Leading through a cultural change
How do you uphold your principles while executing a major strategy change?
I saw this at Intel recently. One could tell for a few years the company was becoming less and less impactful as the values that Andy Grove used to make the company successful were being discarded. direction was increasingly fragmented and missing trends, and the company was increasingly failing. With the hiring of a new CEO, there was the announcement of ongoing, sweeping reorganizations and layoffs. Old cultural norms were discarded weekly.
Fewer than one-third of transformation initiatives achieve their goals, largely depending on whether employees feel included. So if this happens, what do you do as a leader?
- Stabilize Yourself – don’t race straight to the logistics while carrying around unprocessed frustration or guilt. Emotionally stabilize yourself, realize you are not in control of the decision and then act with professionalism and character for the parts you do control.
- Prioritize Where You Can Make an Impact – When everything feels uncertain, prioritization becomes the act of leadership. Reframe pushback as inquiry. Stay in solution-building rather than resistance: ‘How do you propose we do this in a way that preserves moral?’ Prioritize time and attention to maintain credibility.
- Lead the Team Through Transition – Leaders who engage employees early, clarify accountability, and maintain consistency in messages are up to seven times more likely to succeed. You can’t stop the reorganization, but you can shape how it unfolded and how her people experienced it.
- Preserve Trust – during transformative events/misalignment, trust becomes a leader’s most valuable currency. Shared what you can, acknowledged what was unknown, and maintained a consistent tone and presence. Hold one-on-one check-ins, offered resume support, and partner with colleagues across the company to help displaced employees find new roles.
