You’ve done the culture audit and survey, the focus groups and the interviews. You’ve created the new purpose, vision and values, showing how they link to business strategy and objectives. You’ve set the stage with clear comms, launched your new culture and values at an all-staff event, and posted the visuals around the workplace as a reminder. You’ve even started updating people policies and processes.
Job done… right? Wrong! Because now you need to know – have your culture change efforts worked? Do your people know where and how they fit into the new future you’re heading towards, and what the values means in practice? Is “how we do things around here” actually any different to what it was before?
True culture change isn’t measured by the activity you’ve completed. It’s measured by the impact that activity has had. A set of values on the office wall or a glossy brochure describing your new cultural pillars isn’t enough. What you need is a culture that’s embedded – brought to life through behaviours and attitudes, by a shift in mindset and new ways of working throughout the organisation.
Only once it is truly embedded can your new culture be visible and tangible to your customers, engage your employees and enhance performance and impact. Embedding the values of your organisation to bring about real change is only going to happen with full engagement across the workforce.
In our experience of delivering culture change and embedding programmes over the last 15 years, there are five stages that every organisation goes through on the journey towards a fully embedded culture. In this guide, we’ve set out what each stage looks like – and how you can progress to full engagement and embedding.
To assess where you are on the CulturEmbed™ Maturity Scale, employees provide feedback against a series of ‘success statements’, providing insight at a team level, manager level and then from a personal sentiment perspective.
The responses for each statement are then used to determine an overall maturity score based on the following scale to show where action needs to be taken:
What it looks like
Nothing is different
In a nutshell, this looks exactly the same as your old culture. Despite all the work you’ve done up to now, nothing has really changed yet.
It could be that you’re still early in the process and haven’t started embedding your new culture – you might not even have officially launched it yet. In which case, be patient. You’ll soon start to notice the difference as you do the work of embedding.
But it could be that, having completed your culture design phase, you haven’t planned the necessary next steps to bring that culture to life. Which means you’re probably feeling like the culture change programme hasn’t worked. But don’t worry, all is not lost.
A working example
Let’s imagine that one of your new company values is ‘Better Together’. You want a culture where:
Instead, what you’ve got at the moment is
It’s not what you’re aiming for – and most people can’t even really see it.
What it looks like
You’ve got a plan
At this stage, you’ll be much more aware of the gap between what is and what needs to be – which might feel frustrating. The vision is big, but right now, there’s nothing tangible to show for it. The good news is that knowing where the gaps are is a big step forward.
If you’re planning to start your embedding journey, you’ve hopefully had some really good conversations about what needs to change in order for the new company culture to be fully embedded.
You’ve developed a behavioural framework to help your teams understand what’s expected and how they can fit and contribute, through the way they work, using the values as guidelines.
A working example
Your top team has identified some of the key ways in which they are not fully living the ‘Better Together’ value. They have agreed to make some changes to the way they work, to bring them closer as a cross-functional, collaborative team.
The next stage is to communicate their intentions honestly and widely and demonstrate their commitment to fully living this value through the way they operate – in other words, leading by example.
Some of their agreed actions might include
What it looks like
You’re starting to take action and people are talking about culture
Whenever a new business initiative is rolled out, there will be those who hit the ground running, and others who are more reluctant or slower to get involved. Culture change is no different and you’ll notice this most during the inconsistent stage. Maybe some of the aligned ways of working are the strengths of the previous culture that you wish to hold on to and harness.
Some individuals or teams may be talking about culture and changing some behaviours in line with their ‘favourite’ values. You’ve heard the odd new idea about processes and systems that could change and help deliver your business plan. There’s a bit of a buzz about the place in certain quarters.
But there are also big parts of your organisation where you sense scepticism, negativity or, in the worst case, where the new values are being weaponised and used to criticise other teams.
Perhaps it’s all just a bit uncoordinated at the moment as people find their feet and test what the new culture could feel like for them.
A working example
Some groups have followed the example of your leadership team and looked at how they work together as a team. You’ve heard talk of them taking action to get closer to working ‘Better Together’ – for example, meeting more often as a team, both at work and socially. Early signs are that this is definitely having a positive impact.
Several teams have made a start on assessing workflows, although it’s taking a while and keeps getting interrupted by other more urgent priorities.
The biggest challenge seems to be getting different teams to meet and discuss how they can work better together – they’re all too busy with their own objectives.
What it looks like
Most people are on board
At the consistent stage, you’ll really notice the change and see that most people in most teams are regularly living and breathing the company’s new values. There will still be a few stragglers but, on the whole, you can detect a positive shift.
What you should start to see here is that people more easily spot when behaviours and processes don’t fit with the new culture or are not aligned with the values of the organisation. And they feel comfortable calling them out in a friendly and collaborative way, not to criticise but to genuinely encourage positive change.
On an operational level changes have been implemented into some policies and associated processes which sit outside the typical People/HR practices, from procurement processes to governance routines.
A working example
We’re really finding our groove now. Many teams have started to see the benefits of meeting more regularly, and most people across all teams are fully on board. End-to-end process improvements across different teams and functions have begun in some parts of the organisation, with changes being made in line with our values. In the context of the value ‘Better Together’, an example is: “The DEI training went really well. We’ve created team DEI champions as a result. The improvement work is ongoing and continues to remind people that their opinion is valued, encouraging them to contribute.”
Team meetings are happening regularly and often, minutes are being shared across teams, and there are several examples of teams working together cross-functionally, with jointly owned objectives.
There are still places where we need to make improvements, but it definitely feels like most people are pulling in the right direction now and it’s noticeable.
What it looks like
The whole organisation is engaged and changing
This is what you’ve been working towards, and you can feel the difference. Everyone in the organisation fully understands what the new company culture and values mean to them and they are living them on a day-to-day basis. New behaviours have become part of business as usual.
This is clearly demonstrated by people’s behaviours and attitudes, and you’re seeing a positive knock-on effect in the business – in productivity, in customer satisfaction, in profitability and results. Teams have changed their ways of working in line with the values and behaviours, and culture check-ins now happen on a frequent basis so they are continuously improving their culture.
A working example
We’re now truly living the ‘Better Together’ value as a whole team and as a business. We’ve virtually eradicated silos and are great at cross-functional working. What’s more, we truly understand and see the benefit of doing that, so it’s self-perpetuating – we’re not doing it because someone told us to, we actually want to because it works so much better.
We regularly have people from other teams involved in our team meetings because we recognise the value of that cross fertilisation, and so do they. We’ve got objectives which are shared across lots of different functional teams that directly fit with the strategic goals and bring the values to life.
Embedding your culture to a point where everyone is truly thinking and behaving in line with your new values could be seen as ultimate employee engagement. It’s certainly not something that can be achieved overnight, but it is recognised by leaders as a key driver of business success.
CulturEmbed™ is about providing a forum, a framework, a suggested process and an opportunity for your employees to pause, consider and question themselves and others about:
A structured CulturEmbed™ process encourages teams to take a close look at their culture and values in order to understand them better in practical day-to-day terms and in the context of their role and function within the organisation. It allows them to decide “What does this mean to me?” and “What does it look like for us as a team and in our interactions with other teams?”
Taking ownership of a new culture
The CulturEmbed™ process encourages and empowers teams to identify the changes they need to make to align more closely with the company’s new values.
These changes in behaviour and ways of working, when designed and executed by your teams, will naturally lead to ownership of the culture. This in turn will see an increase in motivation and job satisfaction, efficiency, productivity and extra discretionary effort, ultimately creating genuine engagement in the company and its purpose, and delivery of high performance towards your key objectives.
At Culture Consultancy, we believe ownership drives buy-in. Including a team in this way sets a path of self-monitoring and discovery. Teams are quicker to spot what needs to change and more motivated to take action when they own the process. They are also more likely to find fast and effective ways to achieve their outcomes when they feel in control.
Creating a plan that futureproofs your culture
The first stage of the CulturEmbed™ process culminates in the joint development of realistic, business focused action plans to deliver the changes identified by teams. These plans kick start the change process and the journey of embedding culture in a meaningful and practical way, that is owned by your employees, meeting their needs and described in their terms.
Delivery of that action plan does not mark the end of the process though. It sets the stage for ongoing review and challenge, encouraging teams to monitor ‘how we’re doing’ in terms of:
It also helps teams to capture their learning enroute and encourages continuous monitoring and improvement.
Your organisation’s culture is truly embedded when it becomes part of the way you operate naturally, and when it becomes the set of beliefs and attitudes shared amongst the people who work for you about ‘the way we do things around here’. Initially shaped by employees and later fully embraced, these beliefs strengthen their understanding, confidence, and pride – deepening commitment, connection, and passion for the organisation’s mission.
This embedded culture keeps them motivated and inspired to do their best and go the extra mile where necessary, to maintain high performance and deliver results. It must be monitored and regularly reviewed like any other business performance measure, appearing on meeting agendas often, and with the same priority as health and safety or DEI.
Co-Founder & Director
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