The Importance of Cultural Transformation and its Benefits

Posted by Humane Design on June 19th, 2022

To understand the benefits of a company's cultural transformation, it's important to first look at what it means.

Knowing how people and organizations benefit from a successful cultural transformation will motivate them to get involved in the process. When every employee can see the benefits of cultural transformation, it is easier to get them to make the changes they need to be successful. Talking about the benefits to a company from a cultural change, the main ones are:

Building a better work culture: This can help with every aspect of your business, from employee retention to productivity to solving complex employee relations issues

Increasing Employee Satisfaction: Changing corporate culture ultimately creates a more inclusive environment for every employee. This in turn increases employee satisfaction and happiness, and when your employees feel they are essential to the success of the company, they may see themselves as an asset and not a liability.

Boosting Productivity: It's no secret that happy employees are productive employees. A true cultural change will instill confidence in your employees and encourage them to work harder.

To understand what these gains look like in real-world cultural transformation, let's look at how Unilever Brazil did it.

In 2005, after years of steady growth, the company's revenue began to slow. To keep pace, the company knew it had to make some changes. Instead of just making a strategic change, the company decided to change its culture as well. The change, which happened through personal sharing, listening, and open dialogue, was based on five things:

1. Rapid development
2. Make permanent changes
3. Increase revenue
4. Identifying the skills needed to grow the business
5. Manage performance metrics

Result?

1. Sales increased from 3% in 2008 to 14% in 2010
2. The company's Cultural Entropy Score dropped from 37% to 10%
3. A culture of internal competition, short-term focus, and attentiveness transformed into a business environment focused on long-term goals, teamwork, shared vision, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction.

The principle of Unilever Brazil is that no culture is static, no matter the size of the company and no matter how difficult the change may be. Change is possible, and you can move your culture in the right direction through planning, organization, and determination.