Hyundai Steel held the 2024 Hello CL Workshop to kick off the activities for the newly selected Change Leaders (CL), who will be responsible for overseeing organizational culture change for a period of one year.
CL group photo
Established in 2022, the CL system is part of the Organizational Culture Committee aimed at fostering a positive organizational culture and facilitating the achievement of practical goals through voluntary engagement. It involves selecting CLs who proactively plan and implement department-level activities for positive change and supporting their efforts. Unlike last year, this year’s approach prioritizes selecting applicants and motivates active participation by documenting it in personnel records and offering year-end rewards for outstanding CLs.
This year’s workshop was conducted to reinforce the capabilities and motivation for change among the 84 CLs selected from each organization around the company through individual application and recommendation. Taking place March 7 to 8 at the Oak Valley Golf Village in Wonju, Gangwon Province, the workshop encouraged open communication among the participants.
On the first day of the workshop, Cho Sung-myong, Culture Transformation TFT Leader, welcomed everyone by stating, “The journey of changing our culture may be challenging, but the more pressing a need becomes, the more motivation we can derive to bring about change.” He conveyed the purpose of the workshop by saying, “Let us understand our company’s vision and collectively create change with a positive outlook.”
Cho Sung-myong, Culture Transformation TFT Leader, delivers his welcoming remarks
Next, time was allocated to share the results of the “2023 Culture Survey” conducted the previous year and to build consensus on directions for improving organizational culture. In 2023, Hyundai Steel showed a positive trend when it came to narrowing the gap with Hyundai Group’s average scores for the first time. Based on this, insights were shared regarding the ideal image of the company that the staff want to work for, as well as insights related to steel recipes derived from key survey results, thereby establishing consensus on the direction of CL activities.
After forming teams, the staff engage in ice-breaking games
For the first time, a long-term strategy for organizational culture change was unveiled. First, the participants set “Coexistent and symbiotic organizational culture of Hyundai Steel” as the organizational culture orientation focus, and established three major perspectives: Coexistent relationship from a vision/strategy perspective, coexistent relationship from a member perspective, and coexistent relationship from a structural perspective. Ten sub-promotional tasks aimed at realizing this vision were also announced. The company plans to focus on establishing mid-to-long-term systems and executing improvement activities from 2024 to 2026. Starting in 2027, it aims to measure the progress towards achieving organizational vision and contributions.
In addition, during the workshop, a lecture by an external speaker and a special lecture by the CEO were held to instill confidence among the CLs. For the special lecture by the external speaker, Professor Lee Min-young, from the Hyundai Research Institute, delivered a 100-minute presentation on the topic of “Communication Strategy for a Happy Workplace.” She emphasized, “When establishing organizational communication strategies, it is important to bear in mind that positive emotions are essential for creating a happy workplace, and that negative emotions can hinder communication.”
Professor Lee Min-young lecturing on communication strategies for a happy workplace
During the special lecture from the CEO that followed, CEO Seo Gang-hyun personally emphasized the importance of CL activities and urged them to play an active role in fostering a positive corporate culture. He made it clear that shaping organizational culture is a vital element for the company’s growth and that CLs are at the heart of this process, which instilled confidence in the participants. Following this, an impromptu Q&A session was conducted on-site, during which detailed discussions were held that considered various perspectives regarding company management and organizational culture orientation.
CEO Seo Gang-hyun made a point to emphasize the importance of CLs
On the second day of the workshop, methods for utilizing tools for diagnosing organizational culture and methods for analyzing department-specific issues were shared. Based on this, each department conducted an analysis of organizational strengths and areas for improvement, as well as deriving specific action plans, utilizing input from pre-workshop interviews with department heads and insights from CLs. With these department-specific plans in place, CLs convened according to business departments and divisions to collectively set key values for higher organizations and discuss future directions. Through this process, the CLs, who typically did not have many opportunities to interact across higher organizations, were able to engage in communication activities together and receive practical assistance in building the CL network.
The CLs present departmental tasks by analyzing the strengths and areas for improvement within the organization
The CLs who participated in the workshop will be responsible for planning and operating practical change activities in the field based on the values of the organizational culture in their respective business departments and division over the next year. In addition, the Culture Transformation TFT will designate organizational culture managers for each division to operate action plans at a company-wide level. They will engage in ongoing communication with CLs to monitor activities and share progress.
CLs cheering together as the workshop comes to a close
Hyundai Steel is committed to enhancing company-wide organizational culture by implementing programs that expand communication among staff.