Transforming an organization’s culture is a delicate and long-term process. It requires careful analysis and observation of how past and future cultural elements interact and evolve.

Let’s take a closer look at the five approaches to culture change introduced in the Winter 2021 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review (SMR).

In the Winter 2022 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review, the article “Use Networks to Drive Culture Change” (authors: Peter Gray, Rob Cross, and Michael Arena) introduced five practical approaches for driving organizational transformation.

Informal networks and values often exist among managers, employees, and internal subgroups. Analyzing how decisions are made in these groups reveals that informal networks often offer deeper cultural insights than formal structures.

The first focus is on identifying “cultural outliers”—employees with strong personal values and influence over peers. These individuals, especially brand advocates, tend to critically assess products and offer meaningful insights. One example involved a product manager at a food brand whose project budgets were repeatedly rejected. The company invited cultural outliers to a consumer event to validate the product's market perception, leading to greater clarity and alignment.

Another approach is recognizing and embracing conflicting viewpoints within networks. Instead of resisting differences, companies should explore how each subculture contributes to innovation. For instance, when developing a new brand, forming a separate team allows them to build unique strategies while later integrating their expertise with the existing brand.

Organizations aiming to drive cultural change need to identify hidden influencers—those with natural authority within peer groups. These individuals do more than attract attention; they unify diverse interests and offer subtle, persuasive leadership.

While executives are well connected among themselves, their influence often doesn’t extend far. Internal influencers, on the other hand, frequently reach deeper into mid- and lower-level employee networks. For example, while top leaders may directly reach 31% of employees, the top 50 influencers might connect with up to 60%, offering a much broader and more cost-effective channel for change.

These influencers tend to embody mutual respect, shared ownership of success, and a strong sense of responsibility toward customer experience.

Efforts to resolve conflict are common, yet fundamental cultural disagreements often hinder real progress.

Having a skilled facilitator can unlock stalled discussions. This person listens to diverse perspectives and creates an atmosphere where opinions can be shared constructively. Facilitators can guide teams toward effective decisions.

However, not all conflicts are resolvable. When disagreements threaten productivity, leveraging influencers or facilitators to run brainstorming sessions or project simulations can help surface values, clarify priorities, and build cooperation based on realistic outcomes.

Culture change is often approached from a rational standpoint, assuming leadership’s values will cascade through the organization. But this rarely occurs as intended.

Employees who evoke positive emotions—energy, enthusiasm, optimism—play a key role in helping others embrace cultural values. Studies show that culture spreads more effectively through emotionally connected leaders.

Conversely, individuals who induce negative emotions, like fear or anger, can hinder cultural adoption. In high-performing teams, members often avoid sharing ideas to protect themselves. To counteract this, one company banned gossip to foster more responsible communication. This also improved authenticity across broader employee networks.

Cultural norms take time to adopt and internalize. The more implicit, emotional, or complex the idea, the more cautiously it must be introduced. Fast adoption isn’t always better.

Values like flexibility, well-being, and work-life balance are now more widely embraced. For instance, banning weekend emails initially led to a Monday overload, increasing stress rather than reducing it. Change was slower than expected and required careful planning.

Organizations found that subtle behavioral learning—such as observing senior meetings or offering mentoring for new hires—helped shorten the time it took for employees to internalize cultural expectations. One example involved assigning mentors to help new hires understand cultural norms, which reduced attrition and accelerated adaptation.

(Source: MIT Sloan Management Review, [Use Networks to Drive Culture Change] – Winter 2022)

Post-pandemic work environments have reshaped values around work-life balance and sparked the evolution of new organizational cultures.

Since culture change takes time, it’s important to explore multiple, effective approaches. Consider how your organization might adopt these strategies to lead culture change in a sustainable way.

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