How to inspire change and transform company culture as a CEO

As our world transforms rapidly around us, the quote “culture trumps strategy” has become more relevant and more powerful than ever. The importance of building a strong strategy is impossible to deny — organizations must establish their goals and create plans of action to achieve them. However, the importance of culture exists as the manifestation of what those people are actually doing. While the gap between those two things can be wide, success in today’s market depends nearly equally on both.

In a time of rapid change and shortening reaction windows, solving the culture problem becomes even more essential to big corporations and their smaller counterparts. In order to excel, you must create a corporate strategy that responds to immediate disruptions without overlooking the importance of planning for future growth. And while innovation and digital transformation enable this dual strategy objective of seizing the upside of disruption, culture must deliver.

1. Inspire urgency for flexible growth.

Success frequently complicates and hinders the objective of culture change. Years of success can hold many organizations back from moving forward when the need to innovate arises. Companies like these rely too heavily on what’s worked in the past and often miss opportunities for positive change.

Whether you’re an established company with a history of success or a newcomer to the market, urgency is more important than ever in today’s rapidly changing economy. Inspire your employees to act urgently and reward them for their commitment to team growth.

2. Learn from every failure.

If your organizational perspective on failure is that of fear, then it’s time for a culture change that will improve the lives of your employees, clients, and leadership — look at failures as the natural outcome of experimentation that fosters agile product development, facilitates diverse thinking and encourages new idea generation.

While “celebrating failure” is by no means a new concept in business, giving your employees permission to experiment, fail, and make adjustments in their job can be challenging for both you and them. The best way to make your employees more comfortable in this department? Strong communication. 

Communicate consistently throughout the organization in a way that recognizes that failure is an inevitable part of risk-taking. Communications should not only celebrate successes but also discuss why an idea or effort didn’t work and explore the lessons learned from them.

3. Use outside sources to inspire a new mindset.

There are some things your company cannot do on its own — and overhauling your company culture is one of them. If you truly want to prime your organization for innovation, it’s important to outsource inspiration and provide a range of perspectives.

Leaders and teams must get out of their comfort zones and interact with outside innovators to recognize their company’s culture gaps and identify the new attributes that need to be cultivated inside the organization.   

As the CEO of your company, you have likely led a number of initiatives for change at your company. However, when it comes to changing your corporate culture, nothing is more important than action. Looking for new ways to communicate your culture? Reach out to Digital Storyteller today!