WHY CULTURE INITIATIVES FAIL

Many well-intentioned culture initiatives fail.

In a best case scenario of failure, we learn some things and try again. 

In a more common scenario of failure, nothing changes and we go back to the way things were, spending a lot of time and money on something that ultimately doesn’t have an impact. 

And in the worst scenario of failure, the initiative does more harm than good because employees across the organization find the whole thing to be a big crock of BS - something that we do through posters on the wall and fancy press releases to the public, but not through our everyday actions and words. 

One of the most egregious examples of failure I’ve observed involves a company that created a Fun Committee. The fun committee bought balloons and cake and invited employees to gatherings in the break rooms.

The leaders of the fun committee noticed that nothing was changing, and that their little committee of fun wasn’t making things more fun at all. They wondered why - did they need more cake, or different snacks? Something more exciting than colorful balloons?

There was one glaring factor that the committee overlooked: amidst the balloons and the cake and the gatherings, employees were being walked out the door with no notice as the company went through a massive round of lay-offs. Employees were living in fear. They were unsure if they still had a job. They were wondering if they might be next. And they were concerned about Jodi, their cubicle neighbor, who yesterday packed up her belongings in a cardboard box, her photos in white frames shoved in a heap within, before being silently escorted to the front door. A lone keyboard remains where she once sat. 

It took the committee far too long to realize that creating a fun committee with balloons and cake in the middle of a massive round of lay-offs was not only ineffective, but it was also insulting. Thankfully, after one too many failed meetings and dismal gatherings with cake in the conference room, they decided to change course. The company leaders should have saved their money on cake and balloons and instead invested their time and energy in having conversations, sharing what was going on, and answering questions. 

While this example may sound extreme, unfortunately it is also true. 

Here are some other less extreme but common reasons that culture initiatives fail. 

Lack of Executive-Level Championing. 

When it comes to changing culture in a significant, positive way, executive level permission or buy-in are often not enough. We need executive level championing. 

The most successful organizations I work with have top-level leaders (often the President or CEO) intimately involved in, and sometimes even leading (at least from a vision-casting level), these efforts. 

Without this, culture initiatives are often seen as an “HR thing,” a “fun committee thing,” or something that “they” (whoever “they” happens to be in your particular organization) are doing over there. 

Change often starts at the top.

If I may be so bold, I’d recommend having a fierce conversation about this at the very beginning of the initiative - in the idea stage, before the committee is formed or the work plan is created - to ensure that this is, indeed, a company priority that the executive leadership team supports and advocates. If not, I recommend offering an invitation to opt out of the whole thing altogether - to save time and resources and money on something that collectively does not actually feel like a priority. 

Some questions to consider include:

• Who are my executive level champions? 

• If I don’t have any, what could it look like to engage these leaders in a new way?

• How can we work together to make this change most effective, by engaging our leaders to share the vision, the why, and the bigger picture behind this effort, while we (the committee, the HR team, or the cross-functional group owning this particular initiative) run with the implementation and execution?

Lack of a Clear, Well-Communicated Why and Purpose.

Without this, we run the risk of this being “just another initiative” or “the flavor of the month.”

Any change initiative - whether it’s related to diversity, equity and inclusion; culture; leadership; or sustainability - needs to be grounded in a clear and well-defined Why and Purpose that is clearly and consistently communicated throughout the organization. 

Some questions to consider include:

• Why are we doing this initiative?

• What really matters?

• At the end of the day, what will be different because of it?

• How will this make our lives better? 

• How does this serve our company goals?

• How does this align with our company values?

• How can you (employee; team member; receptionist; field leader; distribution manager; project manager; tech lead; new employee who just started two weeks ago) learn more, get involved, and get your questions answered?

Not Understanding the People Who Will Be Most Impacted. 

I was recently talking with a colleague who said, “they are talking about communicating to the masses, but they don’t understand the masses.” This point stuck with me and led me to reflect on the question, “how do we truly understand the masses - the people who will be most impacted by the changes we’re making?”

This is not easy.

One CEO I’m privileged to know set up a half-hour meeting with every single person in the company as he transitioned to his new role as CEO. In a company of over 100 individuals, this was 63 hours of meetings. This an entire week and a half of working hours - clearly a tremendous amount of time and energy. But the feedback was incredible - every person I’ve talked to at the company has reported that they are excited about the transition, and they loved the opportunity to sit down and talk with their new CEO for an uninterrupted 30 minutes. 

It might not be possible - or realistic - to set up individual meetings with every single person at the company to understand their perspective. But what can we do instead? Listening sessions, fireside chats, brown bag lunch sessions, or Q&A happy hours are all strategies that can be highly impactful. At one company I’ve worked with, employees submitted questions real-time via an electronic chat box which was displayed on the screen, and the CEO answered all of them, one by one, live in front of the entire company. He only blushed a time or two. 

Here are some questions to consider:

• How can we ensure that all voices are represented in this effort?

• What are we doing to solicit feedback from the quieter or underrepresented voices - and/or people who might not be part of our committees or teams working on this project? 

• How can we make it safe for people to share their feedback, concerns, and perspectives? See this article on psychological safety for high performing teams for more. 

• What are my current gaps in understanding of “the masses” - and what can I do to bridge those gaps? 

Not Living It. 

Perhaps one of the most heartbreaking versions of failure involves spending countless hours in a conference room to get the wording just right; spending hundreds or thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of dollars on resources and learning and education in service of the end goal; printing out shiny new posters for the wall - and then realizing that we aren’t behaving any differently. 

Change is hard, and change takes time.

And in order for it to be successful, we need to be willing to put a stake in the ground and say “this is what we stand for, and this is what it looks like in action, and this is what we are going to do moving forward.”

This change will not happen overnight, and behavior will not shift immediately. 

However, it does need to be modeled - or at least attempted, as everyone works through the change together - by leaders across the organization. As we already covered, change often starts at the top. 

Some questions to consider include:

• What do we value?

• What do these values look like in the form of actions and behaviors?

• What are our expectations for each other?

• How will we hold ourselves accountable to the things we’re saying we want to do?

• What ongoing resources and support are available as we roll this out?

• How can you be sure to get your questions answered?

• What resources are available to help you roll these changes out to you teams and departments? 

Lack of Consistent and Transparent Communication. 

I know - this header is a total bore, since “communication” is a consistent top contender on all of the lists, it seems - whether common relationship challenges, leadership challenges, or project management challenges. It remains a steady contender because it’s consistently true - we often think we’re communicating way more than we actually are, and way more than the people we’re communicating to actually hear.

In a compelling story shared by Daniel Coyle in The Culture Code, Inc magazine asked executives at six hundred companies to estimate the percentage of their workforce who could name the company’s top three priorities. The executives predicted that 64% would be able to name them. When Inc. then asked employees to name the priorities, only 2% could do so. 

As leaders, we often incorrectly presume that others see things how we do, or have the information that we have. Often, the everyday reality of our team members looks much different than ours and the lens through which they are viewing these initiatives has a different filter than our own. 

Some questions to consider include:

• How will we communicate up front about why we will be doing this initiative?

• How will we communicate progress throughout?

• How will we empower leaders throughout the company to effectively communicate the change to their teams?

• How will we engage in 2-way dialogue to answer questions that arise and get feedback throughout?

• How will we empower our leaders to engage in 2-way dialogue with their own teams?

• How will we welcome feedback along the way? 

• How might we tailor our communication to the various departments, teams, roles that need to hear it? 

• How can we err on the side of ‘over communicating’ so that we aren’t part of the statistics above?

• How can we engage team members from across the organization to help us with the communication strategy, so we can ensure we’re speaking their language - and not just the language of our leaders? 

While there are many reasons that culture initiatives fail, these are some of the most common that I’ve observed throughout my time working with organizations across a broad range of industries. 

What do you think? Are there others that you’d add to the list - or, perhaps more excitingly, are there others that you’ve found to help your initiatives succeed?

Feel free to drop me a note through the ‘connect’ form if you’d like to talk more.