How to drive long-term change in employee behaviour for better wellbeing

In his book Outliers, Malcom Gladwell tells the fascinating story of cultural change at Korean airlines. During the late 1990s Korean Air had more plane crashes than almost any other airline in the world. The reason behind these crashes is incredibly interesting: “When we think of airline crashes, we think, oh, they must have had old planes. They must have had badly trained pilots. No. What they were struggling with was a cultural legacy, that Korean culture is hierarchical. You are obliged to be deferential toward your elders and superiors in a way that would be unimaginable in the US.”

This culture is entirely at odds with how Boeing and Airbus design their aircraft which depends on two pilots who are equals being at the controls.

A cultural clash

In a specific crash investigation, there are was evidence of extremely derogatory language being used by a captain to a subordinate. This approach is blamed for setting a tone that discouraged further input from other crew members, especially the first officer, a key reason for the crash which was due to pilot error.

Following this disastrous period in their history, Korean Air radically changed the way their cockpit employees communicated. The event went as far as to change the language that was used switching to English. This had the effect to break down some of social legacy that was embedded within the language itself.

Today, the airline is a member of the prestigious SkyTeam alliance. Its safety record since 1999 is spotless. In 2006, Korean Air was given the Phoenix Award by Air Transport World in recognition of its transformation.

The Korean Air turnaround is an excellent example where long term cultural and behavioural change was achieved in a relatively short period of time. In order to change the long-term wellbeing of the modern workforce there are many lessons we can learn.

Change the language

As Brits we have a cultural legacy of the stiff upper lip. Keep Calm and Carry On. This legacy of hiding our emotional needs is embedded in our society and can be blamed for undiagnosed mental health issues and financial problems that go unchecked. We are extremely uncomfortable discussing our feelings and emotions and personal finance as a topic is taboo.

To drive long term behavioural change, we need to break down these social conventions and bring them out into the light. Open and honest communications are essential as are personal stories from leadership teams bringing issues to the forefront.

Change the culture

I visited a company who were looking at launching a financial wellbeing programme. It was January and during the recent Christmas party the CEO had given out Rolex watches to the top performers. The pension scheme was experiencing a 40 per cent opt-out rate and many of the workforce were suffering from stress due to borrowing too much at extortionate interest rates.

The ‘live for the moment culture’ that was embedded throughout the organisation was having an extremely negative impact on employee finances. Before any product or service could be launched at this company there first needed to be a major change in culture and longer-term mindsets.

Set objectives

Korean Air had a clear goal: a flawless safety record. For those launching wellbeing programmes rarely is there a measured goal combined with an expected return on investment. Various services are stuck together in haphazard fashion with very little data collection or monitoring of performance. We need to ask ourselves, what metrics do we want to improve and how will we monitor them over time to track the efficacy of wellbeing spend. There is an abundance of affordable tech out there that can help us do this.

Driving positive behavioural change in wellbeing will take time, but when rolled out with the support from company leadership, with clear goals and objectives, it can be done effectively. However, without their vocal support and involvement wellbeing programmes are doomed to fail. It is key to undertake extensive research before commencing to understand what the true root cause of the behaviours you wish to change really are.

In the case of Korean Air they could have blamed the aircraft for their poor safety record and spent billions replacing them. However, by doing detailed research and initiating switch and effective change they have improved both their company and their culture.

The author is Philip Blows, sales director at Wealth Wizards.

This article was provided by Wealth Wizards.