The first decade of the 21st century has made one thing clear: This is as far as it goes. Profound changes are taking place at all levels of society as well as in the economy. Traditional ways of thinking, values and institutions have lost their original meanings. You can feel it everywhere. We need to make fundamental changes.
The economy, in particular, is forced to change. The market is constantly changing; the speed of innovation has increased significantly. Traders have to be extremely flexible and willing to develop if they are to survive in the long term. At the same time, the pressure increases for sustainable and transparent business practices. A recent worldwide study by IBM that involved interviewing 1,500 CEOs confirmed: Many business leaders acknowledge that this rapid increase in complexity is the biggest challenge companies are facing today.
This complexity can only be overcome by an enthusiastic, creative staff. At the same time, however, more and more people are suffering from burnout, depression and other mental illnesses. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that the occurrence of psychological illnesses soon will exceed that of physical diseases. This means serious personal consequences for everyone concerned. It also creates economic issues; already, the macroeconomic failure costs for German companies are in the tens of billions. Action and capabilities of the business and its employees, obviously, diverge increasingly.
ANOTHER WAY
The first decade of the 21st century has made one thing clear: This is as far as it goes. Profound changes are taking place at all levels of society as well as in the economy. Traditional ways of thinking, values and institutions have lost their original meanings. You can feel it everywhere. We need to make fundamental changes.
The economy, in particular, is forced to change. The market is constantly changing; the speed of innovation has increased significantly. Traders have to be extremely flexible and willing to develop if they are to survive in the long term. At the same time, the pressure increases for sustainable and transparent business practices. A recent worldwide study by IBM that involved interviewing 1,500 CEOs confirmed: Many business leaders acknowledge that this rapid increase in complexity is the biggest challenge companies are facing today.
This complexity can only be overcome by an enthusiastic, creative staff. At the same time, however, more and more people are suffering from burnout, depression and other mental illnesses. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that the occurrence of psychological illnesses soon will exceed that of physical diseases. This means serious personal consequences for everyone concerned. It also creates economic issues; already, the macroeconomic failure costs for German companies are in the tens of billions. Action and capabilities of the business and its employees, obviously, diverge increasingly.
OUR INITIATIVE
To compete and survive the globalized world of the 21st century in the long term, companies need cultural change—a new, more favourable relationship and management culture.
The initiative “The Culture Change Code” is a platform for people in charge of the economy. We make experiences involving the implementation of transformation processes in companies visible and show examples in which the cultural change in enterprises and organizations has been successfully implemented or is in its beginning.
Our goal is to encourage entrepreneurs, executives and employees who are already in the midst of a cultural change or feel that it’s time for one. To us, cultural change means a change of leadership and relationship culture within a company. We call this emerging culture a culture for unfolding potentials. In such an environment, individuals have the potential to grow beyond themselves, which is also true for teams and, ultimately, the entire company. This increases not only the amount of stress resistance, but also the enthusiasm and motivation of all employees.
HOWE WE DO THAT
In many companies and organizations, the cultural change is already in progress. The processes of change, thereby, are not very different. In many cases, they were initiated and subsequently discovered purely for economic reasons. Often, those responsible for the cultural change were not really aware that certain measures would lead to cultural change for the entire organization.
Nobody can force employees—whether through punishment or reward—to develop and employ their potential, nor can they be forced to take on responsibilities and contribute to the common good. If you want creative employees with a commitment to the achievements of the company and project objectives, you will need to create a working and leadership culture that encourages all participants to engage in a new behavior—one that encourages and inspires.
On this website, we will show you how this change can be achieved by showing you examples of businesses and their successes along the way. We will provide you with approaches for those processes of change, not just to show you how to do it, but also to raise awareness that this kind of transformation can succeed only if it is deliberately designed and competently implemented.
