The well-known saying of Peter Drucker, a world-renowned expert in the field of organizations and management, says: “Culture eats business strategy for breakfast.” The latter is also confirmed by numerous studies showing that for the continuous growth and transformation of an organization it is necessary to put the culture change first (Gartner, 2020). I should also mention the fact that in 70 % of cases, efforts to fundamentally change the performance and operation of organizations are not successful. The set goals are not realized, they take too long, or the change is only temporary.
That’s why we dedicated one of our Beep Fokus event to the topic of company transformation and invited representatives of the companies that successfully carried out organizational transformation – Trimo, NKBM, Pivovarna Laško Union, Knauf Insulation – to participate and share their knowledge and experience with us.
We started the event with Perry Timms, an international expert in the field of the future of work and the transformation of the HR function and the author of the bestsellers “Transformational HR” and “Energized Workplace”. Perry gave us a clearer insight into what the conditions are for us to talk about the transformation of the company, who should be the initiators of the transformation, how to approach it systematically and also which tools can help us with this.
Perry says: “We can talk about transformation when an organization radically changes one or more of the following things:
- PRODUCT – what do we do?
- PROCESS – how do we work?
- CULTURE – who are we?
In doing so, he highlights the importance of transformation planning and strengthening awareness (especially among top management) that it is a long-term process where results will not be visible overnight. Therefore, it is important that changes are gradual and action steps are feasible. Leaders should be visionary and strong, with steadfastness (transformation is necessary), but at the same time, they should also be compassionate towards their colleagues -knowing that change often presents them with stress accompanied by unpleasant emotions. The key to long-term success is for leaders to create new leaders to help them maintain or even accelerate the momentum of transformation.
The interview was followed by a presentation of good practices; we started with the story of Nova KBM bank, which was presented by Rok Zupančič, procurator of the company. Rok’s key message was: “Management’s trust is key to the (pro)active role of HR in the transformation and unification of cultures.” In this way, we can facilitate the transformation more effectively, because in addition to the process and digital aspect, we focus more on the human aspect of the change.”
Maruška Vihar, Director of Human Resources and Personnel Development at Zavarovalnica Sava, also highlighted the importance of HR and management cooperation in strategic changes. Maruška emphasized: “When transforming a company and combining cultures, it is crucial that we first take care of sound foundations and unify the rights and obligations of employees. Then we start the development strategy, where it makes sense that strengthening employee’s commitment is at the fore.”
Janja Špiler, director of human resources in the Trimo group, shared several development activities with the participants of the event. She highlighted the growth mindset, which is a set of beliefs (about oneself, others and the world) and judgments about the success of personal development and the possibilities for achieving the desired results. Janja says: “Our focus is on strengthening the growth mindset, as we don’t want to stay in the comfort zone. Instead, we primarily want learning zones and growth zones, so that we will continue to set trends in the field of architectural solutions in the future. To this end, we conduct weekly intensive bootcamp training with middle management, where we equip managers with concrete strategies and behavioral patterns, how to strengthen proactivity and responsibility-taking among our colleagues as well.”
Gregor Rajšp, Director of Human Resources at Pivovarna Laško Union, reminded us of the patience and persistence we need to have when transforming a company: “Transformation does not happen overnight, but takes time.” He also highlighted the cooperation of HR and management with internal communication, which plays an important role in transformation, as the way we communicate with employees is crucial for long-term success. Gregor also emphasized the importance of leaders in transformation, as he says: “We build culture change on the empowerment of leaders and the way they lead.”
The key message of Tomaž Lanišek, head of the Department for Development and Smart Community of the Municipality of Kranj and former director of Knauf Insulation, is related to the proactivity of management in initiating transformation: “When companies are doing well, none of them want to transform and that is the beginning of the end.” Tomaž says: “It is good to be aware that some employees are more in favor of change than others – some encourage and are in favor of certain changes (actively committed), while others actively resist and oppose them (actively uncommitted). Those who are not actively engaged count twice as much as those who are actively engaged.”
Dr. Sabina Đuvelek, moderator of the event