HR as a partner in culture change

Leader–HR professional partnerships can be key to achieving the culture change that moves a business forward, writes Dave Hanna

When organisations successfully implement culture change to become more competitive, more innovative or less bureaucratic, it is usually the business leader who earns praise for the transformation. Thus, the public celebrates superstar CEOs such as Jack Welch at General Electric, Indra Nooyi at Pepsico or Jeff Bezos at Amazon.com.

Research has shown, however, that most attempts to change an organisation’s culture do not deliver the desired results. Does this mean companies without a superstar CEO can’t transform themselves? Not at all.

An overlooked or underutilised partner in changing an organisation’s culture is the skilled HR professional (even Jack Welch, Indra Nooyi and Jeff Bezos will tell you that HR was an important partner in accomplishing the changes that moved their businesses forward). Through the years I have seen effective partnerships between HR managers and business leaders achieve dramatic changes in their culture, leading to breakthrough results. Most of these change partners have not achieved the notoriety of the superstars, but their stakeholders have been greatly rewarded by the results.

In research conducted in leadership programs all over the globe, the following attributes were quoted most often to describe leaders who accomplished lasting cultural change.

1. They are visionary: they see future opportunities that may not fit well with the status quo but could elevate the quality of life for many people.
2. They lead by example: the same standards apply to them as well as others. They are unwavering even in times of great stress.
3. They sacrifice: they make significant personal sacrifices for their vision and principles.
4. They connect emotionally with others: they are great communicators; they inspire trust and align followers into cohesive teamwork.
5. They overcome obstacles: they take action while others take a seat.

Behind the scenes of these culture change transformations, I have seen HR professionals coach their CEOs, organise data-gathering and communication processes to bring leaders and followers together, and design new ways of accomplishing the work so that the culture actually changed to deliver the leaders’ vision (see chart for a more detailed view of the HR contribution).

“Those who can seize new opportunities and adapt appropriately will stay at the top of their game”

Such leader–HR professional partnerships have experienced the rewards of changing their cultures in the telecom, gas & oil, retail, consumer products, financial services, pharmaceuticals and automotive industries throughout the world.

In today’s global marketplace there is nothing so constant as change. Those who can seize new opportunities and adapt appropriately will stay at the top of their game. The challenge to all of us in the HR profession is to equip ourselves with the knowledge and competencies to be skilful and engaging business partners when these opportunities present themselves.

The business leader–HR culture change partnership

What business leaders do	What HR professionals do
Are visionary	Study industry, customers and competitors to be able to discuss intelligently what future opportunities could be exploited Work with leaders to articulate the vision and principles Coach leaders on how to build understanding and commitment
Lead by example	Build leaders’ awareness of how stakeholders are judging leaders’ behaviours Point out situations where leading by example is critical Give feedback on how well the leaders “walk the talk”
Sacrifice personal comfort for vision and principles	Coach leaders to “stay the course” in the face of opposition or business crises Communicate to stakeholders how leaders are staying on track as a sign of their deep commitment to the vision and principles
Connect emotionally with others	Gather feedback through opinion surveys and discussion groups, and share with leaders Organise different discussion forums between the leaders and stakeholders (primarily customers, suppliers and employees) to get first-hand feedback on how things are going Point out critical incidents and coach leaders to teach others the need for acting in a way that is consistent with vision and principles
Overcome obstacles	Facilitate diagnosis processes to understand the root causes of problem situations, develop ways to overcome the problems, and monitor implementation until the victory has been won Help enlist any needed resources (internal or external) to solve the problems as they arise