Great CEOS Pay Attention to Culture

Eagle’s Flight CEO Phil Geldart, an expert in culture transformation, talks with journalist Romina Maurino about the non-negotiables.

Everybody talks about culture transformation, but how do you actually bring about sustainable change?

The biggest hurdle is getting people to be willing to change their behaviour. Culture is not an abstract thing that exists within a company. When you add up the way people behave in every circumstance that makesakes up a companyscompany’s culture. To change it, you haveave to change individual behaviours.

How soon should you start?

Senior managers may be temptedempted to get started the moment they realizeealize the transformation is needed, but some serious legwork is required before beginning. The senior leaders may not knowow how to behave in accordance with the neww culture themselves, so that’s first; and then they’rey’re going to have to design and plan a company-any-wide training and communication plan.

How involved do the CEOEO or senior leadership really have to be?

Senior people have severall significant responsibilities, and those extend to demonstrating the new cultural behaviours. They have to model what they want to see in others.hers. They have to support the other people within the organizationtion as they learn the new behaviours, and then ensurere efforts are made to sustainn the change over time.

What can you do to get employees at all levels not only onboard but also excited about the changes, throughout what’s often a long process?

Human nature is such that some people will take longer than others to adapt to the change and you have accept that. You also have to sustain the momentum or it will get lost. Keep the reason for the transformation top of mind, so there’s a line of sight between where you were, where you’re going, and why; then celebrate success along the way.

We talk a lot about senior management, but how involved do other levels of management and HR need to be in the transformation?

Each line manager has to encourage the new behaviours in their peoppeople. HR has a critical function driving the tacttactics of the change, but more as a “backroombackroom” function. The people in HR should be designdesigning the training, the communications and makingm sure all the pieces are in place. LineLin Management has responsibility for the outcome,ou HR has responsibility for the impimplementation.

How do you know if the transformation is being successful?

I always look at what the organization is trying to transform ininto, and what is the resulting benefit to the shareholders. There are different measures depending on what you are tryingtr to achieve, but this process has tto lead to a benefit, so the real measure of the transformation is the degree to which you’re getting

that benefit.