A short presentation on challenges HR professionals working on organizational culture faces: fighting attitude, proving importance, motivating oneself.

1. September 11, 2013, Riga
Experience of SBA group: Culture is needed, but is it a priority? as part of panel discussion ‘Challenges and benefits of HR profession’

2. Twofold challenges on the way to developing organizational culture
HR has always been an underrated function: now managers start to understand difficulties of recruiting, evaluation processes, creating effective remuneration systems, etc., but… investing in organizational culture development?
Attitude
Developing/changing culture
Challenges one faces when working with organization culture
Top management:
scepticism about the benefits
Belief in ‘natural evolution’
Subjectivity of the field –everyone sees it differently
Everyone:
Limited understanding (tools, purpose, etc.)
‘First comers’ influence
Fragile line between improvement and destruction
What is the right culture?
Making values ‘real’ instead of ‘stated’
Consistency in actions between the companies/offices/countries

3. Dealing with challenges
Attitude
Developing/changing culture
Top management:
scepticism about the benefits
Belief in ‘natural evolution’
Subjectivity of the field –everyone sees it differently
Everyone:
Limited understanding (tools, purpose, etc.)
‘First comers’ influence
Fragile line between improvement and destruction
What is the right culture?
Making values ‘real’ instead of ‘stated’
Consistency in actions between the companies/offices/countries
Talk their language:
KPI’s
Trends in the global market
Align values with strategic goals and suggest tools
Using traditional events/tools and updating consistently to what you believe
Involvement in development stage
Consistent communication
How to measure ‘how unite’ we are? What about ‘determination’?
Should we participate in sporting event, participate in some charity event or support green initiative?
Is the current format of summer offsite aligned with our values?
Should ‘innovativeness’ be communicated the same way to managers and machinist or truck driver?
Should we ‘kill’ one of our values or change it?
Methods/tools
Everyday questions

4. Where is the bright side?
Personal level
Company level
Chance to reinvent the company: atmosphere, work methods, educate people
Building employer brand: attracting necessary workforce and human capital
Creative work
Analytical thinking: quantifying the soft and unknown
Discovering and growing the field of HR: relatively recent topic –no algorithm in how to do it right
A number of different tasks: getting to know fields from communication and event organizing to complex IT projects