16 Jul
HR is no longer seen as a cost center by organizations and is gaining recognition more as a Strategic Business Partner to organizations’ growth. HR professionals can become the True change agents for Culture transformation, in today’s dynamic and technology enabled business environments. While a lot is being talked about culture transformation especially by HR professionals, only few are actually able to make a difference. The simple reason is that it involves changing human behaviors and that is really not easy!
HR Professionals need to focus on initiatives and optimize different levers that eventually build competencies and drive high performance in the organizations.
Here are some of the key areas which are under HR purview and can be leveraged effectively to create or sustain organization culture.
#1. Acquire Talent based on Culture fit
There is always a dilemma around whether to give value to Skills or Cultural fit? Which one should take precedence? Recruitment specialists and researchers are beginning to realize that in many industries, the most qualified candidates often do more damage to an organization if they don’t gel well with the organization’s culture.
One study says that almost half of an employee’s success in the first 18 months on the job can be attributed to how the employee fits in to the culture of the organization while the rest of his success depends on whether he can do the job.
Detailed interviews with senior management, psychometric assessments and the appropriate job descriptions helps to attract, assess and shortlist the right talent.
#2. Communicate and Engage at all Levels
Deloitte’s survey indicated a significant gap between executive belief and employee perception. 84% of executives believe senior leadership regularly communicates their company’s core values and beliefs but only 67% of employees feel that is true.
Employee communications has to be at the forefront while launching initiatives around values. HR can organize Focused group discussions to understand employees’ perceptions about the values and seek their feedback and opinion while defining the underlying behaviors and attributes. It would be effective if employees find the values meaningful and aligned with their personal and professional aspirations, in some or the other way.
#3. Recognize desired Behaviors and Reward Outcomes
Organizational values are the DNA of the organization culture and need to be imbibed well in the employees. It’s important to translate these core values into behaviors so that they are understood well by the employees. Employees who demonstrate these behaviors at workplace should be recognized instantly and socially, Accomplishments aligned to organizational goals should be rewarded appropriately. There are modern digital platforms like PeopleCart that tech drive reward & recognition through digitization and automation and make it instantaneous, social , transparent and mobile.
#4. Cultivate Leaders who Promote Culture
Albert Bandura, a famous psychologist, coined the term “observational learning”; human beings are social and learn by observing others. Therefore, it is important that HR identifies the right resources and groom them to become leaders who are the true Brand Ambassadors of your culture. They live the values and practice the desired behaviors themselves before enforcing them on their teams.
#5. Alignment of Performance Management System
Your Performance measurement system should be a reflection of what you value as an organization. Employees should have goals that are aligned not just with the business objectives but also with the values. There should be regular monitoring and a periodic feedback mechanism to apprise them of in case of misalignment. System should be modeled around building the desired competencies.
