You’re looking to become a better leader in culture change. How can you do it?

Walk the walk - inspire and encourage others to take action through your own actions. Most of the people are looking to your lead. You're the leader! e.g. if you want people to take more risks then take a risk and share openly when it hasn't worked out, how you feel about it (be vulnerable), what you learnt. Repeat.

Assess Current Culture: Understand existing norms. Define Desired Culture: Clearly articulate vision. Lead by Example: Model desired behaviors. Communicate Vision: Clearly explain the changes. Empower Others: Involve everyone in the process. Provide Support: Offer resources and training. Celebrate Successes: Recognize achievements. Address Resistance: Listen to concerns and provide support. Evaluate and Adjust: Continuously monitor and adapt. Foster Learning Culture: Encourage experimentation. Be Patient and Persistent: Change takes time; stay committed.

To become a better leader in culture change, cultivate open and transparent communication channels. Encourage your team to express their thoughts, concerns, and ideas freely. Actively listen to feedback, and create a safe environment where everyone feels heard and valued. Open communication fosters trust and collaboration, key elements for successfully navigating cultural transformations.

You take stock of existing culture and cultural capital. Throwing out everything invites resistance. Take the useful, and build from there. Give the people a vision. People want to be led. They want to be part of something. Use that. Slowly adjust the culture to align with your strategy. Culture trumps strategy, because people are creatures of habit. You need to break them from the old, and lead them to the new, while convincing them this is their idea. This involves engagement, psychology, and propaganda. This is why companies have campaigns and slogans. Use a reward system to compel compliance. You need advocates and true believers. The rest will leave through natural attrition. Track your progress, and adjust accordingly.

Culture can be an illusive thing. First understanding what WE mean by culture, our culture, what are the elements and circumstances in and around our culture. Without this, we risk a surface-level and transactional process that doesn't address what culture and change are all about - and that's people. The transactional can underpin and support the relational but ultimately change and culture are relational. We first need to discover and uncover the relationships to and between (ourselves, our value, our work, our behaviours and habits, the circumstances we create, the unintended consequences, the boundaries, our clients, their goals).... then let's talk about what we need. To avoid "slapping lipstick on a pig" DO THE REAL WORK...

Using Schein’s culture model, interview and survey employees to understand where gaps exist between the culture the company desires and the current culture. This gap analysis paired with a SWOT analysis based on model like Galbraith Star provide culture insights. Example Org Value - “Collaborate to win” Behavior - Managers encourage teamwork, VP emphasizes collaboration in all hands and employees say that teamwork is important YET they prioritize individual projects over high priority collaborative work and are complaining about pressure to collaborate with no incentive Artifacts - #1 org priority is Project A, all hands deck with values listed, employee goals not aligned to Project A Rewards - Bonus based on employee goal performance

Involve your employees actively in the culture assessment process. Encourage them to provide honest feedback and insights about the current state of the culture. Employees often possess valuable frontline perspectives that may not be apparent in formal assessments. By including them in the evaluation, you not only gain a more comprehensive understanding of the culture but also enhance their sense of ownership and commitment to the change process.

Based on my 25 years of experience helping leaders face 150 years of bureaucracy and hierarchy that made the many employees into functions and performers, I can only say; - start by becoming aware of yourself and how you think about organizing people in meaningful work and effective collaboration. Become a pro at meeting people where they are in their perceived present state and to create time and space for conversation about this now so that it becomes very clear, so clear that forces for change, from within themselves, create demand to find new better ways . - If you can facilitate such conversations in the current process, you can open up for culture change. Forget fancy visions and other things that no one asked to hear.

A key mistake that many leaders make, especially when earlier in their leadership career is to come in and initiate a change project before really understanding what drives the current culture. I know this from my own experience. While it may seem obvious to you what needs to change, spending time talking to people is, in my experience, the best way to truly understand the status quo. More to the point, if you approach the conversations from curiosity and a willingness to create a win-win change, you will learn about some of the hidden factors which may actually be driving the current culture - which may end up changing your strategy.

What culture means for me may not be what culture means for you.... exploring how people are 'making meaning' of and in our culture, alone and together is fundamental to all understanding and key to all change. The tools available are vast but these are just tools (surveys / focus groups / frameworks / assessments etc.,). It's almost irrelevant which you use if you are not uncovering the real meaning-making.

Engage employees at all levels in the change process. This fosters ownership, commitment, and a sense of shared responsibility for the desired cultural shift.

Take the time to talk to your team about what you're expecting to see as the change program kicks off - then commit to consistently checking in on what's actually been happening. Reflect on how you and your leaders are leaning into your vulnerability about how the program roll-out is progressing.

True transformation starts within. Self-improvement is the first step towards creating a better world for all. Lead with clarity, empathy, and resilience. Understand the current culture through multiple lenses, set clear goals, and empower your team. Lead by example, communicate effectively, and celebrate progress along the journey. Continuous evaluation and adaptation ensure sustained success.

In my own experience of leading change, building strong relationships is one of the best ways to create success. Often your team will have a greater insight into the underlying sub-cultures, the history of the organisation, and the challenges faced by front-line staff. They'll have ideas that can strengthen your strategy, and most likely have relationships which can make them champions for the change. Also talk to wider teams as culture change is rarely a one-team project. Be open, respectful and curious and you will build trust and psychological safety.

It's crucial to understand that culture change hinges on our daily actions and the way we collaborate as a team. Without the team's involvement, there can be no change. While we aspire to instill new values, the key is learning the daily behaviors of working together that support these values. Human behavior is both inherent and learned. Recognizing the difference between current behaviors being expressed and what's possible is key for leaders to unlock because the team is the culture, which is made up of our human relationships. This might include individual conversations and coaching as well as team conversations about collaboration, discussing the daily aspects of our communication and collaboration so we can work better together.

Failure is both easy and hard. We all make mistakes, but do we take the time to review and learn from them? This is why retrospectives in the Agile methodology are so important. Everyone has a voice and can speak freely. As a leader, you need to encourage both positive and constructive comments so you can uncover failures and figure out--with the help of your team--how to fix issues and avoid them next time.

Embrace a mindset of continuous improvement by experimenting with new approaches and learning from both successes and failures. This iterative process allows for adaptation and refinement as needed.

Don't force your definition of culture. Don't make it personal or individualistic. Keep it evolving and aligning to mission of the company. Keep it as universal in nature as possible so that no matter which geography or culture or caste or religion or gender or any other divisional factors may be there - the culture of the company is above it all.

Ensure that organizational systems, processes, policies, and structures support the desired cultural values and behaviors. This alignment reinforces the change and prevents conflicting messages.

I agree with Dr Jo Cresswell below! this is of utmost importance and often overlooked. A few prominent examples: M&A screening and decision criteria are not aligned and suddenly a large acquisition gets approved, that is very symbolic (visible, memorable, changing the business model) and not aligned with the core values. Specific examples could be Market expansion into ares of higher ESG risks, without clear DD and remediation plan, despite ESG at the heart of culture /stategy. OR Investing in a new site in a country that clearly has severe ESG risks without a very clear action plan in place or optimistic assumptions about the companies leverage to improve the situation in the effected region.

Embed clarity of your guiding principles in all your human systems. Be clear and consistent and don’t compromise. Actions must be aligned with words.

This is one of the most important factors in creating culture change. It's the one that most often gets missed, or if it is addressed, creates the most resistance. Yet without completely aligning the systems and structures, it will be near impossible to create the change you need. I have experience trying to lead a 21st century change project while trying to deal with 20th century systems and structures. To do this will most likely need the support and buy-in from the executive leaders of the different functional areas, and their commitment to changing practices within their own teams. Be patient, this change will not happen overnight.

Implement mechanisms to sustain the desired culture over time. This may include ongoing communication, leadership modeling, recognition of desired behaviors, and integration into performance management processes.

The most important thing in culture change is "Walking the Talk". You may talk fancy words and have all sorts of messaging but unless the leaders Walk the Talk and behave in the manner that aligns to the culture, all efforts will fail. Acknowledge when a certain behaviour doesn't align to the culture and course correct, Reward behaviours that align to the Culture and call out those that don't.

Imbedding culture happens in social, relational, ritual and process and system ways.... with the understanding that culture, like us humans, is constantly evolving and changing

I have observed that the leaders who successfully change their organisational culture accept and embrace that they too will need to evolve and change as part of the journey. This in itself is powerful because it makes the change authentic and human. When employees see that their senior leaders are taking accountability, they are more likely to believe that “this time it’s different”, and with persistence, this mindset of accountability for culture can eventually go viral. 360 feedback, coaching and personal action plans are really helpful enablers for this. On the contrary, leaders who deflect the cultural challenges of their business onto everyone else are typically the ones who have the least success in driving meaningful change.

Nurture culture! Instead of going in with the objective of changing the culture go in with the intention to nurture. A culture is like a child. It learns from what it sees and hears. It absorbs and shapes itself. It sees good it learns and does good. Same when otherwise. Like a new age parent lead by example and try to imbibe the best values. Provide tutelege and guidance as required. But ensure you listen to child and understand his/her point of view as well. And be ok with rebellion because from it comes learning. It (culture) may not behave perfect and live up to expectations in every situation. It all depends on the nuturturing and change (good or otherwise) comes with the continual nurturing. ??

Learn the facts and fundamentals about what culture is, how it forms and how it can evolve to directly impact business results. Many confuse engagement and culture or lack the deeper understanding about why relationship building should be at the heart of culture-related change. We use a culture habits structure built with some guidance from culture pioneer Edgar Schein. It follows a clear flow of connect—>explore—>improve—>learn.

My first disconnect is that the statement has inherent personal interest- be a better leader of culture change. Culture change is a personal journey and not a competition. The whole idea about culture change is to understand my realities & assess what works for my organization which will help my employees thrive, business to flourish inspite of internal and external adversities and challenges. The focus has to be within like any personal spiritual journey. Moment you externalise the cause of change, the relevance is lost! Externalise the impact/ output of the change, but let the cause for change be for larger intrinsic purpose. Once convinced then follow the above steps mentioned in the article with customisation of course!

What I’m missing in these categories is a focus on the leader changing themselves. Often leaders think “I’m already living this culture change - it’s everyone else who needs to change.” Leading change starts with a deep examination of who you are as a leader, and shifts you may need to make in line with your aspiration. 360 feedback and coaching help tremendously here.