Mr Strategy on culture transformation that sticks

When I walk into an organization to drive culture transformation, I don’t start with posters, mission statements, or flashy words. I diagnose first—just like a good doctor. I ask: What’s in the bloodstream of this organization? Culture isn’t what’s written; it’s what people do when no one is watching.

I use VAKS model—Values, Attitudes, Knowledge, Skills.

a) Values – If leadership doesn’t live the values, don’t expect employees to. I expose misalignments. If a bank claims “customer-first” but managers ignore clients, that’s not a culture—it’s a lie. You have seen it – the bank manager behaves like the President of a country. Not easy to meet. I heard someone advising a leader that “make it difficult for others to reach you, but so easy for you to reach anyone.” Well, if you are a leader of a country, that advice is correct. You need to be hard to reach so that you can focus. But a bank manager? Be welcoming to customers.

Mr Strategy's insights: People believe what they see. If leadership demands punctuality but managers show up late, the culture is “lateness.” I use powerful visuals—before-and-after workplace photos, culture graphs, and video case studies—to show where they are versus where they need to be. Once, I posted a simple image of an overflowing trash bin in a financial institution’s lobby. That one image told the real culture story—neglect. It changed everything.

b) Attitudes – A bad attitude will kill the best strategy. I rewire mindsets by exposing limiting beliefs. I once worked with a team where managers feared taking ownership. We reshaped their thinking through tough conversations and accountability. I have an exercise I call the hot seat – we get a manager to sit on the Chair, and everyone asks them questions they always needed to ask but could not. It is an interesting experience.

Mr Strategy's insights: People follow what they hear consistently. I use repetition, tone, and storytelling to drive home key messages. I once played two contrasting voice recordings in a customer service training—one where an agent sounded engaged, another where they were robotic. The room immediately understood: tone isn’t a detail, it’s culture. I also coach leaders on how their voice shapes culture—Do they inspire, or do they drain energy?

c) Knowledge – You can’t transform what you don’t understand. I run deep-dive sessions where teams learn what culture means—not as a buzzword but as daily behavior. Before starting a culture transformation project, we sit with leaders and create a one-source-of-truth portal where we put all the information about the project. And provide a forum for anyone with questions to ask, to which we reply within 6 hours at worst. The idea is to prevent rumors and unfounded allegations about the project.

Mr Strategy's Insights: Culture isn’t words; it’s action. I make teams move, and leaders to do the work. Role-playing is a must. If we’re fixing accountability, I create real-time scenario challenges where managers take ownership of problems instead of passing the blame. In one workshop, I made executives clean their own workstations before starting a “clean desk” culture initiative. That physical act made the lesson stick better than a two-hour PowerPoint ever could.

d) Skills – Culture isn’t just emotion—it’s execution. I equip teams with real tools: decision-making frameworks, conflict resolution, and leadership skills. No theory—just practical action.

Mr Strategy's Insights: Culture has a scent. Walk into an office, and you smell the difference between a vibrant and a toxic workplace. A factory I once worked as a risk consultant had a foul-smelling staff canteen—telling me instantly how little management cared about workers. We fixed it. Sometimes, I introduce pleasant scents—freshly brewed coffee for morning meetings or lavender for de-stressing sessions—to subconsciously reinforce positive emotions linked to change. Once in the MD's office, a cockroach crawled from under his high-priced furniture and danced on the red carpet, in full view of all of us during a strategy town hall planning meeting. I broke the silence by saying, "This is a good metaphor- for strategy to succeed, we must be on the lookout for any cockroaches and snakes in the business and put them on the spotlight as change champions." The MD liked the idea, we laughed about it, as he called the PA to exterminate it and get the office fumigated.

Culture shifts when behaviors change at the core. No shortcuts. No gimmicks. Just transformation driven from within.?

That’s how I fix broken cultures.

Are you concerned about your current culture? Let’s talk.?

How would you describe your current culture? Which of the VAKS do you find critical?