How to embed culture so it lasts
Culture change is easy to start, but hard to sustain.
There may be an initial buzz and some quick wins, but sometimes the daily work pressures lead to old habits, and before you know it, you’re back to square one.
So how do you embed the culture you want into everyday working life - how you communicate, meet, give feedback, make decisions, and celebrate together? And how do you bring it to life across every part of your business, from how you connect with customers, how you recruit, onboard and develop your people?
In two earlier articles, we explored how to change culture when it’s stuck or turning toxic and how to build a strong culture through purpose, values & behaviours
Now comes the hard part: making your culture stick and embedding culture in to daily life through consistency and commitment.
Why do many culture change initiatives fail
Traditional, top-down culture change approaches often falter because they rely too heavily on communication plans, corporate cascades or HR-led initiatives. Embedding culture isn’t about a big announcement and a fancy staff handbook - it’s built through involvement - when people help shape it, live it, and see it working.
Similarly, process-driven “change management” might alter structures or job titles, but it rarely inspires the human behaviour shifts that actually make a difference.
A culture that lasts is co-created, not imposed. It’s built with people, not for them.
So how do you do it?
Culture change doesn’t happen overnight
Culture change isn’t a quick process, so focus on doing a few things well and doing them often. Here’s how to make change sustainable:
Start small, stay consistent. Don’t try to change everything at once. Lasting culture shift happens through repetition, not revolution, so start with small, repeatable habits that build momentum over time
Find champions. You don’t need everyone on board right away. Aim for visible adoption by about 10% of your people; those early champions will start a domino effect. Empower them to model change locally and share what’s working.
Narrate the journey. Share progress and stories that show culture coming to life. Celebrate small wins to keep belief and energy alive when change feels slow.
Make the right thing easy. Build gentle nudges, reminders and rituals into daily work so the desired culture becomes the default.
Measure as you go. Use pulse checks, informal feedback and anecdotes to spot shifts early. Adjust your approach as you learn.
1. Bring culture into everyday touchpoints
Culture lives in the rhythm of everyday work: in how you meet, talk, decide, recognise and learn together. These are the moments that either strengthen or erode trust.
Communication
The way people share information, write updates, and talk to each other reflects what’s truly valued in your organisation, so your communication style should match your culture. Every message is a mirror of your culture. The tone you set shapes how people feel, respond, and belong.
If your culture values openness and trust, communication should feel transparent and conversational, while if you value professionalism and rigour, it may be more structured and precise.
The key is consistency: the tone, rhythm and format of communication reflect your organisation’s values and personality. Link every message back to why it matters:
Show how decisions and updates connect to your purpose and strategy.
Reinforce values through language, for example, a culture built on collaboration might use “we” more than “I”; one that values innovation might share learning, not just results.
Be clear about what’s known, what’s still uncertain, and what’s next. Transparency builds credibility faster than perfection.
Remember, communication isn’t just what leaders say, it’s also how they listen, so create two-way channels so people can ask, question, challenge and contribute.
Model honesty. When leaders share what they know and what they don’t, they invite the same from others.
Meetings
Meetings are a visible window into culture; they’re where people feel and experience it. How you gather, listen and decide together shows people what kind of organisation you really are.
A meeting that reflects your values will feel aligned with your cultural style. e.g.:
If you value inclusion, make sure everyone has airtime and decisions aren’t dominated by the loudest voice.
If you value curiosity, start with a question rather than a slide deck.
If you value accountability, end with clear actions and ownership.
Ask:
What makes our meetings feel useful and inclusive?
Are we reinforcing our values?
Do people leave clear, heard and engaged?
Are we breaking silos or reinforcing them?
Decision-Making
Decision-making is where culture becomes real and how values translate into priorities and actions. Ask do your decision-making process and principles reflect your values.
If your culture values collaboration, involve diverse voices and explain how input shaped the final choice.
If your culture values speed and ownership, empower people to decide without layers of approval.
If your culture values fairness and transparency, share the rationale behind decisions — even difficult ones.
Feedback and Growth
Feedback is how culture learns and grows, so the way feedback is given, received and acted on reveals what kind of environment you’ve created. When you have defined the behaviours that bring your values to life, link feedback to those, praising positive behaviours and calling out negative ones.
If your culture values learning, feedback feels like coaching — regular, open and future-focused.
If your culture values care, it’s given with empathy and received with curiosity.
If your culture values excellence, it’s specific, direct and focused on impact.
Recognition and Celebration
What you celebrate tells people what you truly value. Recognition doesn’t have to be grand gestures; it can be as simple as a small thank you, it just has to be sincere and consistent. The key is linking it to how work was done, not just what was delivered.
Use stories to make values tangible by sharing examples of people living them day-to-day. People connect to and remember stories more than facts.
Celebrate milestones, results and the way they were achieved.
Link shout-outs to values and purpose so people understand why behaviour matters.
Encourage peer-to-peer appreciation to build connections faster than top-down praise.
2. Embedding Culture Through the Employee Lifecycle
To make culture sustainable, it has to be threaded through the full employee experience from a job advert to the moment someone leaves. Each touchpoint can either reinforce or contradict your stated values.
Recruitment - how to hire for culture fit
Hiring is your first culture test. Potential employees experience your organisation long before day one. Your recruitment ad and job description are a chance to demonstrate your culture.
In the job description, describe your culture honestly, share your values, and stories from people about what it’s like to be part of your team. When you interview, you can explore whether there’s a cultural fit and shared values by asking scenario or values-based questions, such as:
“Tell me about a time you collaborated with other teams successfully.”
“Tell me about a time when something went wrong. How did you handle it?”
“Give me an example of a time when you innovated to overcome a problem?”
It’s useful to involve others in the team in the recruitment process, formally or informally, to explore connections and get different perspectives. But remember to look for diversity of perspective, not clones of your existing team.
Onboarding
The experience people have between being offered a job and their first few weeks is their first taste of your culture. It can be the difference between someone staying and thriving and someone feeling disengaged from the start.
Handing out a staff manual telling people about your values is not enough; share your purpose and values through conversation and stories. Involve new starters in your cultural rituals from day one. Buddy new hires up with another team member to create a space for the informal questions.
Performance Management
Performance management and feedback are your chance to recognise, reward or call out where people aren’t living your values through their behaviour. It’s a chance to connect not just what you do with how you do it.
Your behavioural framework should be connected to your performance conversations, formal or informal, so that expectations are consistent, fair, and anchored in how work gets done, not just what gets delivered.
Frame objectives and targets in your organisational purpose and strategic objectives so people see how they fit into the big picture and feel part of something greater than themselves.
When setting targets, show that how results are achieved is as important as achieving them; for example, “Deliver the project collaboratively and on time” rather than just “Deliver the project.”
Reinforce desired behaviours and values by recognising and rewarding the behaviours that bring your culture to life.
Address behaviours that dilute your culture early and fairly. People notice what’s tolerated as much as what’s celebrated.
Outboarding
The way people leave says as much about culture as how they join, so treat departures with respect and transparency. Use exit conversations to gather honest feedback about the lived experience of culture. Stay connected; alumni often become brand advocates when they’ve felt valued to the end.
A joined-up employee lifecycle means culture isn’t an initiative — it’s the environment people grow through.
Would you like help shifting or embedding culture?
Please get in touch with Polly to explore how Growth Space can help with Culture Change >
