Shaping Culture — How to align culture with strategy.

Imagine a gentle breeze.

You can't see it; you can’t touch it, but you can feel it. That's a lot like organizational culture—a powerful, hidden force.

Culture is not written down; it is distributed in people’s heads. Culture is how we do things around here. It drives behavior, guides decisions, and determines whether a company rises or falls. When culture aligns with strategy, it acts as a tailwind, accelerating execution. But when it's misaligned, it becomes a headwind, slowing everything down.

Shaping this invisible force is the challenge and role of leadership.

Every major company grapples with change. In this climate, shaping corporate culture becomes an intricate task. With employees scattered across countries in different work settings, the challenge is greater.

Shaping culture can seem like trying to catch the wind. The task is to build a culture that is cohesive and aligned with the organization's goals, despite these complexities.

Shape culture in six simple steps.

#1. Break down and analyze your culture.

#2. Align strategy, purpose, and culture.

#3. Embed culture into work.

#4. Use AI to uncover opportunities.

#5. Tell stories to shape culture.

#6. Continuously cultivate culture.

#1. Break down and analyze your culture.

Before you can effectively shape culture, you must first understand it. Culture is complex, composed of visible elements like symbols and less tangible aspects like unwritten rules. At its core, what informs how we do things around here, are collective habits. Start by breaking down your culture into its core components:

Symbols: The visible aspects of culture, such as logos, dress codes, and office setups.

Discipline: The principles that energize your teams, such as a focus on innovation, operational excellence, or customer obsession.

Unwritten Rules: The norms that guide behavior, which are not explicitly stated but are widely understood.

Collective Habits: The routines and behaviors that teams follow, often unconsciously.

By analyzing these elements, you can identify what to build around; and what needs to be preserved, transformed, or eliminated to support your North Star.

What hidden aspects of your organization's culture have you uncovered recently?

#2. Align strategy, purpose, and culture.

With a clear understanding of culture, the next step is to align it with your organization’s strategy and purpose. Culture never exists in isolation; ideally, it reinforces and drives strategic objectives. Left untended, it might impede them.

Leadership plays a crucial role in ensuring that the cultural elements—behaviors, values, and practices—support the company's mission. This is about translating strategy through the organization, through a strategic narrative and OKRs, that inform what people do every day.

When culture, strategy, and purpose are in sync, culture becomes a powerful force that propels the organization forward.

How well does your culture support your strategic objectives?

#3. Embed culture into work.

Too often, culture is an afterthought. For most leaders, conversations about culture are triggered once a year following positive or poor engagement surveys. For the few that build an action plan in response to that, those actions are often additional and separate from the ‘real’ work of the business.

Culture isn’t something that can be separated from the daily grind—it must be embedded into every aspect of work. Culture is how we do things around here. It’s the same do in strategy—what we intend to do, in leadership—what we inspire people to do, and in execution—what we actually do. In the best companies, the best teams that do is one and the same.

The collective habits that underpin a culture are evident in daily tasks and interactions. Leaders must be intentional about reinforcing cultural norms through consistent communication and recognition, as well as model the desired behaviors themselves. This ensures that culture is lived and breathed by every employee every day.

What rituals can you use to improve the collective habits in your team?

#4. Use AI to uncover opportunities.

Shaping culture requires more than just intuition; it demands data. AI can be a powerful tool for uncovering hidden aspects of your culture—the unwritten rules and collective habits.

What might have previously taken months of anthropological study by outside experts can be accomplished in weeks with a small, AI-assisted team. The trick is to prompt AI with the right models and data; then verify the results.

Through AI-driven analysis, leadership can identify patterns and trends that may not be immediately apparent; collective habits that hinder progress. This data provides a foundation for informed decision-making, allowing leaders to focus their efforts on areas that will have the most significant impact on culture.

What cultural insights would AI reveal about your organization that other methods might miss?

#5. Tell stories to shape culture.

Stories shape culture. While culture is often an abstract concept—difficult to see or measure—stories have the unique ability to make it tangible. They transform vague ideas into relatable, concrete experiences that resonate with employees at all levels.

Participatory storytelling brings culture to life. Creating fun, engaging storytelling experiences that go beyond traditional training. Imagine a game where employees face workplace scenarios, encountering both positive behaviors and "culture villains"—those collective habits that undermine strategy and execution.

This immerses them in culture, making it real.

As they navigate the game, employees have an "aha" moment: they see how their daily actions shape culture. They realize they're not just observers but active participants. This method makes culture tangible, embedding it into real work and sparking meaningful, lasting change.

What powerful story from your organization's history could you share to reinforce your desired culture?

#6. Continuously cultivate culture.

Connecting Edinburgh and Fife, crossing the Firth of Forth, is the Forth Railway Bridge. It’s one of the longest steel cantilever bridges in the world, painted in red, to avoid the ravages of salt water and pollution. At one time, the bridge was constantly painted. Starting at one end, scraping rust, and applying a new coat. By the time the workers had finished, they had to start all over again.

Culture is like that. It needs constant care and attention.

Leaders must regularly refine cultural practices to stay aligned with evolving goals. This means continuously assessing who you hire and promote, who you recognize and reward, how leaders communicate, and what behaviors are practiced.

To keep culture dynamic and effective, focus on four key levers:

Hiring and Promotion: Prioritize cultural fit based on values that drive growth and collaboration.

Recognition and Rewards: Reward behaviors that align with desired cultural outcomes.

Leadership Communication: Maintain message discipline; shape culture through stories and symbols of change.

Leader Actions: Model the behaviors you want to see; actions speak louder than words.

As you pull these levers, you shape culture, leading to faster product launches, greater customer focus, and increased agility.

Which of the four key levers—hiring, rewards, communication, or leader actions - do you think needs the most attention in your organization right now?

But remember, the work is never done.

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