Why Your Culture Initiative Won't Change Culture (and What to Do Instead)

Welcome to Culture Insights Monthly, June 2024 Edition!

I hope it will give you actionable insights to strengthen cultural health for a trusted and thriving organization.

A short introduction: I'm the author of You Can Culture (releasing October 2024), host of the Leading Transformational Change podcast, and co-founder of Heart Management. Get our free six-step guide to leading lasting culture change.

The title of this newsletter might seem harsh, but unfortunately, I believe it's true (however, I would love to hear your experiences and perspectives).

When executives recognize the need to address a lack of cultural health, often prompted by internal or external pressure, there is a tendency to relegate the issue to HR or Ethics & Compliance, expecting them to initiate a short-term project—an updated set of values, a code of conduct workshop, a training program, an employer branding initiative, or an event with an inspiring speaker.

I've heard countless variations of this story, and many of you have likely experienced it as well. And yes, projects have an allure to them. They make topics such as culture seem a bit less fuzzy.

We can set a clear time frame, identify a list of activities, and then measure whether we have accomplished them.

We can report to the executive team that 83% of our employees have completed the code of conduct training or that all employees now have screen savers displaying the company core values.

However, it doesn't work!

?? Our team members will quickly sense that the change we are promoting isn't a genuine priority for the business.

?? They know it will soon blow over.

?? They observe their managers behaving contrary to the espoused values.

?? They see how the company protects certain influential individuals who act against the principles we claimed were non-negotiable.

?? They know they won't be celebrated by their manager for speaking up or for doing whatever else we are asking of them.

An extensive study on culture change by the leading HR research firm i4cp found that 85% of culture transformation initiatives fail.

And it often makes a dark situation look even bleaker as fickle hope fades out.

This deepens the cynicism, making future attempts at change even more difficult.

Yet, there is a better way.

A Radically More Effective Approach to Culture Change

While for my upcoming book You Can Culture (launching October 8), I googled “the world’s healthiest person.” I was surprised that the top result featured a remarkably fit ninety- six-year-old man in a running shirt.

The late Mr. Charles Eugster was known as the world’s fittest pensioner before he passed away in 2017.8 At eighty-seven, he took up bodybuilding; at ninety-three, he took up sprinting and broke several world records. So what was his secret? Eugster told Vice magazine,

“You see, the stupid thing is that people don’t realize that you can have a beach body at ninety . . . I am living proof that, if you eat right and exercise properly, you can be that guy at any age.”

He also bragged about how seventy-year-old ladies on the beach would turn their heads when he passed by.

Eugster understood what is evident to us all—that sustainable habits, not short-term initiatives or Instagram posts from the gym, are the keys to physical health and a resilient heart.

The same holds true for our cultural health.

Cultural Health is Built Through Healthy Habits

Cultural health—which enables us to deliver on our mission and strategy, create a thriving workplace, and have a responsible impact—is not primarily built by short-term culture initiatives or events but by the everyday leadership habits that signal what is valued, rewarded, or disregarded in our team or organization. And it's reinforced through our rituals, processes and incentives.

To change our culture, we must make small but critical changes to what we repeatedly do instead of putting all our hope in occasional efforts.

In future editions of Culture Insights, I will explore four transformative leadership habits that can change your culture and what it takes to develop them.

For now, I would love to hear from you.

• What has been your experience with culture change and values initiatives?
• What have you found to be ineffective or effective?

Until next time, thank you for reading!

• Get your free six-step guide to leading lasting culture change.
• Listen to the Leading Transformational Change podcast.
• Explore The Culture and Leadership Program - our organization-specific and groundbreaking culture change and leadership development program.