How can you apply culture change to talent development?

According to the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model, alignment between strategy, tasks, people, and culture is necessary for culture transformation to best support talent development. The organization's transition to encourage learning and innovation must be in line with talent development. This harmony improves performance, draws top talent, and supports strategic objectives. In a dynamic environment, ensuring that talent development and cultural efforts are coordinated is the key to long-term success. That's IMO. Thanks.

Culture can play an immportant role in enabling Talent development. Talent development requires a structured approach and buyin from all stakeholders to embrace it with passion. This needs the organization to be aligned and focussed on a common Vision, Mission and strategy. In my experience I found that learning organisations have grown and adopted to change better. A learning organisation is one which has a culture of encouraging contnuous improvement of skills and developing talent. The culture ensures uniform behaviours and aligns employees work on a collective vision and Strategy. Hence the Talent Development and culture compliment each other. The objective gets elevated to organisation goals instead of a mere HR or L&D Function.

An example of a culture change through talent development is renovating the company’s core values and educating your employees’ on the new ones that are supporting your strategic goals and priorities.

A culture change that prioritizes talent development will have an impact on an organization and contributes to the long-term success and sustainability of the organization as a whole. Some areas are: * Employee engagement, when employees get the opportunity to grow based on a cultural change they are more likely to be committed, motivated and lead/support the change; * succession planning and leadership; providing opportunities to develop in a cultural change will stimulate the drive to look for new ways of working and leadership and taking new responsibilities. * Positive working environment; when employees feel supported, empowered by the cultural change they will lead by example which creates a positive morale

One of the most successful models I’ve seen is a culture that empowers employees through learning! When AI tools became the topic of the century and talents started to feel scared that AI might take their jobs, companies that offered instant learning sessions/workshops/training programs on valuable AI tools saw a positive impact on employee’s’ engagement and performance not only that but they were also able to build an attractive employer brand that is built on a great value proposition as “learning” and attracted top talents accordingly who appreciated this culture change responding to the AI evolution. A culture change can be done through talent development!

These steps are pretty old fashioned - they are fundamentally about inflicting a set of beliefs, values (usually words with very little real world application), etc downwards onto teams. Culture emerges, it's not designed. It's in the words people use, the actual behaviours seen, and how they are translated by each individuals unique perspective. You can co-create those experiences, but it has to happen at all levels. For example, rather than developing 'talent' to a set of values, it's about recognising that individuals have their own values. When you co-create an experience that surfaces these, and allows unique contributions, you allow a rich and diverse culture to emerge - one that continues to evolve. Help people, not 'culture'.

If talent development is led by a team within your organization, it is critical that they be involved in this initiative from beginning to end. They need to be in lockstep with what is being analyzed and created. Time and expertise will be lost if they are not part of the equation on-going. Their valuable insights and support will be critical as decisions are made about development initiatives. They will be responsible for making it happen, which will likely involve updates to legacy training and development initiatives. The last thing you want to do is complete the work and turn it over to a team that isn't up to speed on what's been happening, has had cursory input, and is expected to revamp and implement new and revised programs quickly.

I agree that what gets measured gets managed. Too often culture change is treated akin to the 'dark arts'. I agree you start by assessing the current culture, but then I'd insert a step where 'who do we want to be?' is actively discussed and debated. That's key. Then, yes, do the surveys etc. I've outlined a system I've used at Managing culture - the Scarlet Pimpernel of Business?

This looks like an AI summary of a project management handbook for managers. Makes some sense in general, but is meaningless in the detail. Especially in relation to culture. Culture is grown, not project-managed to implement. It's in people's beliefs, values, behaviours. It sure can be measured & monitored, but first & foremost has to be cultivated & led by example on all levels. If it's not, you can "review", "solicit" & "monitor" ad infinitum and only get frustrated.

My personal experience with co-creating workplace culture change is that both the leaders and employees must be committed and willing to work together to co-create an environment that is based on mutual respect. Mutual respect is as fundamental to culture change as is people’s commitment. Both elements support the development of workplace psychosocial safety. Without these two components (mutual respect and ongoing commitment) companies are at risk of spending a lot of time and money with no return on investment. What I’ve also found through experience is that opportunities to reaffirm commitment must be incorporated throughout the culture change process to reengage energy and focus, and to uncover and resolve percolating issues.

This advice still outlines 'culture change' as something done to people (it just argues you need to get better at communicating it!). "Buy-in" is an outdated approach that says one person's vision (usually the CEO) is worth more than anyone else's. Might be OK for a very small company, or if we still lived in the 1980's, but it's not how progressive, inclusive organisations evolve. Culture constantly emerges. Rather than focusing on a specific 'culture change', it's about constantly co-creating culture, together - regular dialogue. Experiments. Feedback loops. It's no different to how you develop a product or service. You have ideas, you break them down into experiments, feedback is gathered. Repeat.

Cultural change is best achieved when actions and ownership are co- created, and enacted by all at every level of the organisation and if possible also by the end user.

Rapid culture change can be implemented with people who are committed to co-creating an environment that empowers them to bring their best to their work. Saying that, I’ve found that culture change only occurs when firstly, leaders and employees are crystal clear about the impact of their current state on their well-being and performance, and secondly, can visualise the improvements of a co-created future state that is based on mutual respect. Critically, leaders and employees must be willing to discuss, consider and (importantly) take action together to resolve attitudinal and behavioural issues at every staff and management meeting. Culture is like any relationship; it must be given air and time to grow and mature.

In my experience, culture change for talent development also requires challenging goals to foster team building, knowledge sharing and to provide proper rewards.

"A dedicated team of champions with the authority and resources to lead and support your culture change efforts is also essential." Be wary of this. Where culture is led from others, it rarely works (or becomes HR sharing emails about company values, or posters being put on walls). Culture emerges (I'm sounding like a broken record). It is what people experience - not what a handful want people to experience, but what they actually DO experience. Respect that and create the space for culture to evolve, reality to be seen and explored (warts and all). If you want people to stay (which is behind the talent development words in this article), they have to be intentionally involved in co-creating a culture that provides experiences of value.

The culture change initiative in itself is a huge change initiative. 1. Share the change vision vividly and address everything associated with it in a clear and concise manner like the "ifs", "buts" "whys" etc with every stakeholder involved. Its a continuous process. 2. Evoke and maintain enthusiasm and make all communications regarding change very clear while providing superlative assistance in the changing systems, processes, policies, and methodologies by providing regular coaching, training, and necessary support. 3. Change leaders should serve as visible role models and champions in navigating the change. Change vision must be communicated many times more than any regular communication.

Fully agree with @Colin Mobey's "broken record" - this "essential team of champions" can walk & talk, but this doesn't change a thing in practice. Or maybe it does - it's very good at frustrating people. If you want to change culture you have to nurture, grow & evolve new habits, lead it from the top & bottom and invite & gradually engage everyone. And you have to start from the top, rather than some "essential team of champions", simply because all fish rot from head down, and so does culture. Look at Rogers and his curve of adoption of innovation to start at the right place.

I've come to realise that culture change isn't just about strategy. Its key for each individual to feel they're part of this change by giving them a real voice. Top down leadership commitment for real change (and not just pretending to) has to be there. You cannot fake this and it should mean team changes for those who don't support it. I recall a team at a former company that thrived because they held monthly "innovation labs" - safe spaces for open dialogue, failures, and growth. They even celebrated the weeks failures once this culture was really embedded. These sessions became a cornerstone of culture change, fostering real trust and people's passion really came out for learning!

In my experience leading a culture transformation that resulted in a 180-degree transformation of the organization, 3 key lessons my team and I learned include: 1. Ensure senior leadership, including board members, are involved and supportive from day 1. HR should not go behind closed doors and create something in a vacuum. 2. Likewise, from day 1, include employees from all geographies, at all levels, in the project. Don't go behind closed doors with a small group and proudly present a solution wrapped in a bow, asking for support. "Without involvement, there is no commitment." 3. Once you cross the finish line, make sure what's "hanging on the wall" is "walking in the hall." Evidence of your new culture should be evident at all levels.

As organizations strive to stay competitive in today's rapidly changing business landscape, talent development has become a critical priority. Culture change takes time and effort, but the benefits are worth it. In my experience, the following are critical steps to follow: Define your desired culture and assess the existing culture Communicate the vision and develop leadership buy-in Align talent development practices, Provide resources and support, Recognize and reward desired behaviors, Measure and monitor progress Aligning talent development with your desired culture, your business can create an environment that fosters continuous learning and development. #talentdevelopment #culturechange #continuouslearning #growthmindset