Your organization is facing turbulent times. How do you keep culture change on track?
When your organization faces challenges, it's crucial to maintain momentum in culture change initiatives. Here are some strategies to ensure your culture change stays on course:
How do you ensure culture change remains effective during tough times? Share your thoughts.
Your organization is facing turbulent times. How do you keep culture change on track?
When your organization faces challenges, it's crucial to maintain momentum in culture change initiatives. Here are some strategies to ensure your culture change stays on course:
How do you ensure culture change remains effective during tough times? Share your thoughts.
-
A mudança de cultura só pode acontecer em um ambiente de confiança e transparência. E necessário que a liderança entenda o caminho e discuta as dúvidas com os pares e liderados para ajustes de expectativas. O exemplo sempre virá de cima. Conforme os passos são iniciados e mais facil quando todos tem uma referência clara e objetiva. Mesmo em tempo de crise, o modelo deve ser sempre a prioridade.
-
In order to keep culture change on track - you have to adopt the following approach: 1- reinforce the vision and purpose 2- lead by example 3- foster open communication 4- focus on small wins 5- stay consistent despite disruption 6- provide training 7- measure and adjust
-
During tough times, culture change survives when it’s made non-negotiable, not treated as an extra. Start by anchoring every decision to the values you're trying to embed. Openly discuss challenges instead of sugar coating them. Tough times test culture; use them to prove commitment. Next, turn the team into storytellers. Highlight real examples where people embody the new culture, even under pressure. Stories resonate more than abstract principles, and they show the change is alive, not just lip service. Lastly, embrace the discomfort. Acknowledge that sticking to culture while navigating turbulence is harder but more meaningful. Framing it as a test of resilience can rally people rather than discourage them.
-
Culture change doesn’t happen in calm waters—it’s tested in the storm. When orgs face turbulence, I’ve found keeping culture change on track requires three essentials: 1. Clarity in chaos: Leaders need to communicate the “why” behind the change. When people understand the purpose, they rally behind the process. 2. Model the values: Culture isn’t top-down—it’s what leaders demonstrate daily. Behavior sets the standard, especially when times are tough. 3. Celebrate resilience: Small wins matter. Recognizing progress—no matter how incremental—keeps morale high and momentum steady. In challenging times, culture becomes the anchor. The question isn’t “How do we hold on?” but rather, “How do we evolve while staying true to who we are?”
-
In turbulent times, keeping culture change on track requires clarity of purpose, constant communication, and resilience. It’s crucial to align leaders as living examples of the desired culture and engage teams in transparent conversations. Reinforcing company values through small, daily actions creates consistency, even amid uncertainty. Celebrating progress, no matter how small, helps maintain motivation. Additionally, listening carefully to employees and adjusting as needed shows adaptability and respect. Culture change is an ongoing process, and it must be aligned with inspection, adaptation, and transparency.
-
The biggest thing? Creating space for feedback—whether it’s positive, constructive, or venting. Look at your engagement program in the context of what’s happening, adjust pulse survey content and cadence if needed, and review the feedback. Iterate where you can, and be transparent about what you’ve addressed and why. Data, communication, and vulnerability are key. Be the calm, steady pillar for your team while giving them room to be open and honest. That’s how you understand what’s really happening and respond—whether it’s tweaking policies, processes, or planning for succession. Things only go wrong when impact isn’t considered, or issues aren’t addressed openly.
-
Reinforcing the need for these cultural changes as an instrument for weathering the turbulent times and stay open to feedback. Keep iterating the approach and interventions to align with long-term goals.
-
The first step is to create a vision for change – determining exactly what needs to change and why. Ensure you have a detailed plan for change which includes communication and stakeholder engagement. Consider the time frame and identify timescales for each part of the plan. Individuals are more comfortable with change if they know not only what but when it is likely to happen. If you allow too much time, the project could lose momentum and the engagement of stakeholders, who start to wonder if it is ever going to happen. Keeping your vision in mind throughout the change programme will help keep the programme on track and mean you are able to take people with you on the journey.
-
The culture should already have been established BEFORE turbulent times. In the event that the culture change is still in progress: 1. Insure that every team member in every department is intimately familiar with, clear about, and have bought into the company Vision. 2. Insure that every team member in every department is intimately familiar with, clear about, and have bought into the company Mission. 3. Insure that it's very clear that your company culture is committable. Do these three things and you will weather the storms of change with ease.
Rate this article
More relevant reading
-
Team BuildingHow can you ensure that your leadership recruitment and development programs are sustainable?
-
Servant LeadershipHow can you inspire purposeful leadership?
-
LeadershipWhat are the most effective ways to cultivate a global mindset for leadership?
-
StrategyHow do you create a strong leadership team and pipeline?