Why Most Culture Change Fails
Most culture change efforts fail because they focus on slogans and strategies instead of daily behaviour. This essay explores why culture really changes — and how leaders can shape it.
Editor’s note: This essay explores a central theme in Cultivated’s work — how organisations change not through slogans and strategies, but through daily behaviour shaped by leadership and systems.
Why Most Culture Change Fails
Culture change is everywhere.
Almost every organisation now claims to be “transforming its culture.” New values appear on walls. New behaviours are launched in town halls. New programmes arrive with impressive names.
And yet many of them fail.
Not partially. Systematically.
Studies regularly suggest that around 70 percent of culture change initiatives do not deliver meaningful results.
The reason is not complexity.
It is often misunderstanding.
Because culture is not what organisations say.
It is what people do.
Every day.
Culture is group habit
Culture is not posters, perks, or purpose statements.
It is the accumulation of everyday behaviour:
How people speak in meetings.
How decisions are made under pressure.
How conflict is handled.
How mistakes are treated.
In simple terms:
People + behaviour = culture.
That is why culture can change quickly when leadership changes.
I have seen toxic environments shift almost overnight when a new CEO or manager sets different standards — and lives them visibly.
Which leads to an uncomfortable truth:
You do not get the behaviours you expect.
You get the behaviours you tolerate.
Why most change programmes miss the point
Most culture initiatives focus on:
Strategies
Operating models
Structures
Technology
Frameworks
All of which matter.
But none of them change behaviour on their own. And very few of them help the organisation go from idea to value smoothly and quickly.
When daily behaviour remains untouched, culture does not move — it merely gets rebranded.
This is why organisations often feel they are stuck in permanent transformation.
The wrapping changes.
The habits remain.
Behaviour is not mysterious
Behaviour is not vague or abstract.
It is observable and influenceable.
It shows up in:
Language — how people speak to each other
Tone — urgency, care, aggression, calm
Body language — openness or defensiveness
Work quality — ownership, follow-through
Relationships — cooperation or protectionism
Because behaviour is visible, it can be coached, reinforced, and shaped.
This is what makes real culture change possible.
What really shapes behaviour
Behaviour does not exist in isolation.
It is shaped by the system people work inside:
Clarity of roles and expectations
Incentives and measures
Leadership example
Feedback culture
Quality of work design
Health and pressure
Meaning and purpose
Poor behaviour is often a rational response to a broken system.
Which is why culture change is not just about people.
It is about leadership design.
Nine levers that actually shift culture
Across organisations and sectors, the same levers repeatedly matter.
Not programmes — practices.
- Role model relentlessly
People copy power. What leaders do becomes normal. - Intervene early on poor behaviour
Tolerated behaviour becomes cultural standard. - Fix behaviour inside the management hierarchy, not by removing it
Structure is rarely the problem. Conduct is. - Study the real system of work
Most behaviour is shaped by workflow design, not personality. - Articulate a meaningful direction
People change more easily when the future feels worth moving toward. - Solve root problems, not surface symptoms
Unclear goals and broken processes quietly generate bad behaviour. - Accept that change is emergent
Culture shifts gradually through consistent signals, not deadlines. - Set a high bar for learning
Adaptive organisations outgrow rigid ones. - Use stories, not slogans
Stories transmit norms far more effectively than policy documents.
None of these are dramatic.
All of them are decisive.
A calmer definition of culture change
Culture is not transformed.
It is cultivated.
Through hundreds of small signals:
What is rewarded.
What is challenged.
What is ignored.
Change becomes real when daily behaviour changes.
Everything else is packaging.
Culture does not shift through campaigns.
It shifts through conduct.
And when leadership understands this, transformation stops being theatrical — and starts being real.
That is when organisations finally change direction, not just language.
Video
Editor’s note: This essay grows from an earlier exploration in another medium. The thinking remains central, even as the format has changed.
