what generates the bottom line results.”

If Change takes too long – start earlier and now!

He strongly suggests that change is deliberately drawn out because of ignorance of defining, measuring, confronting the key cultural and behavioural issues which are major drivers to the business.

“Not too many folk understand the dynamics of culture or even go about measuring it”, says Philip.  “There is a lot of nonsense talked about corporate culture and many senior managers have formed ‘self limiting beliefs’ around what can be achieved.

You can shape the corporate culture speedily 

There is every possibility that you can create the culture you desire and deserve and the first step is being curious about diagnosing the current culture and examining possibilities, not constraints.

By following a robust change management process one first needs to assess the current culture, define the culture that will deliver the precise results and develop a tailored implementation plan to generate that culture.  The process has to be firmly monitored and assessed to ensure that the organisation moves swiftly to this new desired operation.

The culture has to be a living breathing part of behaviours that are practised, and this has to start from the top.

Without Leadership There in No Change

Cultures are tangible, it is just that managers don’t know how to go about diagnosing current culture and developing options for change.  Because most managers are rewarded solely for their technical expertise, it is not surprising that the average middle or senior manager has many day to day distractions which prohibit her or him from truly understanding the behavioural processes that drive change.

If you are interested in Philip’s presentation please click here››

Ann Mcloughlin

info@philipatkinson.com