Viralize behaviors transversally with a bottom-up approach for cultural change (VI)

Culture, as I understand it, is the set of habitual behaviors in an organization; it is the air we breathe.

To change culture, we must begin by understanding the ecosystem of variables that influence it, and then act on each of these variables.

Changing culture is an exercise in responsibility and intelligence on the part of the management team. Companies must understand the importance of culture in the quality of the execution of the strategic purpose and in the development of people’s talent.

The third approach that I will present in this article, complementary to the other two already covered, is the mobilization of opinion leaders in the organization, wherever they are in the organizational chart. The idea, formulated by the author Leandro Herrero, is to ensure that, in a coordinated and viral way, they act as transmitters of the new behaviors of the culture from the base (below) and in their areas of influence in a transversal manner.

Some tips for implementing this viral process are as follows:

1. Ensure the collaboration of the management team. To this end, hold a workshop to reach an agreement on the behaviors that the reports can demand from these managers. We would be talking about those that we want to viralize, but also about other transversal behaviors such as meritocracy, discipline, collaboration or trust. The intention is that these managers reinforce the credibility of the cultural change process with their behavior.
2. Work continuously with the management team so that they want and know how to support the viral movement. The idea is that they do not get directly involved and that they are aware of their role of support without playing a leading role.
3. Create a communication process that permeates the organization, explaining the reasons for undertaking the cultural change and reporting on its progress.
4. Create and update an informal map of the organization to know where the most frequent interactions take place, among whom, and the names of the people who act as “nodes” or connectors.
5. Train “connector” leaders (those with the most informal connections) to assist in “viralizing” the new behaviors in their usual environments. Support these individuals to increase the density of their networks.
6. Integrate the viral process of bottom-up behavior infection with other strategic initiatives to convey coherence and the image that top management has a coherent and holistic project.
7. Motivationally support the people involved in the process, mainly the natural leaders and the management team, so that they are aware of, able and willing to manage the higher level of personal demands that the process will place on them.
8. Create metrics to monitor progress. Metrics serve as a warning signal to act if results are not being achieved. Metrics also serve as a catalyst for learning about which levers, and which people, work best and worst.

This article concludes with three approaches to driving cultural change in companies that have the potential to reinforce each other by accelerating the desired change: coaching for the personal growth of the drivers of cultural change, top-down initiatives, and viralization of behaviors transversally with a bottom-up approach.

Improving company culture has many strategic implications and must therefore be a priority for management teams. I hope that the concepts and tools provided will be useful in driving this cultural change.