A few years back we realized our culture had become a bit too associated with fun.  When work became challenging it was a shock to those who had joined the company looking for a “fun” culture.  We needed to rebrand with more a client-centric focus and explicitly draft our values.  Our entire Talent team along with partners from other business units participated in defining what the culture and value should look like.  Once it was set from the TD perspective it was making sure those themes were evident throughout our processes.  When you onboard, you not only learn our purpose and values, but why those tie back to what we do.  When we talk about development we stress the importance of experiential development, taking risks, and what a good stretch feels like.  We took a look at each of our existing programs to see if something needed to be modified to align with the current messaging or perhaps new programs added.

I think the tricky part is that you can say something 100 times and 100 different ways, but with any change you’ll always have people who revert back to the old way.  I recognize that in a culture that stresses client-centric my initiatives will never be the number one priority, but if anyone has found any particularly effective ways to break through the noise I’m all ears.