Last week, we talked about cultural capital and the role it plays in helping leaders effectively make change in their organizations. We met Paige who tried to make well reasoned modifications to company operations but was met with resistance because she lacked cultural capital.
Today, we’ll explore what can happen when leaders take the time to amass cultural capital before introducing change.
Marisol was hired to become Moonbeam Manufacturing’s new CEO. The board hoped she would help the company with their increasing expenses and inconsistent profit margins. She instantly identified some crucial changes that if enacted would cut inefficiencies and help Moonbeam stand up against its competition. These changes, however, involved making dramatic changes to how things were currently being done. She kept notes of her ideas and then went about the process of learning more about Moonbeam and building trust with the staff.
She began spending time with employees at all levels, listening to their concerns and learning about their frustrations. She shadowed employees with pivotal roles and sat in on calls with customers. She even joined the company’s kickball team. With time, she began to understand the unspoken rules, relationships and beliefs that held the organization together.
Based on what she learned, she began suggesting modest changes to operations and customer interactions. Rather than issuing sweeping mandates from her position of authority, she framed these changes as time limited experiments. She also created a team to focus on collecting metrics of the new approaches so that they could objectively measure their success.
As workers saw the benefit of these pilot programs, they gained confidence in Marisol’s ideas. And because of her efforts to connect with them personally, they began to see her not as an outsider but as someone who genuinely cared about the company and its people.
Marisol continued to build her cultural capital at Moonbeam Manufacturing which enabled her to make more significant changes within the company.
She understood that cultural capital isn’t something that can be demanded. It’s earned through trust, humility, and a willingness to meet people where they are.
There are many ways to start accruing cultural capital in your organization. Here are just a few that you can start doing right away:
Build relationships: Develop personal relationships with your staff. Learn what motivates them and show an interest in their life outside of work.
Emphasize strengths: Provide positive reinforcement when things go well. Celebrate wins, both big and small, in visible ways.
Be a humble leader: Get input from your staff, listen to the skeptics, give credit to others, and be willing to learn something new.
Work with allies: Identify and then collaborate with individuals in the company who support your vision. Listen to their advice on how to best implement changes.
Practice patience: Take a long-term view of change, remembering that a key element of the change process involves laying the groundwork and building trusting relationships.
When coupled with cultural capital, your vision for the company can become more than just a dream. It provides the nutrients to help your ideas grow and create transformation that moves the company forward.
G2 Solutions loves helping leaders shape company culture into one where both the company and employees can thrive. Contact us to find out more about how we can support you.
Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
Comments