Culture Change That Lasts: Lessons From 15 Years of Enterprise Transformations

Making Culture Change Last: Why Behavior, Not Banners, Transforms Organizations

After 15+ years partnering with major organizations, one thing is clear: culture change doesn’t happen through posters, perks, or policy memos. It’s about people—their behaviors, beliefs, and the systems that shape them.

1. Be Clear on The Elements That Make up Culture

Culture works like a living system made up of signals and reinforcements. Some of these are obvious, like company values on a poster. Others are hidden, like the unspoken rules people follow every day.

What You See (Above the Surface)

These are the observable, often formal aspects of culture. They are easier to identify but don’t tell the full story.

• Behaviors – How people show up and interact daily

• Language – What is said, how it’s said, and the shared jargon

• Rituals and Events – Regular meetings, celebrations, onboarding practices

• Stated Values – What’s posted on the website or printed in the employee handbook

• Hierarchy – How roles and reporting relationships are arranged

• Policies and Processes – How things are “officially” done

• Rewards and Recognition – What achievements are celebrated and how

What You Don’t See (Below the Surface)

These are the underlying forces that drive the visible behaviors. They are less explicit but far more influential.

• Unspoken Norms – “How things really work around here”

• Assumptions and Beliefs – Shared mental models about what’s valued or possible

• Leadership Signals – What leaders model, ignore, or tolerate

• Power Dynamics – Who holds influence, regardless of title

• Emotional Climate – How safe or anxious people feel

• Decision Logic – The real criteria used to make choices (risk-averse? growth-oriented?)

The visible elements—behaviors, policies, and rituals—sit above the surface. But the true drivers of culture lie hidden beneath: unspoken norms, assumptions, and power dynamics. Sustainable culture change requires addressing both layers.

2. Define Your Current Culture Quantitatively

You can’t shift what you can’t define. Start by quantitatively understanding:

• Current state – What the culture is today

• Future state – What the culture needs to be to meet strategic goals

  
  

Then, identify a pathway between them.

Psychometric assessments of leadership competencies and work behaviors offer quantifiable insights that define your current culture baseline—and reveal what must shift.

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Without measurable definitions, your culture efforts risk being vague, misaligned, and ineffective.

3. Use Metrics You Already Have

You don’t need to invent new metrics to track cultural transformation. Focus on the fundamentals:

• Productivity

• Profitability

• Engagement

• Retention

  
  

Culture is not soft—it shows up in the hard numbers you already measure. Tie culture initiatives directly to business outcomes. After all, that’s the reason for the change in the first place.

4. Culture Flows from the Top, but Lives in the Middle

Culture change must be modeled from the top, but it's sustained through frontline managers. Employees don’t take their cues from mission statements—they watch their direct managers. What they're told, and what gets rewarded, tolerated, or ignored is what truly shapes culture.

If your executive team says one thing but mid-level managers say or do another, your efforts won’t stick. That's why the critical behaviors of managers must be clearly identified—and where needed, developed.

5. Start with Behaviors That Make an Immediate Impact

Culture shifts when behavior shifts. Identify a few high-leverage behaviors that can generate quick wins—then go deep on adoption. Early successes build credibility for the initiative and help overcome resistance.

Assess your managers, then coach them to model desired behaviors consistently and visibly. Pay particular attention to emotional intelligence (EQ). Since they’re responsible for influencing behavior across teams, EQ should be benchmarked—ideally against high-performing transformation leaders. Over time, these behaviors become habits—and those habits become your new culture.

 6. Listen, Listen, Listen—Early and Often

Culture change can’t be handed down—it must be co-created. Start with listening tours, focus groups, and surveys. Understand what people experience day to day—and how that reality may differ from leadership’s intent. You’d be surprised how candid employees can be when they know someone is genuinely listening.

Ask Stakeholders:

• What do they know about the initiative?

• How do they see themselves in it?

• Do they believe it will succeed?

• What concerns or ideas do they have?

  
  

The more input they contribute, the more ownership they’ll take. Make sure they’re reflected not just in execution, but in the stories and presentations that celebrate success.

7. Build Your Communication System Early

A culture strategy is only as effective as the communication system that supports it. Too often, initiatives fail not because of poor intent—but because the message never makes it beyond the executive level. Before launching a change effort, build the infrastructure that ensures your message moves through the organization.

Key components include:

• Leadership roadshows – to model commitment and engage directly with teams

• Live Q&A sessions – to surface concerns and reinforce transparency

• Manager cascades – supported by discussion guides to drive local alignment

• Learning platforms – for reinforcing key concepts and building desired behaviors

• Performance check-ins – where culture goals are tied to performance conversations

• Two-way communication loops – for continuous listening and adaptation

• Recognition programs – to spotlight and reward behaviors that reflect the new culture

• Onboarding materials – to embed cultural expectations from day one

  
  

Without these, even the best-designed strategies stay trapped at the leadership level—and never reach the front line.

8. Recognize the Power of Legacy Culture—and Why It’s Failing Now

Much of the resistance to change isn’t about people being difficult—it’s about people relying on what worked before. The mindset is often, “If it isn’t broken, why fix it?” Legacy culture reflects past success formulas that helped the organization grow. The problem? Those same assumptions may no longer support today’s strategy—and confirmation bias can make it even harder to see. ►Learn more about confirmation bias.

Acknowledging this reality helps teams let go of outdated behaviors—and opens the door to building something better.

9. Create Change Agents—and Structure for Accountability

Change won’t take hold through executive decree alone. It needs distributed ownership:

• Empower trusted influencers inside teams

• Embed culture champions in every function

• Create new roles if needed to coordinate and reinforce efforts

  
  

Change agents should be visible and knowledgeable—able to answer questions and integrated into daily operations. In many organizations, peers are often the most trusted sources of information.

10. Don’t Wait for Extra Resources

Culture change is not something you do after the “real work.” It is the real work. Waiting for budget or bandwidth often leads to delay and frustration.

Instead, integrate culture change into:

• Existing meetings

• Manager 1:1s

• Project reviews

• Team rituals

  
  

When culture becomes how work gets done—not another thing to do—it becomes sustainable.

11. Make It Stick—Reinforce, Adjust, Repeat

Lasting change isn’t linear. It requires reinforcement, course correction, and re-commitment.

• Celebrate wins

• Monitor behaviors

• Address backsliding

If you want transformation to take root, it must move beyond initiative status and become integrated into how your organization operates every day.

► See The 10 Steps to Making Change "Sticky" for a practical framework to reinforce culture change at every level.

Note From Experience

The success of your initiative is closely tied to your established track record in leading similar efforts. If your organization is perceived as having been ineffective in the past, stakeholders may rightly ask, “Why would this time be any different?” As part of your initial planning, it is essential to assess the current perception—or brand—of your initiative launching—and be prepared to address that perception directly.