With all the challenges facing organizations today, from rapid advancements in artificial intelligence to financial and commercial volatility to wide labor market fluctuations, the combined effects on a single enterprise can be daunting. Many workplace and workforce experts point to company culture as a crucial element that can blunt the negative aspects of such a surge in external forces by virtue of its role as the "social glue" that keeps the organization together. Its effectiveness in creating a responsive and effective barrier to those is based upon how it guides employees about the focus and boundaries of work behavior, their interpersonal interactions, and the management of their work processes. As such, the need to proactively manage it is challenged by an often invisible “culture drift” that external and internal forces quietly produce.

Understanding organizational culture and culture drift

Organizational culture defines how its people operate, driven by its beliefs, mission, and priorities in managing its resources. It is reflected in the employee experience, leadership methods and systems (e.g., control vs. autonomy, collaboration, competitiveness), and the work environment (facility layout, amenities, collegiality). It is often defined through mission statements, company values, rituals, policies, and practices.

Many elements of a culture are established at a single point in an organization’s history and are thus artifacts of that time and place. Leading practice calls for regular review and updating of those to reflect near-term operational realities and aspirations to guide leadership and employee behaviors, actions, decisions, and interactions. But experience suggests the opposite: a lack of formal review and continuous oversight leads to an inevitable, natural culture drift.

Culture drift is a gradual and unintentional change in a company’s values and associated behaviors, actions, and decisions. It happens when compromises are made, systems or processes are redesigned, and policy interpretations move away from their original standards and ideals. These changes risk disrupting the previously normal flow of work, including how people perform their assigned tasks, work together, respond to requests for support, and offer input or suggestions for improvement.

According to Gallup, organizational culture is a complex mix of attitudes, values, beliefs, and ways of working. In the context of culture drift, it can refer to changes in workflows, a gradual lowering of performance standards and expectations, or an acceptance of behaviors that conflict with stated values and expectations. With the introduction of new or updated strategies, technologies, initiatives, or policies, the risks of a shift away from an organization’s stated purpose and mission multiply. Becoming aware of and proactively managing culture drift is therefore an imperative for business and HR leaders on a continuous basis.

Unlike a planned or intentional culture evolution guided by a strategy and change management process, clarity, culture drift is passive, and can occur when leadership believes the company culture is solid and unchangeable. It is a gradual and invisible process as well, with seemingly small changes, for example, related to the adoption of new technologies that alter how employees work together and rely on each other, or to the adoption of hybrid work schedules that alter how people interact, form relationships, and bond.

Why cultural drift should be a current concern for business and HR leaders

As the rate of change and volatility continue to increase, organizations must adapt to competitive demands, shifting market forces, and new technology introductions. These drive additions or closures of geographic locations, work process redesigns, in-sourcing of previously outsourced operations, and workforce growth, compression, or restructuring. Those then create related shifts in workflows and methods, job assignments, leader and manager assignments, transferred employees, and changes in employee groupings that can alter how any segment of the company perceives its mission, interprets leadership direction, and responds to pressures from customers or peer organizations. Such changes can have an enormous impact on how people do their work, and thus represent a high risk of culture shift.

Consider also the direct or downstream impact that such volatility and changes can have on the employee experience (EX), employee value proposition (EVP), retention, work meaningfulness, and associated levels of mission and strategically aligned performance, productivity, retention, and growth.

In fact, Gallup has been reporting on how much employees feel connected to their company’s culture, and the numbers are depressing at best, with the most recent figure at only 20% of workers feeling connected. And that connection should be highly valued, as those employees are 4.3 times more likely to be engaged, 5.3X more likely to share their positive experiences, 62% less likely to experience burnout, and 47% less likely to resign.

Cultural shift is to be expected as the organization grows, matures, and restructures itself. As culture is largely defined by the actions and perceptions of leaders and employees, that human element is naturally subject to movement and evolution. It is influenced by shared observations, beliefs, and opinions about its constructive and positive nature.

As a result, guarding against unintentional culture drift through careful management is essential to keeping the workforce pointed in the same direction, acting consistently with the shared values that guide their interactions and collaborations, and creating an environment that draws in and engages the highest-quality performers. The key is to understand that while not all cultural drift is bad or destructive, it is essential that any desired cultural change be proactively planned and managed so that it shifts rather than drifts.

Elements of culture that can drift

Establishing a clear definition of the core elements of organizational culture is necessary to clarify aspirations (what we want it to be), assess its current state (how we know where we stand), and identify gaps or points of departure (culture drift) from the desired state. This enables the measurement, tracking, and identification of the locations or types of drift that can subsequently be addressed.

The ways culture is defined vary from a focus on the functional (“high performance”, “customer-focused”, “innovation-driven”) to a broader definition preferred by Gallup, which refers to “how we do things around here”. From the viewpoint of Wowledge experts, the latter better captures the breadth of a company culture, while the functional definitions are useful as subordinate aspects or focused priorities. Those can be stated as company values or as part of a mission statement.

Given the difficulty of defining the elements of culture with such a broad definition, keep things simple with a handful of indicators or measures that capture the criteria most crucial to company culture. For example:

• Clarity of mission and purpose. How well employees understand and align with why the organization exists and its value proposition to its stakeholders and the identified marketplace(s).
• Organizational values and beliefs. The ideals and standards that guide leadership choices and decisions, and direct employee behaviors. The extent to which the execution of talent management processes (pay, performance, development, advancement, recognition) is perceived to align with those.
• Trust and safety. The extent to which employees have faith that their leaders, co-workers, and the organization will act in their best interest with fairness, consistency, integrity, and mutual respect. This includes concepts of belonging, inclusivity, psychological safety, and well-being.
• Leadership credibility and capability. The level of confidence that employees have in their leaders' and managers’ statements, alignment between promises and action, trustworthiness, and how well they act with consistency, fairness, and in accordance with stated company values.
• How employees are managed. The manner in which employees are directed, coached, organized, coordinated, and evaluated. This includes how workers' efforts are guided to align with the company's mission and values, are given strict instructions rather than autonomy, are managed and held accountable in team efforts, are coached (rather than instructed) to improve performance and contributions, and are developed throughout their tenure.
  
  

Risk factors that drive organizational culture drift

Certain factors increase the risk of culture drift and, as a result, require oversight. Those occur both internally and externally, and are known to drive cultural shifts. These most often become problematic when they are installed or arise without planning and management of their likely effects. They include:

Changes in systems, processes, and practices

The introduction of new technologies can significantly impact how work is performed, how employees collaborate effectively, and how interactions with stakeholders (e.g., customers, partner organizations) are conducted. Alterations to workflows, work assignments, or job responsibilities within and across teams can result in a loss of clarity on how to perform redesigned roles in alignment with company values and standards. Policy changes, such as with performance management processes, criteria, and standards, can reduce the connection to elements that are in line with, and reward behaviors that conflict with the company’s standards and expectations.

Organizational growth and resizing

As an organization grows or contracts, its original cultural dynamics can shift, especially when new-hire selection and indoctrination are not aligned with the existing culture. Similarly, increases in geographic dispersion often create issues when staffed predominantly by new hires or employees transferred from multiple locations or teams. New and expanded management teams can bring old biases and non-constructive relationship patterns (e.g., over-competitiveness, poor internal collaboration skills) from previous employers or teams. Reductions in Force often leave managers with more direct reports, making prior support and guidance less frequent and less accessible.

Leadership inaction

Leaders who assume that an organizational culture is self-sufficient often fail to recognize or address signs of deviations from stated values and standards. Too often, leaders stand by as administrative and bureaucratic controls “creep” and stifle creativity, or the management of increasingly large groups of employees leads to “regression to the mean,” with average performance increasingly acceptable while relying on the outstanding contributions of the few.

Lack of proactive and continuing reinforcement

A culture aligned with the company's mission, values, and priorities is, by its very nature, dynamic and ever-evolving as the business evolves. Culture needs to be actively monitored, refined, conveyed, and reinforced through performance criteria, leadership communications, managerial “nudges,” and company rituals. It requires that managers receive regular feedback on the “temperature” of their team’s alignment with, and perception of, the cultural climate to drive attention to and improvements in it.

Leadership changes

High-level leadership changes universally create risks to the continuation of the values, behaviors, and priorities of the people and teams below them. New leaders and managers bring their own interpretations of corporate beliefs and objectives and are often promoted or hired with the stated purpose of changing operations and direction, which can inadvertently lead to culture drift.

Mergers and acquisitions

Integrating processes and people without due regard for the changed mission, focus, and the constructive blending of organizational cultures can be a critical point of failure. For example, consider the acquisition of a smaller, more agile, and innovative organization by a larger, more stable company. The value proposition of the acquisition was to bring more innovation and faster, more agile capabilities to the combined organizations. Cultural biases and poor change management execution can lead to “organ rejection” when leaders (from both sides) start making changes, adding new requirements, and implementing different approaches that upset the cart for the employees.

Signs of culture drift to monitor

As discussed previously, culture drift is a gradual, passive, and difficult-to-observe shift in employees' behaviors and perceptions, driven by changes in work, personnel, and organizational priorities. However subtle the drift, it can be observed as an accumulation of actions and reactions that move the organization off its declared center, or mission and values. Some observable changes in employee behavior and work outcomes to keep an eye out for include:

Actions and decisions that conflict with stated values

Any leadership decisions and actions that contradict stated values, such as mixed messaging with communications, decisions related to investments, budget allocations, or changes in strategy and direction. Alterations in talent processes and standards related to pay and benefits, development, mobility, advancement, and work location and schedule that do not reflect the values promoted to employees and candidates can quickly become a source of discontent.

Employee listening observations

Measurable changes (drops) in employee survey response rates, decreased participation in town hall or focus group sessions, and lower ratings in employee satisfaction, engagement, and net promoter score (NPS) all point to potential issues with culture drift. Employer reviews from current and past employees on social media are also a good indicator of a negative shift in perceptions and realities regarding cultural changes.

Behavioral, production, or work quality

Any noticeable shifts in measurable and observable employee behaviors at scale (e.g., groups or percentages of workers) related to their level of work output or productivity, (dis)engagement, absenteeism, collaboration between teams, or the willingness and availability to go the extra mile are potential markers of culture drift and misalignment. Similarly, changes in work output can be indicators, such as lower product or service quality (customer returns, customer service call volumes, service complaints), decreased sales, or longer order fulfillment or service request timelines.

Structuring an approach to respond to and resolve culture drift

Whether concerned by the introduction of risk factors, the appearance of early warning signs, or the desire to conduct a formal assessment of culture drift, a series of steps should be followed to make a solid evaluation of the organizational culture’s health and business alignment. They follow a familiar pattern used in evidence-based HR (EBHR) and process improvement methodologies that build credibility and objectivity into any HR initiative: define, evaluate, resolve, and measure.

1. Define the cultural aspiration value chain

Avoid the temptation to rely on an existing description of the desired cultural state. Even if the corporate mission and values are already stated, reevaluate, discuss, and agree on updates to the specific elements needed to support the mission, market, and operational objectives. As such, clarify the flow from mission and purpose (e.g., innovation, market share, growth, cost-effectiveness), to related business values and priorities (e.g., customer focus, process efficiency, safety, product and service quality), and then to the associated behaviors for focus (e.g., driving high performance, collaborating, ideating and innovating, managing expenses, managing output reliability and errors).

2. Communicate expectations

Update how the culture is supported and acted upon via executive communications related to mission and priorities, leadership and managerial competency models, employee performance expectations and standards, learning and development program content, and employee listening survey questions. Reinforce the messaging in annual reports, all-hands meetings, year-end reviews, departmental staff meetings, and leadership gatherings and off-sites.

3. Evaluate the gap between the desired and actual culture

Conduct a gap analysis that uses quantitative and qualitative metrics and analytics to determine points and places of cultural drift. Identify the objective markers of culture-to-business alignment with comprehensive business, financial, operational, and talent KPIs. Assess the extent to which major talent processes (e.g., recruiting, performance management, learning, and rewards and recognition) use criteria and workflows and generate outcomes that are consistent with and support stated cultural standards and aspirations. Generate reporting to track and evaluate organizational culture drift and alignment, and use it in the last step (below) to ensure consistency and reinforcement.

4. Create tailored solutions to manage culture drift

Building effective responses that build and reinforce an aspired-to culture and minimize culture drift calls for a customized approach in any given organization. Keep in mind that a gap analysis can generate different insights and areas of weakness from one function, business unit, facility, or department to the next, and as a result, can require targeted responses that differ for each. In general, however, culture drift solutions that best address the challenge focus on the problem at two levels while reinforcing each other: the individual employee and the team or larger organizational unit. 

• Win or re-win the hearts and minds of individual employees across the organization. Target individual workers by embedding cultural expectations and standards in messaging during new-hire onboarding, new-leader assimilation, and new-team and reorganized-team start-ups. Re-anchor them in core values, for example, by stating how the organization will continue to operate with those values despite changes in strategic focus or operational priorities. Ramp up communication frequency across platforms, equip managers with talking points, and emphasize transparency when drift occurs. Maintain and evolve rituals that remind employees of the direction and behaviors that support and promote the desired organizational culture, through all-hands meetings, skip-level sessions with senior management, recognition events, significant achievement celebrations, and executive updates.
• Create a focus on team and functional cooperation, collaboration, integration, and effectiveness. Bring team efforts to the forefront to emphasize shared values, joint objectives, and the critical nature and power of integrated work for meeting business outcomes. Use high-visibility communication approaches that feature opportunities for cross-functional leadership and management presence. Generate a better understanding of the value of different roles and functions through job redesign, role rotations, and conduct cross-functional process improvement projects that engage people while demonstrating a commitment to shared work and outcome values. Emphasize team building, new team member onboarding, peer coaching and mentoring, group coaching, and other practices and events that highlight the value of collaboration and cooperation. Standardize the use of formal events and processes for cultural transmission as new or reorganized teams, facilities, functions, and business units are formed, and always install “cultural carriers”, or leaders and employees at multiple levels who are role models and influencers for the aspired culture in new operations. Indoctrinate and repeatedly remind all management team members through training and ongoing prompts to communicate company values through storytelling, and the delivery of recognition and rewards that align with stated mission, values, and objectives.
  
  

5. Measure, track, and make course corrections

Prioritize using measurable data to assess the current state, identify early warning signs of organizational culture drift, and develop solutions to prevent shifts away from the desired culture. Listen to employees' experiences, issues, and concerns, and evaluate how much they may reflect culture drift. Use HR experts at every level of the organization to monitor the organization for hot spots that might be “losing their way”. The key is to stop culture drift before it becomes a problem, to avoid it spreading as others see it and say, “If they can, we can.”

Relevant Practices & Tools

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