Your team is facing a prolonged culture change. How do you keep everyone's enthusiasm alive and thriving?

To keep your team's enthusiasm alive and thriving during a prolonged culture change, focus on clear communication, active engagement, and recognition of efforts. Regularly update the team on progress and the positive impact of the change. Foster an inclusive environment where team members feel heard and valued by encouraging feedback and open dialogue. Celebrate small wins and milestones to maintain momentum and recognize individual and collective achievements. Provide continuous support through training and resources, and highlight stories of success to inspire and motivate. By maintaining a positive and supportive atmosphere, you can keep the team energised and committed to the cultural transformation.

Creating a Culture Change Ambassador Program can be an effective way to maintain enthusiasm during a prolonged culture change. By appointing ambassadors who exemplify and actively promote the new cultural values, you provide influential role models who inspire others. These ambassadors not only lead by example but also offer practical support and guidance to their colleagues, making the transition smoother and more engaging. Their visible commitment can energize the team and reinforce the importance of embracing the new culture.

Utilize various communication channels, such as meetings, newsletters, and internal platforms, to reach all team members effectively. This approach ensures that information about the culture change is accessible and reinforces key messages across different formats.

Communication is critical during a prolonged culture change! It's critical to communicate in a way that helps teams feel part of the change and not that it's just happening to them. Share updates, rationale for changes and listen to feedback. Look for opportunities where teams can be actively involved in some of the decisions.

Incorporate celebrations into your regular routines, such as during weekly team meetings or monthly reviews. Regularly scheduled recognitions keep momentum high and ensure that acknowledging progress becomes a consistent part of the culture.

In addition to the excellent contributions above/below, acknowledge the truth that it is not always possible for everyone to be brought on board for the change journey. There will be occasions when the new culture, it's expectations in terms of ways of working and behavioural standards will not be a fit for some people. In these occasions, the best thing can be to support those individuals as they find new opportunities in cultures that are a better fit for them.

Driving change requires "walking the talk" and gathering support from those who are enthusiastic about it. When I led a major change initiative a few years back we held town halls on the upcoming changes and asked for volunteers. Many people put up their hand and it really helped cascade the message deeper into our organization.

Culture Champions (as we develop and utilise them at NDC) are one of the key enablers of an effective culture change. They become the eyes and ears of the Executive, their trusted advisors on matters of culture. They are one of the best ways of surfacing pockets of emerging/existing resistance, discontent, fear, concern etc. AND, areas of success where a powerful change story can be told to build further momentum for the change.

When enthusiasm is waning it can be down to any number of things. One of them is confusion or a sense of inability to work/behave in the way expected within the new culture. Training, coaching, mentoring, support, buddy groups etc. have a part to play in equipping people with the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviour they will need to thrive.

This is common in companies that grow through acquisition and mergers. Establishing core values and purpose which stand strong through the M&As is critical. These will serve well as a guiding light to all coming onboard and all deciding to continue riding the wave as well. Yes, the values may be reviewed for relevance/coherence when a new firm is onboarded but not change a lot. Ensuring that there is constant stream of amended communication and branding around the same shall help a lot.