Culture and strategy must work hand-in-hand: culture that doesn’t support a business strategy is aimless, business strategy without a strong and aligned culture will fail.


This is especially important for a transformation - the strategy should be set by business leaders, who should then lead the culture transformation with the expert advice and support of HR/People & Organization. Other key elements include:
 

• Be top-down and bottom-up, and remember to engage the middle
• Communication is paramount – clear, transparent and consistent
• Infrastructure, practices, incentives and systems also need to be transformed
• Measurement of progress is important

 
Patience and having a long-term perspective are crucial: transformations don’t happen overnight – in reality they take years, and the company’s leadership should be prepared to invest their time and the company’s resources into this for the long-term…transformations are generally ongoing, there’s rarely a defined endpoint.