A a strong organizational culture can reduce the need for managers. Indeed, when a culture is strong, workers have sufficiently internalized goals and values ​​to act autonomously and effectively without constant direction. “People don’t need to be told what to do: they already have the spirit of the place,” explains Glenn Carrollprofessor of management and organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Carroll’s remarks came during a virtual Charter event yesterdaywhich is based on the research manual “Culture in a Time of Change” recently published by Charter and supported by Philip Morris International (PMI). He highlighted how a well-managed culture is a driver of both performance and operational efficiency, and noted that approximately 80% of executives surveyed say they want to change their company’s culture.

Here are the takeaways from yesterday’s conversation on how best to proceed:

Start by listening widely. PwC, for example, sought input from thousands of its employees and thousands of its partners, seeking to better understand “who we are, who we are to our clients, how we show up and deliver every day in a way that consistent with our objectives. values, (and) what our people need,” explained Yolanda Seals-Coffieldhead of human resources and inclusion at PwC, during yesterday’s conversation. Similarly, PMI used focus groups to interview about 350 employees from different backgrounds and locations to shape its new cultural identity, which it calls PMI’s “DNA,” according to Fred Patituccidirector of human resources and culture of PMI.

Recruit “activators” among your colleagues. “The biggest change agent that worked for us were what we called ‘activators,’” Seals-Coffield said. More than 1,000 employees volunteered to lead discussions with colleagues and share feedback on what was working and what wasn’t. “We said, ‘This month we want you to focus on our listening skills, so go ahead and help our people understand the power of our feedback tool, our team survey tools ‘” Seals-Coffield explained. “They went out and did it their way. They had lunch and learned, they played fun games. Being activators allowed employees to access the company’s leaders, which motivated many of them. “It became a great breeding ground for future leaders of the firm, and it gave them access to the leaders they were going to work with,” Seals-Coffield said.

Communicate key messages repeatedly. “Sometimes the real work is not building up the core values, but breaking them down,” Carroll noted, adding that you have to “get people at every level to translate them into what exactly it means to them and to their work.” This often requires the organization’s leaders to communicate about the culture until they are tired of hearing each other. “It gets boring for you, and you have to find a way to make it less boring for you and more interesting for them, because it has to be repeated over and over again,” Carroll explained, referring to the former GE CEO. Jack Welch’s belief that great managers are “relentless and boring.”

Assess the state of the culture and evaluate individual performance using this lens. PMI uses biannual employee surveys to analyze the progress of its cultural transformation, asking questions on areas such as engagement, wellbeing, inclusion and manager effectiveness. It also evaluates people managers to determine whether they contribute to the organizational culture as part of their annual performance reviews. Year-end performance is 70% based on the business results an employee achieves and 30% on “how well you display the right behaviors in the workplace,” Patitucci said. The latter is determined based on 360-degree feedback surveys, which include both numerical ratings and comments.

Clearly express what is culturally forbidden. In addition to defining positive aspects of culture, PMI communicated nine undesirable workplace behaviors that undermine its culture, Patitucci explained. They include being disrespectful, abrasive or harsh, taking undue credit for your colleagues’ work, and not creating space for introverts to express themselves. Managers shouldn’t be afraid to ask people who are damaging the culture to leave the organization, Carroll advised. He cited the example of Netflix, whose co-founder Reed Hastings he advocated separation with “brilliant jerks”. The risk if you don’t do this, Carroll explained, is that your colleagues will say, “I see what culture is worth: If I’m good enough, they’ll ignore it.”

Integrate inclusion into your values. “When we think about what it means to have a culture of care, a culture of belonging, a culture of inclusion, you start to see how your DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) work flows so naturally there,” said declared Sceaux-Coffield. “We don’t need to debate the letters and we don’t need to get involved in the word soup that sometimes swirls around this topic.” It connects an inclusive culture to the core business need of “bringing diverse people together to solve the important problems our customers seek our help with.”

Approach artificial intelligence as a cultural project. “A big part of our core values ​​is that we are led by humans and powered by technology,” Seals-Coffield said. “We’ve tried to use that phrase and remind our people that their human intuition, judgment and independent thoughts will always be essential to how we operate, but we will have the opportunity to leverage technology from a different way. way that will allow us to do our work better and faster. PwC provided generative insights AI development opportunities to its approximately 75,000 workers in the United States and 95% have benefited. “What we did in the most humble way possible was say, ‘We’re all going to learn on this journey together,’” Seals-Coffield said.

Expect a culture change project to take time. Patitucci said PMI’s culture change is “a journey that will take us three to four years before we get to what I call the normalization of values ​​and behaviors so that they become a normal part of the way we you operate in the business as usual. » Seals-Coffield said the cultural transformation project is a three-year initiative for PwC.

Watch a video of the session And download the associated research playbook—Culture in a time of change— filled with case studies of how companies like Atlassian, Deloitte, LHH, Microsoft, and PMI have actively shaped organizational culture to support specific strategic changes. The guide includes practical lessons that leaders can apply to their own change efforts, as well as insights from academics and other experts who study culture on how to best manage it through change.