Impacting organizational culture is a long-term, never-ending endeavor. Many companies struggle with maintaining and sustaining cultural initiatives because their impact may not be felt for several years. Culture, as an organizational construct, is a subjective factor not directly measurable by any instrument, survey or metric. Yet, everyone is impacted by culture and can describe when it turns bad.
What many describe as culture is, in reality, organizational “climate” that can be more radially influenced by various initiatives. The problem with safety initiatives designed to impact culture is that they are often programmatic, seen more as the “flavor-of-the month,” and are rarely sustainable. To impact the safety culture of an organization, it takes planning and change management. Thus, creating a resilient culture to withstand the ups and downs that even the best organization experiences requires change management, engagement, a return on investment, and a lesson in song writing. You’ll see the parallels.