Culture shapes everything—from how teams collaborate to how employees feel about their work. A healthy culture supports longevity, strengthens employee retention, and enables an organization to thrive through change.
When turnover rises, employee engagement dips, or accountability declines, it may be time to take a closer look at your organization’s culture and its alignment with your strategy. Let’s explore why culture matters, when change is needed, how to drive meaningful transformation, and what challenges to expect along the way.
Key Takeaways:
- Culture change is a crucial, long-term strategy for organizations seeking to align their values, behaviors, and systems with evolving business goals.
- Successful cultural transformation requires leadership commitment, employee engagement, and clear communication.
What Is Culture Change?
Culture change refers to the intentional shift in values, beliefs, behaviors, and norms made by an organization to better align with evolving strategic goals and external realities.
- Values and beliefs: The guiding principles that influence how decisions are made.
- Behaviors: The observable actions that reflect those values day to day.
- Norms: The unspoken expectations that shape how people work and interact.
When these elements evolve together, culture becomes a powerful driver of organizational performance rather than a barrier to progress.
Why Culture Matters and When Change Is Needed
Workplace culture directly impacts everything from performance and innovation to employee retention. A strong culture fosters trust, accountability, and shared purpose, while a weak or misaligned culture can lead to disengagement, poor performance, and turnover.
According to Gallup, only one in three employees globally strongly agree that they have the opportunity to do their best work every day. Doubling that number could lead to an 11% rise in profitability and a 30% reduction in turnover.
A strong culture contributes to:
- Higher employee engagement. Companies with vibrant cultures experience greater retention and productivity.
- Increased innovation and adaptability. A culture grounded in connection empowers employees to think creatively and respond quickly to change.
- Better alignment with business strategy. When culture reflects strategic goals, teams work with focus and unity, driving measurable results.
Building a thriving workplace culture is possible through intentional leadership, collaborative communication, and a clear connection between organizational values and the employee experience. When leaders model the desired behaviors and empower teams to live those values every day, culture becomes not just what an organization says it is but what it consistently does.
Indicators That a Culture Change May Be Necessary
Culture naturally evolves, but certain signals indicate it’s time for intentional change:
- Leadership transitions: New leaders often bring fresh perspectives and expectations that require cultural alignment.
- Mergers and acquisitions: M&A integration requires thoughtfully combining different company cultures to avoid friction and align employees around shared values, goals, and outcomes. Download our guide, The Secrets to Successful Mergers & Acquisitions, to combine cultures, build trust, and navigate change effectively.
- Market shifts: Evolving industries and customer expectations require adaptability and innovation, which can be accomplished through cultural initiatives and culture change.
- Technological change: Digital transformation and AI adoption often necessitate cultural shifts toward agility and continuous learning—values that must be anchored in a strong organizational culture. Improve your culture and empower your teams to create a future-ready workforce with our guide, The Human + AI Partnership.
- Employee expectations: Modern employees value transparency, connection, and purpose; leaders must communicate and manage these expectations clearly and ensure the organizational culture is one that attracts and retains talent.
- High turnover: A low-trust culture fraught with underdeveloped leaders, poor work-life balance, unclear performance expectations, or a lack of career development opportunities will often experience high churn—and require a significant culture change to address. Rethink retention to drive performance and organizational culture with our guide, From High Turnover to High Agility.
Recognizing these indicators early allows organizations to act proactively—not reactively. It’s equally important to monitor cultural developments over time and gather regular, unbiased feedback—through surveys, interviews, and performance data—to ensure the culture continues to function effectively and supports the organization’s long-term goals.
How to Achieve Successful Culture Change
Determining that a culture change is needed is the easy part. Actually making that change—and ensuring the change sticks—requires concerted, consistent effort throughout the entire organization. These six steps are crucial to building a winning culture.
1. Define the Desired Culture
- Clarify organizational values: Identify the core values that will guide behavior and decision-making. Ensure they align with your mission, vision, and business strategy.
- Assess current culture: Gather feedback through surveys, focus groups, and performance data to understand gaps between the current and desired states.
- Ensure clarity and alignment: Use Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind® from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® to clearly articulate what the desired culture looks like and how it supports organizational goals.
- Engage all levels: Make culture a shared effort. Communicate how every role—from leadership to frontline employees—will contribute to living your organizational values.
2. Align Leadership Around the Culture Change
Cultural transformation isn’t a short-term initiative; it’s a shared commitment to long-term success. And that shared commitment begins with leadership alignment. Leaders must not only model the desired behaviors but also communicate a unified vision of what the new culture represents and why it matters. When leadership teams are consistent in both messaging and action, they reinforce trust and clarity across the organization.
True alignment requires more than agreement—it requires ongoing collaboration, transparency, and accountability among leaders. By speaking with one voice and exemplifying the culture in everyday decisions, managers can effectively lead their teams through change.
3. Engage Employees at All Levels
Culture is co-created, not dictated. When organizations ensure that culture change is a shared effort, they show employees that their contributions matter and encourage buy-in that strengthens engagement, collaboration, and innovation.
- Listen first: Create opportunities for open dialogue. When leaders embody Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood®, they engage in deep listening opportunities that ensure employees feel they matter. Be sure to invite input on how the culture can better support employees’ success.
- Create feedback loops: Establish ongoing channels for honest communication and feedback, ensuring employees feel heard and valued throughout the transition.
- Engage in recognition: Acknowledge and celebrate employees who embody the desired cultural behaviors. Highlighting real examples of success reinforces the new norms and helps others see how their contributions make an impact.
When employees are engaged and empowered to shape the culture, they become active participants in the transformation—not passive observers.
Inspire and reignite your teams when you download our guide, The Art of Employee Engagement.
4. Align Systems and Processes
For culture change to last, organizational systems and processes must reinforce the desired behaviors and values. If existing structures reward outdated practices, even the best cultural vision will lose momentum.
Begin by assessing how performance management, recognition, and recruitment align with cultural priorities:
- Performance management: Redefine success to include not just results but also how those results are achieved. Recognize employees who model collaboration, accountability, and integrity.
- Promotions and growth opportunities: Celebrate individuals and teams who embody the desired culture. Tie opportunities for advancement to behaviors that reflect the organization’s values.
- Recruitment and onboarding: Hire and onboard with culture in mind, ensuring new employees understand and embrace organizational values from day one.
When systems, incentives, and everyday processes all point in the same direction, culture moves from aspiration to reality. Alignment ensures that the desired culture isn’t just communicated but is operationalized across the organization.
5. Create Transparent Communication
Trust grows through consistency, clarity, and honesty. During a culture change, communication should be frequent, open, and two-way, ensuring employees understand not only what is changing but why it matters and how it will affect them.
Key strategies for transparent communication include:
- Be proactive and consistent: Share updates regularly through multiple channels, such as team meetings, town halls, emails, and other established forums. Consistent messaging prevents confusion and reinforces trust.
- Explain the why and how behind the change: Clearly connect the reasons behind culture change to organizational goals, helping employees see the bigger picture.
- Use storytelling to make culture real: Highlight real examples of employees or teams who demonstrate the desired values and behaviors to help others visualize success.
- Encourage two-way dialogue: Invite questions, feedback, and discussion at every level. Employees who feel heard are more likely to engage in and support the change.
Amid transformation, ensure your message inspires your employees. Download our guide, From Misunderstood to Magnetic: A Leader’s Guide to Clear Communication.
6. Measure Progress and Adapt
Culture change isn’t one-and-done. Instead, it’s a continuous process of assessment, learning, and improvement. Measuring progress ensures that transformation efforts are producing real, sustainable impact.
To measure and adapt effectively:
- Use data-driven insights: Track both quantitative and qualitative indicators such as engagement scores, retention rates, and performance metrics, alongside employee surveys for deeper context.
- Monitor leading and lagging indicators: Evaluate not only results but also the actions and behaviors driving them. This helps pinpoint what’s working and where adjustments are needed.
- Visualize progress: Maintain visibility by keeping a compelling scoreboard or progress tracker that allows teams to see milestones and celebrate wins.
- Stay agile and responsive: As conditions change, leaders may need to refine goals, communication strategies, or resource allocation to stay aligned with the evolving culture and business environment.
By regularly evaluating outcomes and remaining flexible, organizations keep their culture dynamic, relevant, and aligned with strategic goals—ensuring that progress endures long after the initial transformation.
Case Study: AdventHealth Transforms Culture Through Leadership Development
AdventHealth faced high leadership and employee turnover, revealing the need to intentionally build a culture that identified, developed, and empowered leaders at every level.
To address this, AdventHealth partnered with FranklinCovey to launch its Emerging Leaders program, featuring The 6 Critical Practices for Leading a Team™. Each September, participants worked with FranklinCovey facilitators to learn how to shift from being high-performing individual contributors to effective, people-centered leaders.
The results have been remarkable: AdventHealth achieved a 50% reduction in employee turnover and saw measurable gains in engagement and retention. By developing leaders intentionally, the organization has created a culture that empowers growth, supports purpose-driven work, and sustains long-term success.
Overcoming Common Challenges in Culture Change
Even with the best intentions, culture change often faces resistance. People naturally gravitate toward what’s familiar, and uncertainty about new expectations can create hesitation or pushback.
Common obstacles to culture change include fear of the unknown, lack of clarity, inconsistent leadership behaviors, and fatigue from previous change efforts. Recognizing these challenges early helps leaders address them constructively and maintain momentum.
Strategies to address resistance to culture change include:
- Communicate openly about the purpose and benefits of change
- Involve employees in shaping the new culture
- Offer coaching, training, and resources to build confidence
- Recognize and celebrate early adopters who model desired behaviors
Over time, consistent action, visible progress, and reinforcement from leadership build credibility and trust. As employees witness the positive impact of the transformation, resistance gives way to engagement.
Culture Change Is Your Organizational Opportunity
Culture change is not simply about fixing what’s broken—it’s about unlocking potential. Organizations that embrace cultural transformation are better positioned to attract top talent, innovate, and sustain long-term success.
Leaders must be patient, persistent, and committed to driving culture change from within. Transformation takes time, but the payoff—a more agile, engaged, and aligned organization—is well worth the effort.
Download our guide, The 4 Pillars of a Thriving Workplace Culture, to learn how to drive engagement, innovation, and performance with a winning organizational culture.