Good or bad? Positive or toxic? Powerful or incongruent? Culture plays a huge part in our working lives. In L&D we ignore culture at our peril. But what does it mean to understand and change organisational culture? In this episode, former Deloitte Management Consultant, Lily Woi, unpacks this for us and provides insight and guidance on how we can change culture in our organisations.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Culture is about more than behaviour and working practices. Structure and governance both have a significant impact.
- Don´t overcomplicate things, a simpler approach is easier to follow and iterate.
- Keep improving. Change should be ongoing and happen quickly.
- Understanding your culture is the key to shaping it.
- Instead of assuming you understand the culture, observe how people actually behave.
- What is your data telling you about your culture?
- Using consultants helps to overcome not being able to see the wood for the trees and can cut through a lot of internal politics.
- Collective decision-making works best.
- Involve employees in the design phase.
- Using the 4 pillars - mindset, abilities, process, and structure leads to sustainable change.
- Measure the change.
- What has worked in one project is not necessarily going to work for another project. You have to tailor your approach.
BEST MOMENTS
'In my experience, the simplest approaches are more often the most effective.'
'Removing culture from an aspect of L&D is like trying to remove the egg from a cake.'
'I tend to ask a lot of annoying questions… to understand why, what´s really going on.'
'The approach that I use for one company would not work for my next company or client.'
Lily Woi Bio
Lily is a former Deloitte Management Consultant, focused on Organisation Transformation and Culture, Leadership & OD Lead at Next Pensions. On both sides of the table (in-company and consultancy), Lily has built deep and rich experience of organisation culture change.
As a Culture Change Catalyst, Lily now helps leaders and teams drive transformative change, unlock their full potential, and ignite a high-performance, collaborative culture. Over the past eight years, she has worked with global leaders and businesses to shift behaviours, unlock potential, transform careers, and develop courageous cultures. She has coached and trained clients working in multinationals such as Hello Fresh, Nike, Pureaffinity, and the British Film Institute.
You can connect with Lily and follow her work via:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lilywoi/
Website: https://lilywoicoaching.com/
VALUABLE RESOURCES
The Learning And Development Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-learning-development-podcast/id1466927523
L&D Master Class Series: https://360learning.com/blog/l-and-d-masterclass-home/
ABOUT THE HOST
David James
David has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa.
As well as being the Chief Learning Officer at 360Learning, David is a prominent writer and speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D.
CONTACT METHOD
The Learning & Development Podcast