Initiating cultural work successfully

A strong, team-oriented corporate culture is a decisive success factor for the future viability of a company. In an increasingly dynamic and complex working environment, it not only promotes collaboration, motivation and innovation, but also creates a resilient foundation on which companies can react flexibly to change. Teams that are characterized by shared values, trust and mutual support drive sustainable developments and ensure long-term competitiveness and attractiveness as an employer.

If you want to establish a culture of continuous reflection and development in your company as a learning-motivated and growth-oriented manager, it is important to have a clear view of your current level of maturity and a sense of where your organization stands. A powerful corporate culture is one that is closely linked to strategic goals, regularly reviewed and, if necessary, flexibly adapted to changes. To find out how colleagues and employees perceive the culture that is truly lived and where there is still room for improvement, you can carry out a productive assessment with the help of various questions.The following clusters of questions are suggestions that should, of course, be tailored to the individual discussion partners.

General Status of the Reflection and Feedback Culture

• How regularly are cultural topics reflected upon within leadership teams and with employees?
• Are there established mechanisms (e.g., surveys, feedback sessions) to capture the mood and perception of the corporate culture?
• Are there structured approaches in place for discussing cultural topics?
• To what extent do employees feel heard and taken seriously when it comes to cultural matters?
• Does the organization promote a culture of learning from mistakes and support continuous development?
• Are new ideas and approaches for cultural development regularly considered, tested, and evaluated?

 Systematic Integration of Culture Work in Strategy & Leadership 

• To what extent is corporate culture explicitly embedded in strategic planning?
• How are cultural values considered in decision-making processes?
• What processes are in place to proactively shape cultural change, rather than merely reacting to crises?
• Do leaders genuinely embody the desired values and behaviors?
• How is it ensured that leaders view and embrace culture work as an ongoing responsibility?
• What processes are in place to onboard new leaders and ensure they are equipped to navigate and contribute to the established corporate culture?

Measurability and Success Monitoring

• Are cultural goals supported by concrete actions and measurable indicators?
• Which indicators does the organization use to evaluate the success of cultural initiatives?
• How regularly are culture assessments, audits, or interviews conducted?
• How are change & improve actions derived, managed, and evaluated based on insights from cultural analyses?

Some managers are not aware of the positive and profitable effect of conscious cultural work or are skeptical about it. Here are some of the common arguments:

“You can't manage culture - it develops by itself.”

Corporate culture is something organic that develops over time and cannot be consciously controlled. Instead, the focus should be on hard economic figures.

“We have more important issues - cultural work only costs time and money.”
Operational business success has priority, and cultural work is a “nice to have” that ties up resources without delivering directly measurable results.

“Our employees are happy - we don't need any cultural measures.”
As long as there are no massive problems such as high staff turnover or dissatisfaction, there is no need for action. Culture is only an issue if something is not working.

“Cultural change doesn't work anyway - we've already tried that.”
Previous attempts to change values or behaviors have failed because employees did not follow this approach or managers were not consistent. This is why cultural work is ineffective.

“That's something for large companies - we're too small for something like that.”
Cultural work is only relevant for corporations with large HR departments. In smaller companies, there is direct communication and less bureaucracy, so that cultural issues are dealt with automatically.

It is in the eye of the observer to decide whether the above views are really so irrefutable or not. Yes, successful cultural work certainly requires a lot of time and personal commitment. However, in order to sensitize sceptics to this topic and motivate them to take action, the following questions can prove to be very helpful and help them to think creatively. Even stubborn skeptics can thus be persuaded to consciously think about the influence of culture on their own company's success and the associated future viability of their company. In order to initiate a willingness to act and focus on solutions more quickly, the following 10 question packages could be helpful for you:

 1. Cultural work as an opportunity instead of a burden

• What if intentional culture work could help you achieve your goals with less resistance?
• What new opportunities could emerge for your organization if the culture were actively shaped?
• Suppose culture work could demonstrably enhance your business success – what initial steps would you consider taking?

2. Create future-oriented perspectives

• Imagine your company, five years from now, being recognized as a role model for excellent corporate culture – how would employees and customers talk about it?
• If you started intentionally improving your company culture today – what positive changes would you notice in six months?
• What would be different in a year if collaboration and motivation within your organization had significantly increased?

3. Resolving ambiguities and limitations

• What exactly do you mean when you say that corporate culture has no particular influence on business success?
• What criteria do you use to assess whether a strong culture contributes to the company's success or not?
• Are there situations in which you have already experienced that a good culture has a performance-enhancing effect?

4. Opening up new spaces for thought

• Could it be that intentional culture work is already having unconscious positive effects you haven’t fully recognized yet?
• What if changing the culture was easier than you’ve previously thought?
• What would it mean for your organization to be known for a strong and positive culture — and how would that feel from the inside?

5. Recognize existing successes and resources

• When have you already experienced that strong collaboration led to success in your company?
• Which aspects of your current company culture are having a positive impact – and how could you intentionally strengthen them?
• Who in your organization is already embodying the desired culture – and how could you further support and promote that?

6. Cultural work as an investment instead of a cost factor

• Suppose a strong company culture were a direct driver of business success – what additional value could it generate?
• What if not investing in culture was actually more costly than actively working on it?
• If you viewed company culture as a strategic asset – what competitive advantages could it bring to your organization?

7. Culture as a positive success factor

• Imagine your employees are highly motivated, identify with the company and are committed - what impact would this have on your business figures?
• If your corporate culture was in perfect harmony with your growth targets, what impact would that have on turnover and customer satisfaction?
• What would be different if you could reduce turnover and sick leave by 30% - 40% through a better culture?

8. Clarify costs: make people aware of pain points

• How much does it cost your company every year if employees only do their job by the book instead of really getting involved?
• How much time and money do you invest in recruiting new employees because existing talent leaves your company?
• What happens to your innovative strength if employees do not identify with your company?

9. Triggering new thought processes

• What if you could significantly improve your customer loyalty through targeted cultural work?
• To what extent could conscious cultural development help you to react more quickly to market changes?
• What if a strong corporate culture was the decisive factor in achieving long-term profitable growth?

10. Visualizing existing successes and experiences

• Was there a phase in your company when you experienced a strong culture and high profits at the same time? What was different back then?
• Which companies in your industry have a strong culture and are financially successful at the same time? What can you learn from them?
• When have you already experienced in your company that committed employees have directly led to more turnover or innovation?

Cultural work is essential for the success of your company. The above impulses and examples can provide you with a valuable basis for specifically scrutinizing the maturity level of your own corporate culture. If existing blockages are recognized and solved productively, then your culture can develop into a decisive & powerful competitive factor.