When, Why and How to Conduct a Cultural Audit in Your Company
A company's culture is a key element of its success.
But it can also be very volatile, even fragile, particularly when the company is faced with multiple changes.
These changes can be cyclical, such as returning to the office after a pandemic, in which employees have to relearn how to live together, sometimes in new premises.
They can also be structural as in the case of a merger/absorption with the bringing together of two or more entities.
In such circumstances, a company should not expect its corporate culture to fall into place on its own , but rather take steps to define its target culture and establish a roadmap for achieving that goal. objective.
Think of it like two families who find themselves living together overnight. Each with its particular history, its codes, its internal dynamics. For these two (or more!) families to function harmoniously, it is necessary to have some alignment on the ground rules, on how "things are done", on how communication and collaboration work.
For a company, the approach should be very comparable.
Tip 1: Do a cultural audit
Nothing too complicated, don’t worry! Simply surround yourself with key resources who have a good vision of the business and ask yourself these questions:
How does intra- and inter-team collaboration work?
What are the communication styles?
What are the differences and similarities in their approach to the same operations?
What is the culture regarding working hours?
Identify similarities, differences and opportunities for alignment.
Tip 2: Define your target culture
Prioritize the elements that impact results - because you are a leader and your goal remains to improve your results
Involve HR and key managers to support the project and be its ambassadors
Tip 3: Make a plan
Make cultural alignment a key element of the integration plan in the case of bringing together several entities and define precise and measurable objectives
Keep in mind that a culture is not imposed but adopted
Tip 4: Follow up
Evaluate progress against key indicators
Highlight and reward employee actions in line with the target culture.
Corporate culture is an essential factor of performance. In fact, 2 out of 3 mergers do not bring the expected benefits due to a lack of cultural and organizational alignment.
Cultural alignment must be an integral part of your integration project in the event of a merger or in the event of a significant change in the structure and organization of your company.
It must start as soon as the teams come together or the new organization is put in place by a cultural audit .
