Tip 2: Co-create instead of instructing

It’s not just about whether you have behavioral guidelines and whether they’re clear, but also about how you arrive at those guidelines and how you implement them at all levels of the organization. Setting rules from the top down and informing employees about them may be efficient, but the question is whether it actually achieves anything.

Co-creation with employees ensures that behavioral guidelines not only sound good but also align with real-world practice. They know exactly where the friction lies in their work and can contribute valuable insights on what behavior is needed, how to get colleagues on board, and what helps sustain new behaviors.

Furthermore, co-creation is, in itself, a form of change. Creating meaning together fosters understanding and a sense of ownership. People often want to change, but they don’t want to be changed. Through active collaboration with employees or ambassadors from different teams, cultural change becomes something that belongs to the entire organization, rather than just the management team or a project group.

Tip 3: Leadership determines whether a behavior becomes the norm

Behavior doesn't automatically become the norm just because you agree on it. People look at what they see happening around them and what is “normal” in practice: the social norm.

It is caused by:

• What Leaders Do
• What they hold people accountable for
• What they reward or allow to happen

Employees don't follow the rules; they follow the example.

When leaders’ behavior is inconsistent with what has been agreed upon, it immediately undermines the change. Credibility and trust are damaged, and behavioral change becomes more difficult.

So for leaders, the rule is: practice what you preach. What you demonstrate every day—especially under pressure—determines what the norm really is.

For advisors and support staff, the following applies: help leaders fulfill their roles and responsibilities effectively. Involve them in the entire process of cultural change, and ensure that there are clear guidelines and support in place so that they can act and communicate effectively and consistently as leaders.

Tip 4: Encourage the desired behavior

We've all been there: you resolve to do something, but end up falling back into old habits anyway. Not because you don't want to, but because it was easier. It probably wasn't even a conscious choice.

Behavior is rarely a conscious choice and is primarily driven by the environment. People do what makes sense, is easy, or is appealing in a given context. That’s why agreements aren’t enough: you have to organize the environment.

If the environment works against the desired behavior, it simply won't happen. For example:

• Wanting more cross-functional collaboration, but only looking at KPIs at the individual or team level -> one’s own actions and performance take priority
• Expecting teams to be more self-directed, but not giving them the authority to make their own decisions -> ownership is lost
• Wanting more innovation and development, but not providing the time or budget to experiment or allowing for mistakes -> stifling ideas and initiatives

A practical framework is EAST: make behavior easy, attractive, social, and timely.

• Easy: Make Behavior Simple and Actionable

For example: work with specific formats, centralize agreements, and establish fixed routines for collaboration and consultation.

• Attractive: Make sure desired behavior pays off

For example: recognition from managers, visibility within the team, or explicitly incorporating behavior into performance reviews and development.

• Social: Make Desired Behavior Visible and the Norm

For example: discuss specific examples in teams, celebrate what’s going well, and make culture a part of conversations and decision-making.

• Timely: Encourage behavior when it matters

For example: providing immediate feedback, discussing behavior during meetings or when making decisions, and making new employees aware of cultural expectations right from the start of their onboarding.

This means that you consciously design behavior in your day-to-day work: what behaviors do you encourage discussion about, what do you visibly reward and recognize, and how do you make desired behavior a logical consequence of the way things are organized?

Make sure culture is woven into every step of the employee journey—from how your organization communicates to whom you hire or promote, as well as other policies, processes, or systems that directly or indirectly affect employees: every aspect of the employee journey can either build or undermine the desired culture.

Culture is something you cultivate every day

A cultural program can be a great way to kickstart the process of building a stronger culture, but what really makes the difference is what you continue to do, encourage, and enable on a daily basis afterward.

Organizations that consistently prioritize culture find that behavior is not just a temporary focus or seen as an additional task, but becomes an integral part of the work itself. They have leaders who model the desired behavior and an environment that supports it.

It takes consistency and time to change existing beliefs and dynamics. When this is achieved, it yields significant benefits for organizations: stronger collaboration, improved performance, and the ability to respond more quickly and effectively to changes and developments.