Expert warns of internal, external signs – and challenges of implementing change
Controversies surrounding the workplace culture of some Australian organisations have been in the spotlight as of late, with news of abuse, harassment, and bullying igniting meaningful conversations about the role of HR leaders.
In the wake of these scandals, Dr. Zivit Inbar, CEO of DifferenThinking, told HRD that business leaders need to be mindful of various signs to make sure that they are still fostering a positive workplace culture.
"The first thing is that leaders need to tune into the signs of culture. There are external signs of things going badly, and there are internal signs," Inbar told HRD.
Some of the signs that she talked about include employee turnover, presenteeism, as well as lack of collaboration between colleagues within teams and across teams.
It can also become more difficult to implement changes if there is trouble in the organisation's workplace culture, and there will be changes to the workforce itself, according to Inbar.
"[It’s about] when you have great talent who, all of a sudden, provide average performance. They do the tasks to a satisfactory level, but they don't go above and beyond. They don't initiate and come up with initiatives," she said.
"People are also afraid to take risks, so they don't stretch the boundaries, they don't come up with new initiatives, they are reluctant to bring up new ideas that may fail or that might not be accepted."
Gossip is also a bad sign for a company's workplace culture, and if employees begin saying that they're no longer having fun at work, it's a concern.
"Work is not about being fun, but we need to enjoy what we're doing, and if these people are suffering, then we have an issue," Inbar said.
A failing workplace culture can negatively impact organisations, particularly with productivity, employee turnover, and lack of collaboration, according to the CEO.
"Externally, when there are issues in the organisational culture, you see that clients are leaving their organisation or are not providing references, and no longer promoting their organisation," she said.
One major fault that organisations make that leads to failure in workplace culture is committing ethical mistakes.
"Not putting the ethical decision at the core and not thinking about what is the right thing to do and by whom — that affects culture, that affects reputation," Inbar said.
To address the problem, the DifferenThinking CEO suggested shifting the goal from fostering a positive workplace culture to an ethical innovation culture.
"It's making sure that we have ethical decision-making across all the organisational levels because it's the day-to-day work that matters, making sure we have open, collaborative, and inclusive discussions, and ensuring it's a safe environment to raise things," she said.
Workplace culture, according to Inbar, is modelled by people on top: "Culture is not the responsibility of HR, it is the responsibility of the entire executive and the board.”
But HR leaders, in particular, might be in a more sensitive position than other leaders in the organisation.
"HR is often considered to be the custodians of culture," Inbar said. "They have to put culture on the agenda, to make sure that we have diagnoses in place, and to put a change plan in place."
They also need to ensure that this change plan has the support of the organisation's executives.
"You put a change in place, you start implementing, you measure, you change your plan, you measure, you change the plan, you make sure that communication is working well," she added.
To foster an ethical innovation culture at work, Inbar suggest seven steps to take:
