Colonel's Culture Compilation Volume 22 (September 2026)
COL. (R) Tony McConnell’s roundup of local and national stories about how companies focus on culture to increase employee engagement, retention and productivity.
Culture Change Doesn't Start With Everyone
I spend a lot of time talking with leaders about workplace culture. One thing I’ve noticed is that most leaders know when something in their culture needs to change. Maybe accountability isn’t where it needs to be. Communication has become inconsistent. People aren’t giving honest feedback. Departments are operating in silos. Or maybe the organization has grown, but the culture hasn’t grown with it. Recognizing the problem usually isn’t the hardest part.
The hard part is figuring out where to start.
Our natural tendency as leaders is to think about the entire organization. We roll out a new initiative, introduce a new process, hold a meeting, explain what we want people to do differently—and hope everyone gets on board. When they don’t, we can spend a lot of time and energy trying to convince the people who are the most resistant. I’m beginning to think we have that backwards.
Don’t Start With Everyone
There’s a concept called the Diffusion of Innovations, developed by Everett Rogers, that looks at how new ideas spread through groups of people. Rogers identified five groups: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. What really caught my attention was the front end of the curve. Innovators make up about 2.5% of a group and early adopters another 13.5%. Put those together and you have roughly 16%. Simon Sinek has used this concept to talk about how ideas and movements gain momentum, and I think there’s a valuable lesson here for leaders trying to change culture.
Maybe we don’t need to start with everybody. Maybe we need to find the right 15–18%.
Who are the people in your organization who are already leaning in? Who is open to trying something different? Who believes in where you’re trying to go? And maybe most importantly, who do other people listen to? They may not all have leadership titles. In fact, some of the most influential people in an organization don’t. Those are the people I want to start with.
Give Them a Reason to Care
Finding the right people is only part of it. They also need to understand why the change matters. This is where I think leaders sometimes move too quickly to process. We say, “We’re implementing a new accountability system.” Okay. But why should anyone care? What if instead we said: “We want to create a workplace where people can trust one another to do what they say they’re going to do.” Now we’re talking about something bigger than a process. We’re talking about the kind of workplace we want to create. Before asking people to change their behavior, I think we owe them a clear answer to a simple question: Why does this matter? Why does it matter to our employees? Why does it matter to our customers? And why does it matter to the future of our organization? If we can’t answer those questions, we probably aren’t ready to ask people to change.
Let People See It Working
Here’s another place where I think we sometimes make culture change harder than it needs to be. We try to convince the skeptics. Instead, what if we created some proof? Take accountability as an example. Start with a small group of people willing to do it differently. Make commitments clear. Follow through. Talk openly when commitments are missed. Let leaders own their mistakes. Recognize people who demonstrate the behavior you’re trying to build. Then pay attention to what happens. Does trust improve? Are there fewer surprises? Do problems get addressed sooner? Does the team perform better? If so, let people see it. You now have something much more powerful than another PowerPoint about culture. You have evidence. I think of it this way:
BELIEF → BEHAVIOR → PROOF → STORY → MOMENTUM
A few people believe something can be better.
They begin behaving differently.
Their behavior produces results.
People start talking about those results.
And eventually other people want to be part of it.
That’s when things begin to move.
Pay Attention to the Stories
Every workplace has stories. You hear them in the break room, on the jobsite, in the hallway and after meetings.
“When I made that mistake, my boss…”
“When that customer was upset, our team…”
“When we had that really difficult month, leadership…”
“When someone went above and beyond, the company…”
Those stories are culture. They tell people what really happens around here—not what the employee handbook says is supposed to happen. That means leaders need to pay attention to the stories we’re creating. When someone demonstrates the culture we want, talk about it. Recognize it. Celebrate it. Let other people see what good looks like. Eventually those stories start shaping expectations. And expectations, repeated often enough, become “the way we do things around here.”
Look at What You’re Reinforcing
This may be the uncomfortable part. We also have to look at our own leadership practices.
We can say accountability matters, but what happens when someone repeatedly fails to follow through?
We can say feedback matters, but do leaders actually ask for it?
We can say growth matters, but are we investing in people?
We can say balance matters, but do our leaders model it?
We can put our values on walls, websites and T-shirts, but people are watching something else.
They’re watching what we recognize, what we reward, what we measure, what we celebrate, what we correct—and what our leaders do. Those things tell the truth about our culture.
Start Somewhere
Changing culture can feel overwhelming when we look at the whole organization. So don’t start there. Pick one thing you want to be different. Then ask yourself: If this really changed, what would people be doing differently? Once you know that, find the people who are most likely to help you get there. Give them a reason to believe in it. Let them model it. Create a few small wins. Tell those stories. And keep building from there. Don’t let the people who are most resistant determine the pace for everyone else.
Lead the willing.
You may not need the whole organization to begin changing your culture. You may just need the right 15–18%. Because culture change doesn’t start when everyone agrees.
It starts when a small group of people believes deeply enough to behave differently—and their behavior becomes contagious.
If you’d like to dig a little deeper into how ideas spread, how people respond to change, and how leaders can build momentum for cultural change, I’ve included a few practical resources below that helped shape some of the thinking in this article:
Psychology of Change: Building Change-Ready Organizations The article explains that organizational change succeeds only when employees are psychologically supported through the transition, not just given new processes or systems. It outlines common psychological barriers—like confirmation bias, loss aversion, and social proof—and shows how models such as Prosci’s ADKAR help leaders build awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement for change. Overall, it emphasizes creating a culture where people feel informed, motivated, and equipped to adopt new ways of working.
How to Adapt to Constant Change: Create It Gallup argues that constant change is now the default, and organizations can only stay competitive by building cultures where employees are empowered to lead change rather than simply react to it. The article emphasizes shifting from process‑focused change management to people‑focused leadership that develops managers, uses analytics to understand employee emotions, and fosters continuous learning. Overall, it frames adaptability as a cultural capability that must be intentionally created and sustained.
A model for effective change management | McKinsey McKinsey’s article explains that successful organizational change depends on shifting employee mindsets and behaviors through four core actions: fostering understanding, reinforcing desired behaviors, building skills, and role modeling. These “influence model” building blocks work together to create conviction, align incentives, develop capability, and demonstrate the behaviors leaders want others to adopt. The piece emphasizes that transformations are far more effective when all four elements are applied consistently.