Culture Change Movement: Speed up Transformation
Is your business yearning for success going viral? What are cultural movements? How to unlock the secrets of a culture change movement by recognizing the power of transformation processes and their tipping points.
In this article, I will unpack these questions and offer some exciting insights.
Culture Change Movement tipping points
Transformation processes are natural occurrences that happen in nature and also in organizations. In nature, we see transformation processes happen through the cycles of growth, decay, and regeneration.
Similarly, organizations go through transformation processes as they adapt to changes in the market, technology, or social norms, also called social tipping points. We will have a closer look at questions like, how does movement cause the culture of a place to change?
This graph shows how a culture transformation process unfolds as a movement:
Recognizing the tipping points in these transformation processes can help organizations move from being stuck to unstoppable.
Examples from nature
In nature, tipping points occur when a small change triggers a sudden and significant transformation.
For example, a caterpillar metamorphoses into a butterfly, and a seed becomes a tree. These transformations occur at tipping points when the conditions are just right for change to occur.
Interestingly, the information needed for this transformation is already present within the organism. In the case of a butterfly, the transformational disc found within the caterpillar already contains all the information required to create the butterfly.
Similarly, the seed already contains all the genetic information required to grow into a tree.
Thus, the transformation process is not simply a response to external conditions, but also a manifestation of the inherent potential within the organism that will come to bear or not, depending on the circumstances.
This highlights the importance of unlocking the inherent potential within individuals and organizations to drive cultural transformation.
Examples in organizations
In organizations, the seed of the tree or the transformational disc of the caterpillar are its people. They can also be likened to the core values, purpose and vision mission, and mindsets of the people in the organization.
These represent the underlying principles that guide the organization and provide a framework for decision-making.
When an organization reaches a tipping point, it means that there has been a critical mass of people who have embraced a new way of thinking or behaving that aligns with the core principles and brings the vision alive.
For example, when a company embraces a more disruptive way to innovate, it can become a leader in its industry. This requires a critical mass of employees who are not only willing to think outside the box but are also empowered to do so.
learnings from the tipping process
To speed up culture transformation, organizations need to learn from this tipping point process. This involves identifying the innovators and early adopters as well as leaders and influencers.
identify innovators and early adopters definition
In terms of culture transformation, this simply means to go where the energy is, where there are people who already hold the mindsets and do things the way we want them to.
They hold the transformational disc in their bodies if you want and we need to create the circumstances for them to start metamorphosing.
By understanding what motivates them and how they adopt new ideas, organizations can leverage their influence to speed up the transformation.
Who are the leaders and influencers
After the early adopters, we need to recognize the leaders and influencers in the organization and analyze how they interact with their networks.
Leaders and influencers could be managers, executives, or other employees who have the power to shape the culture because they hold significant sway over how things get looked at and done.
By getting them on board with the new culture, the organization can create a ripple effect that permeates throughout the entire company.
Do’s and don’ts when the movement takes hold
In the steeping curve phase of the movement, the transformation gains momentum, and the organization begins to experience a significant shift in its culture.
This can be an exciting time, but it is also a critical phase where the organization needs to be aware of the do's and don'ts to ensure that the transformation process continues to move forward.
Some of the do's in this phase include
Celebrate successes: Recognize and celebrate the progress that has been made. This helps to build momentum and motivate employees to continue driving the good work.
Listen to feedback: Be open to feedback from employees and stakeholders. This helps to identify areas for improvement and ensure that the process is moving in the right direction.
Communicate regularly: Communicate regularly with employees about the progress. This helps to keep employees engaged and informed about the changes taking place.
Some of the don’ts to be avoided
On the other hand, there are some don'ts that organizations should be aware of:
Don't become complacent: Avoid becoming complacent and assuming that the cultural transformation is complete. This is a critical phase where the organization needs to continue driving the process forward.
Don't neglect resistance: Be aware of resistance from employees. Address their concerns and provide support to help them embrace the changes taking place.
Don't lose sight of the big picture: It can be easy to get caught up in the day-to-day activities. However, it is important to keep the big picture in mind and ensure that the organization is moving in the right direction.
Harvesting the tipping point learnings for speed in the long-term
What and how can we learn from the above? The question becomes, how we move through this behavior change curve faster.
Now that we know our innovators, early adopters, leaders and influencers, we need to create the spaces for them to thrive.
Psychological safety is the foundation of a thriving, healthy and productive workplace, and it needs to come first in any culture transformation effort.
By creating trust, respect, and open communication, organizations can lay the groundwork for disruptive learning, agility, and innovation.
What does body movement have to do with creating a movement?
The idea of "making a true move" (SPT theory) is relevant both to individual early adopters and to the collective movement as a whole.
As stated above, early adopters are often the first to "make a true move" by embracing a new way of thinking or behaving, and this can extend beyond the early adopters, as the collective movement follows.
According to SPT theory, "making a true move" involves embodying a new way of being, rather than just thinking or talking about it. Think about what this means for speeding up our transformation.
This means actually engaging in intentional physical movements and practices that align with the desired change. We could argue that this is simply about not just talking about it but doing it, but it goes beyond that.
Especially in the case of early adopters, the concept of actually making a true and visible, intentional move highlights the importance of embodiment in creating transformative change.
For example, an organization that wants to foster disruptive thinking may not only encourage its employees to engage in activities such as brainstorming sessions or design thinking workshops.
But it may also pay astute attention to how the physical movements and gestures that are involved in doing these activities align with the desired mindset and are carried out in very mindful and visible way, so that the rest of the organization can witness them.
Examples of such physical movements and gestures seem small but are powerful:
New and truly cross-functional team composition for a project. Such a team looks and moves differently.
Using a dedicated project room with new enabling tools and layouts. Inhabiting a new room creates different movements, already by team members walking different paths to reach that room in the building.
Making early adopter’s work visible and accessible to the rest of the organization. This can be done through official internal communication, by exhibiting the work space of those early adopters, e.g. their project room or simply creating a chat with them where questions can be asked.
By embodying the desired change through intentional physical movements and actions, individuals and organizations can create a powerful momentum that can ultimately lead to the tipping point.
The early adopters who embrace this concept are often the ones who can catalyze the movement, but it is equally important for the collective movement to continue to "make the true move" in order to sustain the transformational process.
Bringing it all together: Speeding up culture transformation
To speed up culture transformation, organizations need to apply the learnings from the tipping point process and the body-mind connection.
Organizations need to make the learnings concrete by developing a clear culture transformation roadmap for the transformation. This involves identifying the goals, strategies, and tactics, measuring and monitoring progress, and celebrating successes along the way.
By continuously adapting and evolving, organizations can become unstoppable in their quest for cultural transformation.