Charting a Course through Cultural Transformation with Neil Katz

Are you leading an organization and feel stuck in a culture rut?
Wondering how to shake it up and begin to navigate cultural change?

Tune into a candid conversation with Neil Katz, CEO of Exceptional HR Solutions, who brings 25+ years of experience to the table. Neil guides us on the journey of cultural transformation, emphasizing the need for a clear vision, leadership buy-in, and a realistic understanding of your existing culture.

Neil's insights are not just theoretical; he offers practical solutions to challenges commonly faced during the implementation of cultural change. He reminds us that every leadership decision impacts culture and underscores the necessity of patience, celebrating small victories, and being intentional in our actions.

Don't miss this episode that equips leaders with the basics to begin an cultural transformation journey, one action at a time.

Connect with Neil Katz on LinkedIn

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Transcript

William Gladhart: 0:00

Welcome to the Leadership Levers podcast. I'm your host, will Gladhart, ceo of Connect2Metrics. At Connect2Metrics, we help organizations strengthen their culture, one action at a time. We're here today to learn about the actions leaders have taken to address cultural change. Our guest today is Neil Katz, the CEO of Exceptional HR Solutions. So thanks so much for taking the time to join us today.

Neil Katz: 0:27

Thanks for having me and I look forward to interacting, engaging with you, and look forward to hearing more about this and talking with your audience.

William Gladhart: 0:34

I thought we would start today by having you share with our audience a bit about yourself and your background.

Neil Katz: 0:40

Sure o Will. I have been a human resource leader for over 25 years, supporting industries of all sizes, all types small, medium, large, international, and I've been doing this for a long time a about two years ago I decided to actually go full time into providing fractional HR consulting and advising small to medium-sized companies throughout the United States, and it's just been a great experience and love helping these organizations support their people function.

William Gladhart: 1:07

We will be discussing three questions today, A s a warm-up to t start the conversation. ould you like to share why you believe a healthy culture is critical?

Neil Katz: 1:15

I think a healthy culture is so much to what it drives an organization. And as I always tell the leaders is do you know what your culture is? And if you don't, you already have one. And it's so important to understand, to have a great culture and define that culture and really drive what's important to you as a culture. Cultures can change over time. We've seen them in our societies, but we also, have to remember, in businesses. Cultures change and this is a great opportunity for leaders to pause and recognize what their culture is and how we can drive those results and those outcomes through a great culture.

William Gladhart: 1:47

So let's begin with question one. So what do you see as the biggest challenges that leadership faces for cultural change within any organization?

Neil Katz: 1:57

I think anytime you want to change culture in an organization, at first you have to be clear of what you're trying to change to. Where's your destination? What are you trying to go to in a cultural change? Just one, two? You have to have the leadership buy-in and not certain levels. You really have to have the entire leadership team support and be behind that cultural change.

Neil Katz: 2:17

Many organizations you'll see a certain fragment, a certain group of leaders that want to change and transform, but you don't have the entire leadership team support and then it starts fragmating and cracking and breaking. And what I always say is when you have a great cultural change and the teams behind it and driving the momentum and excitement, it engages so many people in such a positive way, but you got to have the entire leadership support behind where you're going and realize culture change or any change is hard. You recognize that people are going to struggle in that journey of change to get to that new culture and it's okay to support the teams during those challenging moments and challenging times. But ultimately, remember you're trying to get to the destination and when you get there you'll feel and recognize it. But it can be a bit of a bumpy road getting there.

William Gladhart: 3:05

I love that you identified that specific challenge about not only leadership buy-in but also leadership behavior across the organization, because we both know that the behaviors of leaders and the communication throughout the organization those are some of the really most impactful things that can impact change. But I also love that you bring back that having that clarity from the very beginning when do you actually want to start and where do you want to go? As you said at the start, you have a culture. You just either intended to have it or you didn't intend to have it, and it is something that you need to grow and nurture and change and strengthen over time. What do you think that leaders can do to address the challenges that they are facing in this particular area?

Neil Katz: 3:49

I think the key is understand where your culture is. I think the first step in the journey is understand who you are and where you are and recognize there's parts you might not like and it's okay. But be aware of who you are today and then develop a plan and a map to get to that new location, that new destination which is your new culture. Know that it's going to be hard. The hardest part is sometimes recognizing that everybody wants to go for the journey together. I'm using this analogy of the destination and the journey and the trip because it really is that for your teams that not every person wants to go to the new destination, that new culture. Ultimately, that's tough, it's hard and it's challenging.

Neil Katz: 4:30

People do everything you can as a great leader to help your team understand this, the value and impact. When you have somebody pulling you in a different direction, it's not going to help you achieve the goals. You're getting to Culture transformation. When you get there and I've seen this in a handful of different companies it's amazing the journey. If you look at the journey, it's challenging. Here's what's fascinating and people miss is when you actually get to that new culture transformation you're targeting, the journey becomes the thing of the past and the culture becomes the thing of today, and that's the key to remember. The journey might be a little tough, but get to the destination and enjoy it, because it's really a good place when you get there.

William Gladhart: 5:07

I really like that last statement. I think that's something that leaders can really chew on and think about as they're thinking about their own organization that they didn't get to be a leader by just showing up and being a leader. There was some sort of career path or journey. So I think that's a critical, key point to share. Is there anything else that you would like to share or add to this particular leadership culture challenge?

Neil Katz: 5:30

I think the key is be patient. A lot of people are looking for culture transformation in a week or a month or three month period. It took however many years to get to the culture you have today. You can't transform it tomorrow. You can, and I've seen it done in a few places, but it's usually exceptionally challenging, very difficult, very rocky and really disruptive for the team. What I always say is remember it's a journey, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon. Take your time, build steps, celebrate the milestones as you achieve them and recognize that you're going to get better each day. If you put the energy and effort and passion you want to into changing the culture, you'll show improvement over time. It just takes time and it's a journey to get there. Don't be in a hurry to change it tomorrow and then just celebrate as you along the journey of the milestones you do achieve.

William Gladhart: 6:21

Great. Well, I love that you throw celebration in there as well. I think sometimes that we forget to be gracious, but also forget to celebrate those really winning moments, when we get to that next step and recognize that we did a lot of hard work to get there. Any other thoughts you'd like to share with the audience today?

Neil Katz: 6:38

I think. Just remember every day is an opportunity to make a culture change and a culture impact with your team. Every decision you make is impacting your culture. Just be careful and wise and thoughtful of what you do as a great leader and realize that you can continue to evolve and change it.

William Gladhart: 6:54

Neil, I've enjoyed having you on today. Thank you so much for your insights. Thank you for joining the Leadership Levers podcast. You may find all our Leadership Levers episodes on our website at connectthenumber2metricscom. Tune in weekly as we invite leaders to share their experiences in strengthening culture, one action at a time.