Culture Change: The Work No One Can Delegate

I asked a friend what to write about this week. When he made his suggestion, I had to sit down. Not because it isn’t important — but because it’s hard. And because there isn’t just one kind of culture change.

There’s large-scale organizational culture change and there’s Lean culture change.

As a Certified Change Management Professional, I work in both spaces, but I naturally view change through the lens of my Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Lean culture change starts with a simple but uncomfortable truth: We have to change how people think about how work gets done. How do we stop repeating what clearly isn’t working and instead adopt a continuous improvement mindset?

It comes down to dedication, leadership and getting people included in the change.

Change doesn’t happen with orders from bosses nor executives issuing commands from offices. That approach doesn’t work and never has. Real Lean change happens when leaders and coaches are visible, present, and actively supporting the work. Front-line teams need:

• Clear visual management to show how work is performing

• Well-written process maps and standard work

• One-point lessons that simplify learning

But most importantly, they need leaders who show up removing roadblocks, asking good questions, and helping teams succeed.

I’ve led this type of change countless times across industries and continents. One thing is always true:

People working together can solve almost any problem — when the environment encourages it.

Organizational culture change, however, is a different challenge entirely.

This may spark debate, but based on years of observation and experience, poor corporate culture almost always starts at the top and gets pushed down.

Do these sound familiar?

• Poor employee retention

• Low or unreliable engagement scores

• People scattering when a senior leader walks by

• Leaders only showing up to deliver bad news

• A great HR onboarding experience… followed by silence when support is needed

• Rare laughter

• No employee recognition

• No clarity around salary reviews — or why they didn’t happen at all

Poor culture doesn’t appear overnight. It starts with small cracks, then snowballs over time — as bad behaviours are tolerated (or even encouraged) and good efforts go unsupported or unrecognized.

True culture change takes enormous effort — a true metamorphosis.

It must start at the top. And often, there’s no easy way to say this: You need to clean the slate. New people with fresh perspective. You need leaders and coaches not bosses and ivory towers.

As Einstein famously said:

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

Culture change isn’t a program. It’s a commitment — lived daily, especially by those at the top. Organizational culture change succeeds the same way Lean change does — through visibility, accountability, and leadership presence. You can’t delegate culture, you can’t mandate trust, and you can’t fix systemic issues without first acknowledging your role in creating them.

Culture is shaped every day by what leaders pay attention to, what they tolerate, and what they choose to ignore. It shows up in how problems are discussed, how mistakes are handled, and whether people feel safe speaking up.

If leaders aren’t willing to change how they lead, how they listen, how they show up, and how they support their teams, then culture won’t change, no matter how many initiatives are launched.

But when leaders do commit to changing themselves first, something powerful happens.

• Barriers come down.

• People engage.

• Continuous improvement becomes real — not just a slogan.

That’s when culture starts to shift. Everything else is just noise.

Implement Lean. Solve What Hold You Back. Sustain Improvements.

Al Grainger

Lean Mentor | Problem-Solving Expert | Author

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