Recently, Harvard Business Review published an article titled “To Change Company Culture, Start with One High-Impact Behavior.” Its core argument is refreshingly simple: if you want to change culture, don’t launch a sweeping transformation program. Pick one behavior that matters—and make it stick.
We like this idea. Mostly because it challenges how companies usually approach culture.
Most organizations treat culture like a branding exercise. New values. New language. New posters. A rollout plan with multiple “strategic pillars.” The ambition is big. The behavioral clarity is not.
Culture doesn’t shift because the slide deck changes. It shifts because behavior changes—and because that behavior is consistently rewarded, modeled, and expected.
What’s compelling about the HBR argument is its focus on leverage. In complex systems, the smartest move isn’t scale—it’s precision. If leaders can identify the one behavior that would materially improve decision-making, trust, or execution speed, and then reinforce it relentlessly, the ripple effects compound.
The hard part then becomes choosing what cultural value ought to be reinforced. Of course it’s one thing to declare platitudes like “innovation” or “collaboration” as cultural aspirations. But to make those words real you have to define specific actions. Because words aren’t measurable—behaviors are.
If you want culture to change, stop asking how to transform everything, everywhere, all at once. Start by deciding what one behavior you’re willing to defend, model, and reward until it becomes engrained. It’s not necessarily flashy. But it is effective.
Interested in solidifying your core values? SNP can help:
- Audience Analysis: discover what your team believes your values are.
- Core Pitch: refine your story—and your values will shine through.
- Storytelling and Leader’s Narrative workshops: learn how the best leaders and founders align their teams by communicating a vision.
