Cultural Change Analysis

Cultural change is one of a leader 's greatest challenges. And yet if efforts aren 't made to positively and proactively create the culture the organization desires and needs; a culture that will help ensure its success; the culture will change nonetheless and it may not change in the manner desired. An organization 's culture is made up of it mission, vision, goals, roles, work processes and structure, values, communication practices, behaviors and attitudes. These items work in an interlocked fashion making it difficult for the organization to make simple but positive changes to the culture without great intention.

The first step of making any cultural change, of course, is to align leadership on the value of making proactive improvements

The vision, mission, and strategic priorities need to be clear and focused and anticipate the change in the marketplace or the changes that the organization needs to make in order to drive the business and future growth forward. When this is done well, everyone throughout all levels of the organization asks how does my job connect with the strategic priorities and what is my role in the success of the organization. An analogy of this would be an orchestra playing from one sheet of music. The sound of the orchestra is pure magic. The audience can tell how special the orchestra 's performance is and the melody touches the listener 's soul. This applies to organizations that connect the dots for strategic priorities and employee performance and what is needed to be successful in the short- and

What does it take to move toward individual and organizational accountability? Individual and organizational accountability includes: (1) the use of metrics and scorecards (formally or informally), (2) formalized plans with individuals or teams of individuals assigned tasks to complete by a required due date, and tied to annual performance evaluation, (3) the creation of a culture that encourages everyone to speak up throughout all levels of the organization without reprisal that allows Senior Leaders to really know what everyone is thinking and where there might be confusion or lack of clarity and focus might be hindered (if even one area of the company does not feel free to speak up then the entire organization is troubled by a lack of clarity and having the momentum needed for the Twenty-first Century), and (4) being able to speak up is the first step towards greater organizational transparency and letting everyone know that they play a critical role in the success of the organization; embracing transparency so that everyone has access to all of the information, all of the project plans, along with routine updates and assessment of performance. These core components move individuals and organizations towards greater