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To shift culture intentionally and sustainably, leaders must master the interplay between what drives it, what enables it, and — perhaps most crucially — what anchors it. These elements do not operate in isolation. They interact and reinforce one another, either accelerating transformation or entrenching stagnation.
Let’s take a closer look at the three cultural imperatives every leadership team must address: drivers, enablers, and anchors.
The Cultural Drivers: Direction, Rewards and Capabilities
Cultural transformation starts with what the organisation stands for — its vision and strategy — but it cannot end there. To embed culture deeply, leadership must align it with what the organisation measures and rewards. It’s no use talking about collaboration, agility or innovation if the recognition systems only reward individual performance, bureaucracy or risk-aversion.
Technology also plays a dual role as both a disruptor and an accelerator. Digital tools redefine how people connect, learn and deliver. But without a strong cultural context, even the most sophisticated platforms fall flat. And talent management — how people are recruited, developed and promoted — must echo the values leaders hope to see in practice. What you reward, you repeat.
The Cultural Enablers: How Work Gets Done
If drivers provide the ‘what’, enablers define the ‘how’. These are the structural and behavioural conditions that support or stifle the culture you’re trying to build.
This includes organisation design, workflow processes, and the technological frameworks underpinning daily operations. But beyond the formal mechanics lie the deeply human enablers: psychological safety, engagement, and learning.
Do your people feel safe enough to speak up, challenge the status quo, or take a calculated risk? Are they genuinely engaged, or merely complying? And are you creating an environment where continuous learning is embedded — not just in formal training but in everyday feedback and iteration?
When these enablers are in place, culture is not something people are told to adopt; it’s something they live.
The Cultural Anchors: Stories That Shape and Sometimes Shackle
This is where many transformations stumble. Leaders often invest heavily in vision and structure while neglecting the invisible threads that bind an organisation to its past: imagery, myth, language, rituals, and symbolism. These are the cultural anchors. They are powerful, often subconscious, and deeply emotional.
Anchors can serve as stabilisers — reinforcing identity and shared meaning — or they can become shackles, preventing progress. Think of the unspoken narratives: “We’ve always done it this way”, or the ritual of celebrating certain milestones that no longer align with the company’s direction.
Changing culture means recognising which parts of the story must be honoured, and which need to be let go. This requires courage, clarity, and above all, consistency. Leadership here is not just technical — it’s emotional. As one key question puts it: “Beginnings start with endings. Are those in key leadership roles truly addressing the cultural anchors?” If not, the organisation risks reaching a state with a deceptively simple diagnosis: We’re stuck.
Culture is Leadership’s Daily Work
At its core, culture is breathed into life by leaders — day in, day out. The Latin root of “inspire” is spiritus — to breathe life into. That is what senior leadership must do: breathe life into the needed culture with every decision, conversation, and symbol.
It’s not enough to manage culture from the inside-out. The external value proposition — Why buy from us? — is shaped by the internal one: Why work here? The answer to both is found not in slogans, but in lived behaviours. When drivers, enablers, and anchors align, culture becomes a strategic asset. When they don’t, even the best strategies falter.
Moving Forward: Getting Unstuck
Culture work is not linear. It’s dynamic, messy and often uncomfortable. But that’s precisely why it matters. For leadership teams willing to embrace the challenge, the rewards are transformational. Start by getting honest about your anchors. Elevate the importance of enablers in how your organisation functions day-to-day. And ensure that your drivers — vision, metrics, tech and talent — support the culture you’re trying to build, not the one you’re trying to move on from.
The table is set. The question is no longer if culture should be a priority, but whether leaders are ready to truly lead it.
This article explores themes and concepts from content by John O. Burdett.
John O. Burdett is founder of Orxestra® Inc. He has extensive international experience as a senior executive. As a consultant he has worked in more than 40 countries for organisations that are household names. John has worked on organisation culture for some of the world’s largest organisations. His ongoing partnership with TRANSEARCH International means that his thought leading intellectual property, in any one year, supports talent management in many hundreds of organisations around the world. Get in touch with John O. Burdett »
