Culture That Thrives Through Change: A Practical Guide
Culture isn’t static. It flexes, adapts and, in the leading businesses, evolves with purpose.
During periods of rapid change, from restructures to growth phases to hybrid transitions, culture can either unravel… or become a powerful source of resilience and cohesion.
The key? Intentional stewardship.
This guide explores how companies can protect, nurture and even elevate their culture during uncertainty, with real-world examples, leadership strategies and tools you can use.
Culture Is Your Competitive Advantage
Your culture isn’t defined by your values on a wall, it’s how people behave when no one’s watching. And in times of change, those behaviours can shift quickly.
When organisations don’t actively support culture through change, they risk:
Misalignment between leadership and teams
Loss of engagement and trust
Attrition of high performers
Fragmentation across departments or locations
But when culture is treated as a strategic asset, the results can be transformative.
Real-World Lessons: Netflix, Adobe & Spotify
Netflix reinforced its culture during explosive growth by creating its famous “Freedom & Responsibility” ethos. By trusting employees to make decisions with autonomy and modelling that at leadership level, Netflix built a culture that thrives under pressure.
Adobe embraced cultural evolution during its shift to cloud services. Instead of clinging to the old way of working, Adobe redesigned its feedback systems and performance reviews around continuous learning and experimentation, now central to its culture.
Spotify used “squad culture” and transparent rituals like hackathons and open Q&As to maintain a sense of unity across global teams. Even through multiple reorganisations, these rituals anchored employees in a shared identity.
Anchors vs. Rituals: What Stays, What Evolves
When managing culture through change, it helps to distinguish between:
Cultural Anchors – These are your non-negotiables: the core values, principles and standards that remain constant. For example: integrity, transparency, autonomy.
Cultural Rituals – These are your practices and habits: how values show up in day-to-day work. They’re important, but they can evolve to fit new contexts. For example: team stand-ups, Friday wins, performance reviews.
A thriving culture isn’t about preserving rituals at all costs – it’s about upholding anchors while flexing the rituals that support them.
Leadership Modelling: The Make-or-Break Factor
Culture change doesn’t come from an email or a slide deck. It comes from what leaders do.
Whether you're a CEO or a team lead, your behaviour sets the tone. During change, leaders should model:
Transparency – Share what you know, and what you don’t
Empathy – Acknowledge uncertainty and how it affects people
Consistency – Act in alignment with stated values and priorities
Adaptability – Show willingness to learn and evolve
If leaders ignore the cultural shifts happening under the surface, your best people will feel it first.
Tools to Diagnose and Steer Culture
Here are three practical tools to help you check in on your culture and guide it intentionally:
Culture Pulse Surveys
Use short, regular surveys to assess sentiment around values, leadership, communication, and wellbeing. Track shifts over time to spot early warning signs.Team Chartering Workshops
Especially useful after restructuring or onboarding new teams. Define shared ways of working, communication norms and expectations.Values-In-Action Mapping
Get teams to list examples of how your company’s values are actually showing up (or not) in their daily work. It often reveals misalignment and opportunities for change.
Final Thoughts
Culture doesn’t stand still. The most successful organisations don’t just survive change – they use it as an opportunity to become more aligned, more resilient and more human.
At C&C Search, we help businesses recruit and retain top talent through culture-led strategies that evolve with you. Whether you're navigating change now or preparing for growth ahead, we're here to support your people and your purpose.
Talk to our team about building a culture that thrives through change.
