The Journey at a Glance

The Journey at a Glance

In broad terms, your culture journey will look like this.

§ Assess
§ Define > Implementation - Behaviours, Symbols, Systems
§ Commit
§ Plan = Communication + Process Of Management



You first understand the culture you have, and its impact on your performance. Then you describe the culture you need, and the values which underpin it, and set goals for its achievement. You then build and implement a plan, based on behaviours, symbols and systems. Throughout, you must have a communication strategy, and ensure the process is managed with discipline and rigour.

Plan for three years to make a serious, measurable, palpable shift in your culture. Your will get movement in less time than this, but to start this process with less than a three year time frame is to risk your investment. A cultural transformation in a large organization will take longer than that.

This means three years from the time you make the decision to tackle culture in a conscious, funded and focused fashion. You have already been on this path for some considerable time
Most organisations that make the conscious choice to invest in the culture option have made a series of decision over previous years, which in themselves have moved the culture. In fact to be in a position to make a conscious decision about culture you have to have moved some way down the path of self-awareness.

A client came into his organisation as a CEO and immediately saw that there were a number of changes he wanted to make. His first three years as CEO was about making tough decision. He cleared out a lot of dead wood, he sold off several businesses, re-structured the company to give a greater line of sight with regard to accountability, at least in the senior levels.

But he still wanted to achieve more. He wanted to create a customer focus; he wanted to take his instinctive approach to accountability right through the organisation , he wanted to leave a cultural legacy that would live beyond him. We planned his three year journey with him from the time he made that decision.

A Typical Journey

There isn’t a cookie cutter formula for changing a culture. However, there are some elements which are essential for everyone. Think of these as phases, each will take a year or two; some organizations get through the first phase quickly and then take much longer on the rest. Or vise versa. It depends on the size of the company, the level of commitment, and the strength of your case for change. I’ll tell you a story of a company which transformed their culture in a period of around six years.

Lion is a drinks company with brewing, wine and spirits divisions across Australia, New Zealand and China. At the time of going to press (2004) they had a market capitalisation of around A$3.4billion, revenue of A1.8billion, profits of A$180m and 5000 employees. In the seven years since they started their work on culture, their TDR has increased by 180 per cent (15.8 per cent annualized) compared to a TSR of 99.8 per cent (10.1 per cent annualised) for the ASX200 Index, which contains the top companies on the Australian stock exchange.

TSR (Total Shareholders Return) is sum of the share price appreciation plus dividends, and generally considered a good measure of performance over a sustained period of time.

In this period they added A$42.2billion to their market capitalization. The growth in their performance closely parallels their improvement in culture.

Working with Lion Nathan since 1996 when the company started on this path, and our organisation introduced their staff to the mind-sets, methodologies and tools which started
them on their way. As they built on those foundations, we have been brought back in to play
other roles, or top up their learning. When speaking with different people we saw for the first time the whole picture of what they have done, and what have been the critical elements of their success. It was also apparent that this journey never ends they have plans for the next stage which are as ambitious as those they developed in 1996.

Talking from many people from Lion, I have walked alongside the cultural journeys of many organizations. There are few who have moved so far, so fast. I looked for the factors that made the difference. What was it about this approach that gave it the edge on so many of the others? Four factors made the difference in Lions journey.

§ Consistency
§ Focus on leadership
§ Link with the strategy and product
§ A mind-set of perpetual learning

The Journey Itself.
Looking back, you may have the impression the journey is a straight line. It doesn’t feel that way when you’re at the beginning. I want to describe the Lion experience because I think it will encourage you. From where you sit right now it may feel that you are not making much progress. As you will see, just taking one step is not making much progress. As you will see, just taking one step and then another.

My organization was brought in to help this process, and it was at this point that we first met the Lion Nathan team. Our first step was a workshop with the top team at which they defined values for the company, as well as holding the mirror up to their own behaviour.

The three values:

§ Act with integrity
§ Face reality
§ Passion for the business

Still stand today. Helping Lion Nathan design and run a series of Change Workshops, part of the Lion Nathan way for change this leadership programme introduced the company to the mind-sets and behaviours leaders would need to take this change forward.

The Programme included:

§ Personal responsibility (above and below the line)
§ For things to change first I must change
§ A 360-degree leadership feedback tool which distinguishes between constructive and defensive styles of behaviour