{"id":3185,"date":"2017-12-14T05:32:09","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T05:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.culturesummit.co\/?p=3185"},"modified":"2022-04-20T09:43:58","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T13:43:58","slug":"4-ways-to-re-energize-a-legacy-culture-without-alienating-original-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.culturesummit.co\/4-ways-to-re-energize-a-legacy-culture-without-alienating-original-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways to Re-Energize a Legacy Culture Without Alienating Original Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few organizations have the luxury of focusing on company culture from the start. More often than not, it\u2019s simply the byproduct of habits and attitudes of the founding members, original employees, and first hires resulting in a legacy culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

But what happens when you look up and realize you\u2019ve grown to that benchmark you thought was a long way off and your culture isn\u2019t scaling well? Or that your culture has taken a turn for the worse and too much of a certain something has crept in, like negativity, gossip, or competitiveness?<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no starting over. Your veteran employees are good at what they do, and you value the loyalty they\u2019ve shown over the years. So how do you reset an out-of-date company culture \u2013 or fix a broken one \u2013 without turning off employees who have been around since day one?<\/span><\/p>\n

Read on:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Tie change to meaning, not mandates<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As the global innovation company <\/span>IDEO wrote for The Harvard Business Review, movements start with emotions, not calls-to-action<\/a>. You can ask, beg, demand, or force your team to do anything, but the results won\u2019t be nearly as powerful as true culture change would be. At best, entrenched employees will humor you and hope the phase passes quickly; at worst, they\u2019ll roll their eyes and start looking for a new job.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, bring the focus back to the deeper purpose of your organization and tease out what that should look like in the emotional landscape of your team. Use the push for a culture change as an opportunity to check in with the employees who have been there from the start and help them connect with the new vibe.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, what is it about your company\u2019s mission that originally attracted your veteran employees? Has that mission changed? (In which case you\u2019ll need to address that and see if they can get behind the new vision.) Has that mission evolved? (In which case you\u2019ll just need to help connect the dots). Let every conversation come back to a meaningful, \u201cWhy?\u201d instead of a behavior-focused, \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Welcome tense conversations<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There\u2019s no dodging the fact that change management is hard. You could be implementing a new 50% raise policy with every employee and you would still probably run into one employee who\u2019s upset, one who\u2019s going to quit, and one who feels like it\u2019s a slap in the face to all the ways they\u2019ve contributed to the company. (Just ask CEO Dan Price, who raised everyone\u2019s minimum annual salary to $70,000<\/a> and still had a few people leave over it).<\/span><\/p>\n

Before you start to work with your team through some of these company culture changes, embrace the fact that there will be difficulties and that people won\u2019t always see it the same way. Welcome frustrated and discontent conversations and try to bring the conversation back around to the deeper \u201cWhy,\u201d of the changes.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, when Kronos CEO Aron Ain implemented an unlimited time off policy<\/a>, a lot of veteran employees actually didn\u2019t like it! They felt like the vacation time they\u2019d accrued was going to waste, that new employees<\/span> shouldn\u2019t get so much time off when they themselves had to work for it, and so on. Instead of smiling and nodding, Ain and his HR leadership team sat down with each employee and heard them out. They weren\u2019t about to change the policy, but addressing each of the employee\u2019s frustrations went a long way towards bringing the focus back on <\/span>the benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related: Creating Culture Across Remote Teams: 10 Tips from Pioneering Companies<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

3. Honor your employee\u2019s commitment \u2013 long-term and short-term<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Jumping right to, \u201cThis is the way it is \u2013 adapt or leave,\u201d will drive your experienced employees right to the job boards. But if you spend too much social capital on honoring the old-timers, you\u2019ll end up alienating new employees. (After all, if there\u2019s anything worse than feeling left out of the future it\u2019s feeling like you\u2019ve joined a team that lives in the past \u2013 you\u2019re just walking around stuck in someone else\u2019s inside joke.)<\/span><\/p>\n

How can you walk this line? By bringing the attention to commitment and loyalty to the company\u2019s purpose, not necessarily duration or \u201cwho was there first.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, communicate to veteran employees that you value their time and the longevity of their commitment to the company, but keep relating it to where you are now and where you plan to go (not just that one isolated moment in the past). Express your excitement for the contribution of new team members freely, but bring it back to how it furthers your organization\u2019s original or founding goals (if possible).<\/span><\/p>\n

In practice, this could mean balancing awards or bonuses for service time, like longest tenure with the company or biggest client network, with equally valuable prizes for accomplishments not tied to service or seniority, such as most improved, biggest collaborator or contributor, or \u201cPut Out the Biggest Fire.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Ask them to lead<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When you\u2019ve been a part of a team or organization for a long time, it\u2019s natural (and healthy) to feel a sense of ownership over how things are done and what changes are made. Put yourself in the shoes of one of your most senior employees \u2013 wouldn\u2019t you feel powerless or left out if you thought your company was growing without you?<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of bringing culture<\/span> change to your legacy employees as an <\/span> \u201cUs Versus Them\u201d event, turn it into a partnership by asking them to lead a particular change. When legacy employees are change agents \u2013 especially if they feel informed and connected to the new value \u2013 they\u2019ll be less likely to undermine the change and more likely to promote it. Here are some scripts you can use to ask for buy-in and leadership on these company culture changes:<\/span><\/p>\n