The Illusion of Speed and Simplicity 

We live in an age of AI hype: infinite value, instant transformation, and algorithms that solve all types of problems. But as Paul Hlivko warns in Harvard Business Review, those headlines often mask a much slower, more friction-filled reality: “AI will transform industries … but on enterprise time: longer, slower, and with far more friction than most expect.” According to the article, corporate leaders routinely make six core mistakes, including underestimating the time needed, overestimating adoption, and obsessing over the models instead of the real, sustainable systems.  

This aligns with what we see in practice: many AI transformation programs default to a standard consulting playbook — assess, reengineer, select technology, train, integrate, roll out. That is not wrong — but it’s insufficient. The promise of rapid returns often collides with legacy systems, cultural resistance, risk-averse governance, and organizational inertia. When execution lags, stakeholders grow impatient. Business cases underdeliver. Trust erodes. And the opportunity to capture exponential value slips away. 

The Two Risks That Leaders Rarely Face Head-on 

1. Underperformance: The Gap Between Expectation and Delivery 

Even with strong investment, many AI programs will land somewhere in the “incremental improvement” zone rather than delivering dramatic transformation. According to KMPG’s 2025 Global CEO Outlook, leaders are betting big on AI — but they’re acutely aware that culture, adoption, and trust are real constraints:  

• 71% of CEOs say AI is a top investment priority. 
• 69% plan to allocate 10–20% of budgets to AI.  
• Yet 63% of CEOs express concern about AI’s impact on culture.
• 33% see employee resistance to change as a serious barrier. 

To HBR’s point: the world believes in rapid adoption, but in reality, enterprise adoption is often slow, uneven, and delayed by legacy constraints.  

The result? Many organizations operate under a “speed illusion” thinking they’re moving fast, but really lagging in impact, adoption, and value captured. While CEOs are aware of the issues, they are not necessarily addressing them head on. 

2. Cultural Erosion: The Risk of Becoming Soulless 

Even when AI “works,” it can hollow out what makes organizations human.  

HBR refers to fact that “We are automating work without really understanding it.” Many tasks involve “connective labor”, the human act of seeing others and reflecting understanding; something no algorithm can replicate. When machines take over more of what people used to do, employees start questioning their role and relevance. What remains if your unique ideas, judgment, or moral instincts are replaced by algorithmic suggestions? 

Worse still, cutting out swathes of humans to be replaced by machines, like recent Amazon and UPS announcements to lay off 14,000 and 48,000 people respectively, spreads fear like wildfire. Remaining employees will be looking over their shoulder every day while they try to learn new processes/tools all while silently second guessing their own identity/worth/value as knowledge workers and experiencing survivor guilt over their departed peers. 

Organizations are inherently social and human. Unchecked, AI transformation can erode purpose, identity, and distinctiveness—leaving behind a high-efficiency shell that feels no different from any other. In the worst case, leaders may wake up in a faster, but hollow firm, bleeding any talent that remains. 

The Leadership Challenge: Balancing Technology with Humanity 

The paradox is stark: you need both speed and soul. You need technology execution and human-centered change. Too much reliance on process and systems, ignoring identity, narrative and belief, and you risk cultural collapse. Too much focus on people without execution rigor, and you risk underwhelming returns. 

The leaders who win in this era embrace a third path: integrative transformation, where machines and humans are co-designers of the future. 

What does that require? 

• A change narrative that connects AI to purpose, identity, and meaning — not just efficiency. 
• Leadership that can manage emotional truth, change fatigue, and scepticism, not just process rollout. 
• Investment in a culture of experimentation, trust, and iteration — so AI adapts with you, not against you. 

What it Looks Like in Practice 

• Start small, learn fast: Use early AI pilots to test the interplay of tech and culture before scaling. 
• Layer on change ignition: Don’t just train — it matters how you engage, narrate, and embed belief in your people. 
• Protect the “connective labor” parts: Recognize where human judgment, empathy, and identity still matter (and always will). 
• Design for endurance, not demos: Move beyond one-off AI initiatives to sustained systems, governance, and cultural habits. 

At Prophet, our core offer sits here: we amplify AI transformations by ensuring that it is not just delivered — but believed, felt and owned by the organization. This is human-centered change. We don’t just help change processes. We help you become the transformed organization. 

Read our report, Human-Centered AI: Culture as the Catalyst for AI-enabled Growth, for more recommendations to prepare your organization for AI transformation here  

There Has Never Been a More Important Time for Organizations to be Human 

AI transformation is no longer optional — it’s happening, whether you lead it or are swept up by it. But most will not achieve it in the way that they imagine it. The most likely scenario is that change will be executed slowly, overbudget, and without meaning. You have choices; deliver speed but lose your identity, protect your culture but lag behind in impact or integrate both — becoming faster, more distinct, more human. 

In a world racing toward automation, the greatest prize isn’t just efficiency — it’s being more human than ever. 

---

Innovation may spark growth, but credibility sustains it—and that credibility comes when brand and culture are working as one. Once treated as separate, brand—the external articulation of promise—and culture—the internal reality of behavior—are now inseparable. Their integration is essential for authenticity, differentiation, and long-term resilience. At their intersection lies the potential for uncommon growth—growth that is faster, more sustainable, and deeply human. Organizations that recognize this interdependence are better positioned to deliver consistent experiences, inspire trust, and achieve sustainable success. 

Defining the Relationship

A brand is more than a logo or tagline; it is the collective perception people hold of an organization, shaped by every interaction and experience. Culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that guide how employees work and interact. Brand answers, ‘Who are we to the world?’ while culture answers, ‘Who are we to each other?’ When they reinforce one another, employees live the values and customers experience them authentically. This alignment strengthens trust, attracts talent, and enhances reputation.

Example: Salesforce promises to be a trusted digital transformation partner. Its *Ohana* culture emphasizes trust, customer success, innovation, and equality—making the brand’s promise credible in every client interaction. This alignment not only fuels customer loyalty but also attracts talent seeking purpose-driven work.

Executing the Promise

Brand shows up in expression—design, messaging, voice. Culture shows up in behaviors—leadership choices, systems, daily interactions. When they diverge, credibility is lost, and the promise risks becoming superficial. Employees are often the first to sense these gaps; if they do not feel empowered to deliver, customers inevitably see through the disconnect. When alignment is achieved, however, it becomes a multiplier of uncommon growth, ensuring that ambition translates into performance and perception into loyalty.

Example: Siemens’ brand, *Ingenuity for life*, is supported by cultural initiatives that encourage collaboration, agility, and digital skills. This ensures employees can deliver credibly on its transformation narrative and maintain trust with both industrial clients and public stakeholders.

Culture as Competitive Advantage

Organizations today are not only evaluated on what they sell, but on how they operate and what they stand for. As markets shift toward values, experiences, and purpose, culture becomes a decisive differentiator. A hospitality brand, for example, can only deliver on its promise of warmth and empathy if those values are embedded in the internal environment. Employees who experience alignment between external promise and internal culture are better positioned to embody and extend those qualities to customers, strengthening both reputation and performance.

Example: Patagonia empowers employees to live its sustainability values through activism and company-supported programs. This alignment strengthens its purpose-led brand and builds loyalty among customers. Employees are not just ambassadors of the brand—they are co-creators of its meaning.

Evolving Together

Brand without culture is superficial. Culture without brand risks insularity. The strongest organizations treat the two as a feedback loop: culture informs the brand promise, and the brand promise reinforces cultural behaviors. This dynamic relationship must evolve as markets, technologies, and stakeholder expectations shift. Leaders who intentionally nurture this cycle ensure their organizations remain relevant and credible over time, even as conditions change. 

Example: American Express promises premium service and trust. Its culture empowers employees to solve problems with a customer-first mindset. This loop sustains both loyalty and pride, allowing the company to consistently deliver on its positioning as a relationship-driven brand. 

The Leadership Imperative

Alignment is not accidental—it requires leadership. Executives must act as the bridge between brand and culture, embedding values into governance, incentives, communications, and daily practice. Leaders are uniquely positioned to signal priorities and reinforce behaviors that make the brand real. When leadership embodies the connection, alignment cascades across teams and functions, creating momentum that drives both internal engagement and external performance. In many organizations, this leadership accountability has become the single most important factor in sustaining relevance and unlocking value. 

Example: At Target, CEO Brian Cornell linked the brand promise of affordability with style to cultural renewal. He raised wages, invested in engagement, and embedded inclusivity—ensuring the external promise of helping families discover everyday joy was fully supported internally. 

---

CEOs Are on the Hook for Growth—So We Studied What Makes It Happen 

CEOs are under immense pressure to deliver sustainable, industry-beating growth. At Prophet, we’ve studied what drives this kind of Uncommon Growth in these uncommon times—the kind that’s smarter, faster, and more resilient. While several elements contribute, one fundamental stood out in service of the others—culture.  

Culture Isn’t the Only Ingredient in the Growth Formula—but it’s the Bedrock  

Culture underpins all other factors. It’s the connective tissue between your organization’s purpose, people and performance. Without the right cultural conditions, customer obsession and innovation—the other pillars of uncommon growth—don’t stick. It is not a myth that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Take the AI revolution. It is Human-centered AI—the combination of tech with the human and cultural elements—that will drive competitive advantage. Not AI on its own. 

Culture Drives Business Impact—But it Requires Systemic Work 

Creating a culture that catalyses your growth isn’t accidental. It stems from your organizational system—how decisions are made, how people collaborate and what gets rewarded. Leaders who intentionally align culture with their brand and strategy accelerate execution and achieve faster impact. Those who neglect it, fall behind. Culture is dynamic. It needs nurturing and shaping over time to provide the stability, energy and speed required to fuel growth. 

The Good News: Unlocking Growth Doesn’t Mean Wholesale Change 

You don’t need to overhaul your organization. Typically, it’s a matter of identifying and shifting a few critical behaviours that are holding your strategy back—then aligning leadership and systems to reinforce them. Here are a few steps to make that happen. 

Five CEO-Level Culture Moves That Drive Growth 

To unleash your culture’s potential, focus on five pivotal actions: 

1. Set your organizational ambition 

Define a compelling, shared ambition for the organization, aligning purpose, strategy and culture—enabled by the right behaviors. Co-create this with your executive team to build a powerful, unified force that’s laser-focused on enabling growth together. 

2. Activate your leadership 

Culture change starts at the top. Leaders must model and promote the behaviors you need to win. Clarify what is expected of leaders, provide them with the skills and tools to drive adoption with their teams. Incentivise them and make them accountable for change. 

3. Inspire your employees 

Create an environment where people feel safe, empowered, and excited to contribute. Spark employee interest, passion and accountability by showing them what great looks like and celebrating their attempts to progress towards it.  

4. Align your organization system 

From incentives to structures, ensure every mechanism supports your desired culture. Unlock people and work through systematic change in service of delivery against set objectives. Alignment can take time but insist on a roadmap for change. 

5. Measure and celebrate progress 

Resource culture as a permanent strategic imperative, aligned to strategy and performance. Track what matters. Adapt to business priorities as you go. Celebrate progress and examples of change that support your direction.  

Start by Identifying the one Cultural Shift That Will Unlock Growth 

Iconic CEOs have driven phenomenal growth through cultural focus. Satya Nadella transformed Microsoft by shifting from a “know-it-all” to a “learn-it-all” culture. Alan Mulally turned Ford around by eliminating internal competition and rallying the organization around transparency and a relentless focus on the plan. Ynon Kreiz led Mattel’s transformation to an entertainment company by focusing heavily on shifting internal behaviors from product-centric execution to brand-building, creative risk taking and storytelling-led innovation. Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgiç drove the company’s dramatic profit turnaround with a shift from complacency and bureaucracy to customer focus and having employees act as business owners.  

While they required specific business changes, each change was underpinned with a systemic culture focus, making a few critical behavioral shifts to support their growth strategy.  

They didn’t attempt to fix everything—they focused on shifting the right thing. 

---

As a CMO, you’re under growing pressure to deliver measurable growth and revenue from your brand investments, especially if you’re (re)launching the brand. 

The challenge is that while you’re being asked to do more with fewer resources, traditional Marketing functions often only control a fraction of the levers needed to maximize brand impact. In today’s complex environment, operating in such a silo is no longer viable – the entire organization must align and work together to deliver on the brand promise. Leading CMOs are connectors and orchestrators, working with multiple departments and the executive teams to point all the elements of your organizational DNA – strategy, purpose, values, behaviors, employer brand, CX and more – in the same direction. While this sounds straightforward, the reality is far from simple. You’re navigating a maze of existing frameworks, competing priorities and political agendas that must be simplified and negotiated – meaning you rarely start with a blank slate or direct path forward.  

So, how do you ensure your organization is aligned to deliver maximum brand impact?  

Design to Align 

Alignment is the critical foundation. When the core elements of your strategic framework are aligned with your brand strategy – or designed into it – everyone in the organization can drive in the same direction. This cohesion not only sets the stage for delivering on brand and customer promises but also fuels sustainable growth. Our latest Brand and Demand research underscores this, revealing that 89% of leading marketing organizations have a clear growth and brand strategy. These organizations know where they are going and share a common vision of how to get there, proving that alignment is essential for long-term success and partnership. 

Start Early with Other Functions 

The best CMOs focus on cross-functional relationships, with 84% of marketing leaders viewing themselves as organizational orchestrators who enable a modern, connected organization. To set the stage for success, it’s crucial to begin the alignment journey as early as possible by involving all functional and business unit stakeholders in the strategic brand exercise. Invite them to provide input upfront, ensuring the strategic components of their domains contribute meaningfully to shaping the brand strategy. This collaborative approach not only strengthens the brand’s foundation but also balances the tension between leveraging existing organizational strengths and adapting to market opportunities uncovered by the revised brand strategy. 

Stay Close Throughout  

Maintain close engagement with stakeholders throughout the brand strategy development and activation processes. Regular collaboration ensures the core functions and business units co-create activities that they need to own on their own roadmaps to reinforce and deliver against the brand values within their spheres of influence. This sustained alignment keeps momentum moving in the right direction across the organization. 

Select Priority Paths for Organizational Activation 

You have choices to make. Aligning an organization requires prioritization. The specific paths you take will depend on your brand ambitions and the current level of organizational alignment with your brand strategy. For example, if your brand stands for ‘innovation and speed,’ are your customer processes designed to deliver on those values accordingly? Is HR recruiting talent that embodies this mission? Is Finance easy to work with? Are Operations and R&D living up to the promise your advertising claims?  

From our client work, we see that typically, there are five paths to consider as you activate the organization and drive an aligned growth effort behind a new brand. Depending on your context and ambition, you may choose to focus on one as a priority or a combination of these:  

1. Functional Alignment

Equipping leaders across functions and business units with the tools needed to align on strategies and plans is essential for supporting brand strategy and driving growth. For instance, Vistra, a global corporate services firm, successfully aligned leadership across the entire C-suite and business units to embed a new brand strategy. This included defining associated values and behaviors within a newly merged global organization, ensuring alignment across all functions – from front office to back office. 

2. Employee Ignition (EX → CX)

Activating the brand internally is crucial for inspiring and enabling employees to live up to the brand promise, especially by reinforcing customer-facing behaviors. Embracing an always-on change management mindset is key to this effort – acknowledging and leaning into the challenges of transforming internal culture to align with the brand’s external vision. By focusing on customer and consumer centricity, organizations can ensure that their employees are not just aligned with the brand promise but are deeply committed to delivering it in every interaction. Nike provides a strong example of this approach. The company conducted extensive research into global Employee Experience (EX) best practices and experience design for retail store employees to help create the best environment where employees consistently deliver the brand promise directly to customers. 

3. Employer Brand

A well-defined employer brand and employer value proposition (EVP) can help retain and attract top talent who resonate with your brand’s promise. UBS exemplified this by bringing their global brand campaign, ’Craftmakers,’ to life internally. By aligning their EVP with the campaign, they not only strengthened their talent attraction efforts but also ensured alignment between their corporate and consumer brand strategies.  

4. Signature Moves and Change Management

Bold actions can reinforce a revised brand strategy to external audiences, but their success hinges on effective change management within the organization. T-Mobile demonstrated this through their game-changing move to eliminate customer contracts, embodying their ‘Uncarrier’ brand promise, disrupting and redefining the entire industry and underscoring their commitment to a customer-first approach.  

5. Culture Transformation

Sometimes, a revised brand strategy calls for a deep cultural shift across the organization. Kia’s brand transformation, driven by their pivot to electronic vehicles (EVs), is a prime example. Competing with premium brands like Audi and BMW required a closer focus on customer needs, sparking a fundamental shift in their organizational mindset and culture to prioritize innovation and customer-centricity. 

Figure 1: Potential organizational alignment pathways mapped to CMO’s brand ambition 

Hopefully, paths 1 and 2 are foundational when launching any brand repositioning aimed at creating significant impact. The remaining paths depend on the nature of your strategy. Are you looking to make bold changes that disrupt your industry that demand deeper organizational and cultural change? Or are you focused on refining your brand positioning to attract more customers? Perhaps it’s more about attracting the right front-line talent to bring your brand to life, or evaluating how your employee experience shapes the customer experience. There’s no need to tackle all five paths at once. The key is to be strategic and intentional about which areas to prioritize to drive real, tangible impact through a unified brand vision.  

To help you navigate this journey, we offer tailored discovery workshops for executive teams, designed to guide decision-making and foster collaboration, co-creation and alignment from the outset. By integrating this approach into your brand development, you can accelerate brand efforts and ensure the rest of the organization works in harmony and isn’t competing with or stifling the brand impact you could be making. It requires some focused effort along the way, but the old adage holds true here: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” 

---

This year, we’ve been focusing on uncommon growth – how to unlock, create and execute it. Our latest insights confirmed something we’ve always known: leadership is fundamental to successful, sustainable growth. But the wrong kind of leadership can be disastrous.

Take WeWork, for example. Poor governance and erratic leadership resulted in poor decision-making, ultimately costing the company $1.9 billion in revenue. At the Royal Bank of Scotland, a lack of banking experience and attention to risk led to a balance sheet that ballooned to £2.2 trillion (larger than the GDP of the UK) before collapsing.  

On the flip side, Adobe’s leadership transformation sparked innovation, doubling its stock performance between 2018 and 2021. Shantanu Narayen’s vision and the capabilities of his team led to continuous improvement and growth. Similarly, LEGO’s focus on culture and capabilities turned an $800 million debt into $600 million in profits. Even in sports, the All Blacks’ leadership has driven them to win 75% of their games. 

The takeaway? Leadership impacts an organization’s performance more than anything else. However, most are “teams of leaders” rather than true “leadership teams.” Our research shows that to drive sustainable growth, organizations need cohesive leadership teams, not just individual leaders. After years of working with teams at all levels, we’ve distilled key insights on how to shape effective leadership teams that can sustain growth.

1. Leadership Teams Need Continuous Nurturing and Development 

Leadership teams, like people, are living systems that require constant care. Our annual Catalyst Change research found that successful transformations are built on true collaboration, where enterprise and individual interests are integrated. Effective teams shift from an individual focus to a shared team mindset. Figure 1 illustrates this shift from a “team of leaders” to a “leadership team,” with shared goals and genuine collaboration at its core. 

Figure 1: Moving from a team of leaders to a leadership team 

In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, leadership teams must understand their needs and ensure their mindset, purpose and goals remain aligned with organizational and stakeholder needs. Our research reveals that leadership teams failing to champion collaboration and shared goals risk fragmentation and siloed operations, leading to a 3.5-fold increase in the time it takes for strategic decision-making compared to teams with integrated structures. Gallup research also found that leaders who focus on development and use their strengths effectively are 6x more likely to be engaged, 7.8% more productive and 3x more likely to report a good quality of life. It was with this understanding that we helped the executive team of a 2,000-strong leading agricultural vehicle manufacturer optimize performance by shifting from an “I” mentality to a “we” mentality, driving success through effective teamwork that bridged functional divides and fostering both internal and external growth.  

2. Address All Dimensions of the Human-Centered Leadership Team Effectiveness Model 

Prophet’s Human-Centered Transformation Model (HCTM) is a proven holistic and people-centered approach to driving growth across organizations. The model is built on the idea that organizations reflect the same makeup as a human including the DNA, mind, body and soul. Effective leadership teams need to follow a similar model that not only builds trust and effective ways of working but aligns individual members to a shared enterprise goal. The Human-Centered Leadership Team Effectiveness Model (Figure 2) shows that addressing all dimensions of the human system is essential for empowering effective outcomes.

Figure 2: Prophet’s Human-Centered Leadership Team Effectiveness Model 

Questions that should be asked include:

• DNA: What is our focus and shared ambition that drives the work of our team?​
• Mind: What new skills are required for the team to drive change?​
• Body: What might need to change in our operating model to enable team performance?​  
• Soul: How might we ignite belief in the change to foster trust and productive relationships?​  

As Figure 3 illustrates, if any of these elements from the model are missing, this has a knock-on effect on leadership teams, increasing the risk of falling short on goals due to a lack of commitment, poor focus and low-quality work. 

Figure 3: What happens when part of the leadership system is missing 

3. Sustain Leadership Team Effectiveness Through Actionable Development 

Continuing with the human system analogy, leadership team development requires establishing “healthy rhythms” of working and meeting. Figure 4 shows how these rhythms can propel an existing leadership team towards high performance and effectiveness. 

Figure 4: Actionable approach to leadership team development  

This approach combines both “art and science” to shape team dynamics, capabilities, identity and culture of the leadership team. It involves:  

1. Conducting a leadership team diagnostic to help the team (and other stakeholders) identify opportunities for improvement based on how the team currently functions.   
2. Early alignment of the team’s purpose, ambition and role within the wider organization, so it can provide both clear leadership and staff empowerment by knowing its distinct contribution to success.   
3. Ensuring psychological safety through trust-building workshops. The team narrative and behavior workshops help teams build trust through sharing their whole selves, the meaning they derive from their work and committing to the behaviors to sustain trust.    
4. Prioritizing trust, healthy conflict and accountability to align the team’s success over individual ego. To uncover this a team strengths and priorities workshop helps sets OKRs and leans into the strengths of the leadership team.   
5. Systematically defining ways of working and decision-making processes. In a session around ways of working, the team can shape the purpose of leadership meetings, how decision-making works and define an effective cadence of meetings.   
6. Focusing on both individual and team learning to sustain growth and development. This typically involves team check-ins (potentially with an observer to feedback on process), re-running of the team diagnostic, team and individual coaching and continuation of individual development.  

Leadership teams are the driving force behind an organization’s performance, especially in today’s rapidly changing world. The key challenge lies not just in the competence of individual leaders but in the collective effectiveness of the leadership team. Like individuals, leadership teams require nurturing and careful development. Breaking free from functional silos requires a rhythm that fuses a human-centered approach with both art and science, creating a sustainable and highly effective team.

---

We’ve all been there. We start the year with the best of intentions, convinced that this time will be different. However, as life’s demands and our ingrained habits exert their influence, our resolve weakens. Despite multiple attempts to restart, within a few months, we find ourselves reverting to familiar patterns.  

And it’s no different in the workplace – in fact it’s much harder. Beyond the demands of their job, employees must also fight against the pull of the organizational system. A pull that is so strong that eventually most change efforts are pulled back to ‘the way things are done around here’ and ultimately fail. An IMD global study of 500 executives found that only 50% of attempts to change employee behavior are successful. So, in short, change in a busy, complex organization is hard. 

So how do you overcome these powerful forces to successfully change behavior and build new habits? 

We believe that change happens through doing, not talking. Moving from words to action. You can’t just click your fingers and suddenly become more innovative, creative and collaborative. Humans don’t work like that. You must poke a stick into the organizational system and be intentional about creating change.  

The first step in this magical process is to start really, really small. 

Behavior Kickstarters Formula 

Behavior Kickstarters are rapid experiments designed to activate new behaviors and catalyze cultural shifts. Using a mix of behavioral science and experimentation techniques, our Behavior Kickstarters create a safe space for people to experiment with, and ultimately adopt new behaviors and build new habits. They establish the right conditions for people to try, fail, learn and grow. 

While people are wonderfully different and unique, human behavior has followed consistent patterns since the dawn of time. Not only are we programmed to follow the path of least resistance, but our endorphins also encourage us to seek out the things that are satisfying. And we’re social beings, where the pull of the crowd can have a significant impact on our behavior and decisions. In other words, we only change our behavior when it is easy, feels good or when people we admire are doing it.  

Our Behavior Kickstarter formula ensures the right ingredients are present for driving behavior change.  

• Trigger – Make it obvious – Something that signals the need to start, gets your attention and shows the need to take action. 
• Motivation – Make it attractive – Create an image in the mind of the user that makes them want to change. 
• Ability – Make it easy – The easier a behavior is to do, the more likely it is to be done.  
• Reward – Make it satisfying – If it feels good and has a satisfying ending, we’re more likely to repeat it in the future and form a habit. 

While this formula helps us change in the immediate term, we also need to consider how we form new habits to embed the change. This is where experimentation comes in.  
 

Unlocking Organizational Change Through Experimentation  

Experimentation isn’t reserved for labs or innovation teams – it can be a powerful mechanism to drive sustained organizational change. Teams can use it to become more adaptive and to create a safe environment that allows people to try new behaviors and fail, and to apply learnings from their failures to change their approach and try again. Supporting this idea, our Catalysts research, How to Build an Adaptable Organization that Thrives During Uncertainty, identified ‘lowering the cost of experimentation’ as one of the five ways to build an adaptive organization. 

The concept of experimentation is deeply ingrained in all of us. We just don’t apply it in an organizational context. Dave Snowden, founder and chief scientific officer of Cognitive Edge, sums it up beautifully, “The engine of all life on this planet has always changed in the same way. We try things, notice positive and negative patterns, amplify what’s working, minimize what isn’t.” Yet, despite being ingrained in us, the number of people who use experimentation is comparatively small. People seem to struggle to apply it to their day-to-day lives, meaning its potential is often left untapped. Michael Schrage, author of The Innovators Dilemma, uses a wonderful model for driving its adoption whilst solving real business challenges. Teams of five, each generate and test a solution to solve one of five challenges, over five weeks. The winning idea receives financial backing to be taken forward. Along with generating great ideas to solve real problems, this approach creates a fun, engaging way to understand the power of experimentation. 

Like Schrage’s method, putting experimentation into practice with our Behavior Kickstarters is simple. We recommend a timeframe  (~2-4 weeks) and at the end of that period, we reflect on how it went, what went well and whether we achieved the desired outcomes – using this data to define what could we do differently next time. Then, if needed, we make changes to the Kickstarter and go again!  

A Kickstarter can take many forms. Ideally, it will be designed so it fits seamlessly into the employee’s day-to-day world – as part of existing meetings or a regular routine, like a morning cup of coffee, for example.  

• Trying to make your teams feel recognized? Thank You Thursday: Every Thursday, send a short thank you note, acknowledging the efforts of an individual or team for that week (for something big or small). 
• Trying to increase psychological safety? Poke Holes in This: Before sharing an idea, ask the team ‘Please poke holes in this’, opening yourself up to helpful feedback and encouraging vulnerability. 
• Trying to increase collaboration? Don’t Rush Into it: At the start of your weekly meeting,  spend five minutes with everyone sharing what they did over the weekend, building relationships outside of just work commitments. 

Prophet’s research tells us that, by targeting the “Soul” of the organization, we can activate and accelerate key transformation levers, such as ‘Developing meaningful mechanisms to enable employees to adapt.’ We mentioned earlier that beating the organizational system is difficult and most organizations don’t have these change mechanisms in place. Behavior Kickstarters do exactly that, equipping employees with a powerful method to grow, adapt and thrive in the ever-changing world we now find ourselves in.  

The crucial part of this comes not in running the Kickstarter, but in equipping your teams with the permission and ability to constantly repeat it over time to embed the new behavior until it becomes a habit. Wendy Wood, author of Good Habits, Bad Habits estimates that we spend 50% of our time unconsciously repeating actions we’ve already taken. By intentionally repeating the Kickstarter, you train your brain by practicing new behaviors and building the pathways needed to create daily habits. For this instance, fake it until you make it – or in behavioral terms, fake it until you become it. 

The idea of ‘fake it until you become it’ is not new, in fact, it is over 2,000 years old. Aristotle believed that people could not simply know, or study, how to be virtuous. To be virtuous, they must practice virtuous actions: first by imitating others who demonstrate virtuous actions and then turning those imitated behaviors into habits by performing them every day. You practice the behavior you want and then one day you turn around and discover you’re not performing the behavior, you’re living it. 

The beauty of this transformational process is its ripple effect, fostering further change not only with individuals but also throughout the broader organization. On an individual level, the success of initiating the first Behavior Kickstarter inspires you to do it again (following our Behavior Kickstarter formula: we only change when it feels good). If you’re trying to get fit, and you feel good after your first 5km run, you might try 7km, or 10km and then maybe eventually a half marathon. At an organizational level, it can quickly become contagious. The stories of others successfully changing their behavior become the currency of change, creating a sense of envy that motivates others to do the same. Just like when we witness a good deed, like someone helping an elderly person with their shopping, we’re far more likely to carry out a good deed ourselves later that day.  

“All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision”

James Clear, Author of Atomic Habits 

To fuel a change movement across the organization,  it’s helpful to share stories of how others are running their Behavior Kickstarters to reinforce these successes with recognition and celebration. This inspires others to initiate their own Kickstarter, setting off a chain reaction that swiftly builds into a potent force for change.  

Change shouldn’t be isolated to those with ‘people’ or ‘culture’ in their title, or limited to company offsites and launches for new corporate values. The beauty of Behavior Kickstarters is that they’re accessible to everyone. Facilitating the adoption of new behaviors is a sure-fire way to accelerate change across your organization. 

---

Digital transformation has come a long way from being a buzzword to becoming a fundamental for business success. But, digital transformation goes beyond technology; it’s an ongoing process where human issues and change management are just as central to a successful transformation process as the tech. And today, organizations are starting to understand that change comes from using technology to achieve human goals. They recognize that such change helps them to be more targeted in servicing customers, creating experiences and becoming more efficient, profitable and sustainable.  

While human-centered transformations are essential all over the world, they take on a distinctly different imperative in the Middle East. The relationship-based culture requires a very human approach – business here is all about the way people connect. 

The region has one of the world’s youngest populations, with about 60% under 25, which means most employees are digital natives. They run their lives using mobile technology and expect the companies they work for to do the same. They are more at ease with artificial intelligence and want all the entities in their lives, from government and employers to shopping and entertainment, to be convenient, automated and personalized. 

There’s no ignoring the need to be digital. It is simply expected in every aspect of life. Yet technology is only one part of the solution. It frees up and increases the demand for organizations to provide a human experience. This is becoming more important every day: Yes, there are plenty of tasks tech can do better than people, from booking airline tickets to delivering groceries. But when it’s time for people to interact with each other, whether with colleagues or customers, those interactions take on outsized importance.  

In the Middle East, this transition to a more human-centered business should foster the growth of the region’s relationship-driven culture by directing employees’ attention more toward the human elements of business. Organizations should allow their employees to use technology to help their customers and stakeholders achieve their goals.  

And this is the crucial distinction: recognizing that humans drive the change in business – not technology. 

Starting a Human-Centered Transformation 

For the last five years, Prophet’s global research has explored how companies can leap from outdated ideas of digital transformation to human-centered change. We’ve found that sustainable change, the kind that leads to uncommon growth, works best by comparing every organization to the makeup of a human being. Every enterprise has DNA, a mind, body and soul. We call it the Human Centered Transformation Model.

These transformation efforts are powered by purpose, values, brand and strategy, which we consider an organization’s ‘DNA’. All enterprises need a clear and compelling ‘why’. That ‘why’ is the North Star, illuminating every effort, so every part of the organization pulls in the same direction. This purpose must be meaningful, a shared ambition that can unite and inspire people to embrace change for a better future.  

Each organization also has a ‘mind’, including the talent, skills and capabilities to take it forward. The ‘body’ includes the organization’s shape, such as governance, processes and systems. And finally, each enterprise has a ‘soul’, the behaviors, beliefs and stories that motivate its people. These soul-based elements are especially important in the Middle East. They include symbols, rituals and a mindset that help ignite change and are deeply meaningful to younger workers.  

Leveraging the Middle East’s Unique Advantages and Addressing its Challenges 

Our research has identified the critical levers – fundamentals and accelerators – that can drive change. These are global findings. Yet there are some specific conditions in the Middle East that support rapid digital transformation and help bring people on the journey of change. 

First, there is speed, urgency and ambition. The race to achieve the national 2030 vision, even as it expands toward 2040, is an amazing driver for change. People who run enterprises feel this vital purpose and are eager to achieve it. Employees are even more impatient.  

Next, there’s a regional thirst for excellence, prestige and creativity, inspired by ambitious projects, whether it’s Dubai’s “20-minute city” goals, Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion bet on NEOM, or Egypt’s audacious plans for a new capital. These ambitious endeavors are not only shaping the future but also instilling a sense of collective national pride, fuelling the appetite for achievement and making people eager to join the journey towards a digital future.

The region also faces barriers. Similar to companies globally, some entities react reflexively in ways that are inconsistent or misaligned with their declared strategy, making it more challenging to coordinate and drive change. 

Organizations are maturing and evolving all the time. Yet, even in flux, it’s essential to connect the dots strategically. Every change should arise from the enterprise’s DNA, relating continuous improvement to a broader agenda. This clear purpose is the North Star, helping companies see how that purpose translates into every employee and customer experience. 

The region also faces workforce challenges due to the transient nature of talent, where professionals frequently change roles and locations. This dynamic environment contributes to fluctuations in productivity, as teams experience continuous turnover, impacting stability. This is why strategies that focus on talent retention, skill development and creating a workplace culture that aligns with the diverse expectations of the workforce are imperative.  

These unique advantages and challenges make taking a human-centered approach even more important, ensuring it is tailored to your organization’s characteristics and strengths.

Beyond Cookie-Cutter Approaches: Honor Regional and Organizational Uniqueness 

Studying transformation success stories and digital leaders in the West can be tempting. But that’s a mistake. Only Google can be Google. While it’s fine to be inspired by what others have done, organizations in the Middle East (and everywhere else) must remain authentic to their core identity. They should be driven by and centered around the unique group of individuals within their organization and guided by the strategic purpose they aim to achieve.  

Cookie-cutter methods won’t create the far-reaching, long-lasting transformation required in modern marketplaces. But there are specific steps companies can take to begin this human-centered change in ways that build on what they do best, helping them create more robust, more agile organizations that better serve all stakeholders. 

The Power of Leadership Excellence 

Start by defining what good leadership looks like. Leadership values need to stem from the organization’s unique DNA. And while an enlightened CEO is required to initiate the transformation journey, the passion for the mission needs to be nurtured in leaders at all levels. Organizations in the Middle East need leaders who can work with many cultures and nationalities. They require the ability to co-create a dialogue about what the enterprise wants to achieve with this transformation, deciding how best to prepare employees for the changes ahead. 

Again, there are inherent regional advantages. Organizations can create close-knit, enterprise-focused leadership teams using the power of the relationship-based culture. We see this inherently in start-ups, steering away from traditional hierarchies and driven by innovation, the emphasis is on collaborative cultures that nurture a sense of belonging and shared purpose among team members. Similarly, government entities in the region have increasingly recognized the value of cultivating strong leadership teams to enhance organizational effectiveness and establish relationship-based cultures that resonate with the diverse populations they serve. 

While transformation efforts are still in the planning stage, leaders should remind themselves how much power they have over the outcome of any transformation effort. If leadership isn’t seen as fully on board with changes, efforts will never gain traction. Companies can increase the chance of transformational success by: 

• Framing the transformation as a positive, modern journey. Make it clear that it helps build pride and furthers national goals, using context that is meaningful and relevant to all employees. 
• Encouraging creative thinking. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) takes over more operational and administrative tasks, organizations should emphasize the human effort shaping these technological changes. AI can only predict. It can’t think or invent. Constantly seek out new ways to encourage human insight and innovation. 
• Embracing diversity. Effective transformation in the Middle East requires working with locals, whose motivation and sense of purpose are linked to faith and cultural heritage. But it also requires international workers and customers. Organizations need to serve many segments, tailoring and personalizing every experience.  

Build the Right Employee Value Proposition 

As leadership teams coalesce around this pivotal transformation initiative, it’s crucial to sharpen every element of talent acquisition. That starts with updating the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) – the deal you offer those who join your organization. While encompassing salary and benefits, an EVP transcends these essentials, delving into the fundamental reasons why people come to work each day. A robust EVP that vividly articulates the organization’s purpose unveils the unique, compelling and meaningful aspects of the employee experience. Beyond merely enhancing talent acquisition, this refined EVP serves as a linchpin for retention. Engaged employees, drawn to a purposeful workplace, contribute to the transformational journey, propelling the organization toward unparalleled growth.  

Given macroeconomic challenges, it’s a critical time for regional organizations to make sure these EVPs play across borders, attracting international talent. This can be time-consuming for companies not well-known in other parts of the world. And it often calls for new ways of thinking. For example, flexible schedules and work-life balance are now an expectation of many people in the West and must be addressed in recruiting efforts. 

You can’t skimp on developing an EVP. Successful transformation relies on building new capabilities. And while some of those needs will be addressed by upskilling current employees, attracting talent with new skills and background is essential. The rapid expansion of AI tools has dramatically accelerated the demand for new skills. 

Companies can’t afford to overlook local talent, either. The competition is intensifying as the Middle East region prospers and grows, especially relative to Western economies.

---

Companies are still struggling to find their footing on the constantly shifting sands of hybrid and remote workplaces. And now, the increasingly turbulent economy further unsettles the landscape, challenging existing employee experience strategies.  

Many organizations are reducing headcount and cutting back on engagement efforts. That’s understandable in the short term, but it’s a mistake to take your eye off the ball completely. Longer term, the war for talent will rage stronger than ever, even if we see a relative truce for a while. The pandemic, the Great Resignation and the demand-driven labor market made people realize that they can choose how and where they work. The mold has been broken and you can’t put it back together. Ignoring the experience elements while the economy slows will only worsen the hiring dilemmas of the future and see the confidence decline of those employees that remain. That means every organization will have to grapple with (if they haven’t already) an employee-centric offering if they are to attract, retain and engage the right talent they need to thrive. 

Through our work as people strategists, psychologists, change practitioners and service and product designers, we have helped clients around the world accelerate their employee experience journeys and studied countless experiments and their outcomes. As one might expect, there is no silver bullet. However, our work has shown that experiences that are desirable to employees don’t have to conflict with what is viable and feasible for the business. After all, maximizing desirability, viability and feasibility (DVF) is crucial for creating a long-lasting, sustainable impact on the employee experience. 

The economic situation may remove the feeling of urgency, but talent will always have a choice about who they work for and in harder times organizations need to motivate and enable their people to perform, even more than usual. Organizations are still entirely reliant on their people and those that accept the reality of employee power and the demands that come with it will reap the rewards in the long term.  

Employee Power is on the Rise 

Over the two years of the pandemic, every type of organization had to quickly test and experiment with countless workplace policy updates to stay afloat. Companies didn’t have time to “wait and see”– they had to create new policies in a few days. In some cases early on, companies saw surprising increases in productivity. In a survey carried out by the University of Chicago, 40% of respondents said they believe they are more productive at home while 15% said the reverse is true. Others reported remarkable gains in employee satisfaction, even reaching record levels. And for those workers reporting greater happiness when allowed to work remotely at least some of the time, over 80% reported an improvement in their work-life balance.

But now this picture has evolved to one of burnout, stress and cultural disconnect. Job satisfaction has plunged to a 20-year-low. Women have been especially crushed by this downside, with education and childcare crises forcing millions out of the workplace, likely setting gender pay equity efforts back for more than a generation. And as the Great Resignation, well underway before the pandemic, continues to make hiring harder, the economy is sputtering. 

The point is, it’s harder to be an employee than it used to be. Economic uncertainty will make it harder still. Organizations need employees to perform, and it creates an even greater need to provide a stable and productive working environment.    

“Employee experience” is a common buzzword that is over-used and ill-defined. For decades, conventional wisdom has dictated employee engagement as the ultimate goal of employee experience. Experts believed that engaged employees are more productive, stay around longer and grow into the leaders of tomorrow. One of the problems with employee engagement is that it is inherently employer centric. Firms want their employees to be engaged with work. But employees crave so much more. They want to be well compensated, valued and connected to a purpose. They no longer compartmentalize their careers and work as separate from their personal lives. They pursue well-being across financial, physical, mental, social and intellectual dimensions. 

The New Equation: Flexibility + Connection = Wellbeing 

What people want more than anything is holistic well-being. It’s fast becoming the foundational tenant, with a recent survey finding that 80% of employers believe helping workers achieve this well-being is an important objective. Prophet’s research also finds that flexibility and connection are the main levers for getting there.  

Flexibility means accounting for individual and team preferences, circumstances and strengths. 

Connection, and how people experience it, is complex. It encompasses interpersonal dynamics, relationships and interactions among peers. And it also aligns individuals with the company’s purpose and mission, tapping into their own values. Connection flourishes in inclusive environments when people are psychologically safe and comfortable being themselves at work.  

Companies must constantly balance this equation. Any policy that impacts flexibility or connection must be considered.  

Designing employee experiences around flexibility and connection creates an environment of:

Wellbeing: The New End Goal 

Health is now the ultimate headline. People have had the chance to re-evaluate what’s important and possible in their lives. Fed up with outdated norms like the 9-5 schedule and chronic stress and fatigue, employees are less willing to sacrifice their physical, mental and social health for their job. 

As a result, employers are now in the hot seat, charged with prioritizing and more actively supporting these health goals. While previously, employers’ duty of care lay solely in the realm of physical health and safety, the pandemic elevated emotional and mental well-being to the same level of priority.  

More traditional leaders may raise their eyebrows at the expansive responsibility of providing for employee wellbeing. And some long-tenured executives want to resist this change. But it’s too late. The paradigm has already evolved, and the trends are clear: Employees today have a record level of bargaining power. And even if a slow economy causes a blip, this trend will only get more prevalent, as we enter the era of “employment as a service”. It’s incumbent on employers to develop an experience that is desirable, viable and feasible. 

This power shift has been especially acute in retail and food service. When a leading QSR brand engaged Prophet to understand the evolving restaurant workforce, well-being emerged as the central concern. We learned that employees want more than financial gains and physical safety. To them, well-being also meant personal development, solid communities and psychological safety. They wanted a sense that the company cared about them, of course. But they also wanted ways they could demonstrate their care for co-workers. 

Those insights helped us to reinvigorate the employee value proposition and identify the moments that matter, along the entire employee journey, developing initiatives and experiences that would allow it to retain current workers and attract top talent. Prophet developed “100 Ways to Care,” an expanded set of team support systems. The customizable and flexible collection of benefits includes instant pay, automated shift scheduling, and holistic wellness options, focusing on company-led and funded mental health and employee assistance. By first establishing essential truths about team members of the next five to 10 years and envisioning what their journey will look like, signature experiences can address needs and opportunities with new capabilities.  

Enlarge Image

We also developed quantifiable metrics beyond the usual engagement scores to measure the impact of these efforts on the experience. Capturing metrics on a wider range of factors including tenure, attendance, complexity of the role, overall job satisfaction and attention to/interaction with solutions, as well as engagement, enables an ongoing view of “experience” and supports agile refinement and improvement over time. 

Other companies are using this holistic approach to make key decisions and reap returns. BP and Bank of America have built mental well-being support and accountability into their leadership cultures. BP gets real-time mental well-being feedback from regular employee engagement surveys to understand how teams feel and how to support them. Bank of America is creating opportunities for colleagues to talk about their mental well-being, breaking down attached stigmas. 

Other organizations are taking corrective action with core business activities, demonstrating the power of employee experience (EX) to create significant benefits to customer experience (CX). Mojang Studios of Minecraft fame, for example, recognized the toll that the pandemic and related stress was taking on the well-being of its employees, even as it faced an urgent deadline on the Caves & Cliff Update at Minecraft Live. It decided to delay the update to ease the burden on employees, sharing the news via a blog post. Users of the world’s most popular game, although disappointed, respected that decision. And they responded by pushing Minecraft’s monthly active users to record levels. 

That’s not an isolated incident of business benefit, either. One recent study ranked companies by measures of workforce well-being. Those in the highest 10% reported a 27.2% increase in return on equity and a 24.8% gain in profits, substantially higher than their Fortune 500 peers. 

The ante is rising. As businesses adapt to growing demands, a holistic well-being strategy will be even more vital to the employee experience. Caring for the entire person–not just who they are at work–is now a table stake when it comes to talent attraction, recruitment and retention. When businesses take care of their people, those people take care of the business. 

Flexibility: Developing a Targeted, Flexible Workplace Strategy 

Much to the delight of many, hybrid working is here to stay. Even the U.K’s minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency has revealed plans to offload £1.5 billion worth of London office space because of the number of civil servants who continue to work from home. More broadly, just over half– 53%– expect a hybrid model going forward, with 24% expecting the option to work remotely all the time.  

But for the most part, the policies that initially governed remote work came together in a period of intense panic, implemented in an environment of desperation and uncertainty. 

As firms work to create their long-term policies, they have an opportunity to learn from COVID-era flexible working experiments and formalize what started as ad-hoc solutions. As hybrid working becomes the new middle ground, flexibility must become inherent to employee experience. People want to make decisions based on what’s best for them, considering their families, commutes and work-life balance.  

Dropbox’s 3,000 employees now work remotely most of the time and go to the office for more collaborative and team-building work. The company redesigned its facilities to make this shift, removing individual desks.  

Many financial services companies like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have drawn a line in the sand for return to the office, wanting employees back five days a week. But fueled by a robust job market, their employees are reluctant to give up flexible working conditions. How can institutions that want employees back full-time compete with others who allow hybrid work? 

Prophet worked with one of the U.K.’s leading financial companies to develop a long-term workplace strategy. Early on, it had won rave reviews for its rapid pivot to a work-from-anywhere policy. But as the months ticked by, it realized that culture, morale and engagement began to erode. It needed something beyond a monolithic approach to flexibility. One size, it acknowledged, definitely did not fit all.  

And this approach had unintended consequences, including increased pressure on leaders to navigate managing fully remote teams. It also raises the question: How can companies retain the benefits of in-person collaboration, which are proven and time-honored ways to keep people motivated, while preserving the option to be remote?  

Our work started – as it always does – by looking through the lens of Prophet’s Human-Centered Transformation Model.  

This model looks at organizations as a macrocosm of an individual– with DNA, Mind, Body and Soul– and provides a framework to map the employee journey and address all of the organizational factors that touch on the experience people enjoy day-to-day. In this instance, we took a closer look at the core employee personas and archetypes. While many people reported improved morale and engagement, there was an increased risk of losing a sense of belonging and investment in the company’s culture.  

We helped our financial services client create an employee experience strategy that balances the needs of all stakeholders. That meant a shift from flexibility based on individual needs to flexibility that works for all. Instead of asking employees to work from anywhere, they’re now being asked to work from where makes sense for them and their teams – encouraging them to make decisions that balance their individual needs with the needs of the team and the needs of the business. They are also encouraged to make decisions “led by the work.” That encompasses more than just the tasks on their to-do list. It includes learning and development, team building, career conversations and leadership, which all make them feel more connected to the company’s broader mission. 

We’ve worked closely with this client to ensure transparent communication around these changes. Employees must understand that this isn’t about the company going backward on its commitment to flexibility. That would damage the employer-employee trust it has nurtured so carefully since the pandemic began. 

Instead, it’s working to ensure hybrid work options that provide “freedom within a frame.” 

Importantly, much of the focus has been on leadership, ensuring they can be effective in hybrid and remote scenarios, including performance conversations, spotting well-being needs and empowering decision-making. It is also paying more attention to the importance of role modeling. Leadership is both the most significant risk to employee experience policies and also the best amplifier. 

We also helped the company expand the different tools and technology used to maintain performance levels and initiate conversations throughout the organization about what good looks like. Today, they can much more easily encourage inclusive practices to ensure equal opportunity for growth across all talent. 

An essential outcome of this type of work is that leaders throughout the organization better understand why this all matters and just how valuable a flexible employee experience strategy is. Being more intentional about how an organization defines “flexibility” goes beyond a happier workforce. It strengthens the organization, expanding the talent pool for employers. That includes geographical range, of course, but potential employees who must work from home, such as caregivers, and those who simply prefer remote work. 

However, this recruiting advantage will continue to wane as more companies clarify their version of flexibility. That means it’s essential that each organization defines flexibility in a way that meshes with its operations, culture, technology and purpose. Done right, it makes a company’s employee value proposition distinctive and relevant. It becomes a competitive talent advantage. 

Representation and Diversity Matter  

Employees increasingly want to (re)build a sense of connection to their co-workers, communities and the broader mission of the employer. We used to have the proverbial watercooler to engage in small talk and get up to date on the latest developments. Often, it’s where we built trust, camaraderie and relationships. But in increasingly hybrid and digital environments, companies are still finding it hard to recreate the spontaneity and organic moments to build those connections.  

Representation, too, factors deeply into the connection. Employers need to be clear about what diversity, equity and inclusion mean to them and how it aligns with the organization’s values. It needs to be active in the cultural norms and hard-wired into processes, developing metrics to track impact. Research suggests that diverse teams outperform individual decision-makers up to 87% of the time. And DEI initiatives matter to job seekers too, with 64% of candidates saying diversity and inclusion are key factors when evaluating a job offer. 

The presence of women in senior management has long been understood to improve financial performance, and new research finds that as firms add more women, they become more open to change and less afraid of risks, increasing psychological safety in the workplace. Specifically, the firms studied shifted towards innovation, investing more in research and development and less in acquisitions.  

As companies scramble to make sure their efforts show tangible results, attracting, retaining and motivating key talent through turbulent times, we’re finding that small acts of inclusion have the most impact. Robust employee resource groups for workers of color and LGBTQ+ are a must. So are networks that encourage women, who continue to leave their jobs at higher rates than men.  

Prophet’s global research, “The Collaborative Advantage”, finds that one of the biggest barriers to effective organizational collaboration is a lack of clarity on the connection of work to the broader business strategy. Organizations often fail to show employees how working together more closely helps achieve personal and corporate goals. Despite 80% of leaders believing that collaboration produces better outcomes, many are still struggling to meet the collaboration challenge and break down siloed work. 

Humans are fundamentally a social species and people want to belong, to be part of a team. And they want those teams to function well, to collaborate in ways that are rewarding to all involved. Our research shows that individuals who work at more collaborative organizations aren’t just more productive and satisfied. They’re keenly aware that it teaches them valuable new skills and expands their networks. 

Connection Starts with Employee Onboarding 

Organizations realize that they must be more intentional at creating connections at work, finding new ways to put all kinds of relationships back into play, from formal work roles and team responsibilities to friendships and side conversations. 

It’s especially critical to get this right and set the tone for the new joiners’ tenure. Within an employee’s journey, the onboarding experience can define how engaged employees are within their roles and for how long. We worked with Reltio, a high-growth data management unicorn, to improve, standardize and scale the onboarding experience.  

As we spoke to employees across functions and levels, we discovered that new hires depended on the relationships formed in that critical period. In its remote-first environment, Reltio already had a culture of virtual connection and helpfulness, which had become crucial in an employee’s ability to connect and learn important information about the organization.  

To better support this informal approach, we articulated “foster relationships”.  This became one of five experience principles that now inform how Reltio supports new hires. Designed to recognize relationships as a fundamental need, this ensures that employees can continue to stay in touch and support each other as they find their way within the company. This principle came to life across experience concepts, including buddy systems, pre-scheduled meetings, access to organizational charts that outline roles and teams and one-to-one coffee chats.  

The Steep Cost of Standing Still 

All this creates an urgent need for companies to sharpen and expand their employee experience. Businesses, even those that were considered highly progressive employers, are losing talent every day. And it doesn’t look like this recent phenomenon is slowing down with a near record-high number of Americans still quitting each month.   

Employees, from the most highly sought-after tech executives to fast-food workers, know they have the upper hand. They know they can–and will–find an employer more willing to support their total well-being and in some cases offer a pay rise as well (with a median raise of 16.1% in the US). Recession or not, employee expectations have changed forever. 

Twenty years ago, marketers had to accept that the age of customer experience had arrived quickly. Now it’s the employee experience’s turn. Organizations don’t have the luxury of treating the employee experience as an afterthought. They need to be more intentional about every interaction–how they recruit and hire and how they encourage connection. They must acknowledge that individual needs don’t always align with a team or organizational goals. 

They can’t–and shouldn’t–revamp their employer brand overnight. But by focusing on the simple equation–Flexibility+ Connection = Wellbeing–they can shape their vision, building a roadmap to working towards over time.  

By taking advantage of these turbulent times to reimagine the experience employees enjoy, companies can prepare for the growth journey ahead. 

Start with these four general guidelines: 

1. Of every new experience shift, ask: Is this desirable? Viable? Feasible?  

2. Tailor the experience strategy and design to clearly symbolize company values and elements of the employee value proposition, aligning them with the corporate purpose and strategy. 

3. Focus on moments that matter. Employees travel many journeys, and the thing that makes a company great for an entry-level employee may be very different than what matters to a seasoned leader. Understand different employee personas and archetypes.  

4. Make a balanced, healthy and diverse workforce the new end goal, using flexibility and connection to drive well-being and grow stronger every day. 

---

---

Despite economic uncertainty and a slower rate of deals, organizations will continue to utilize mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to grow, diversify, penetrate new markets and develop new capabilities.   

M&A events represent a unique opportunity to transform a business, externally and internally. Externally, it can serve as an opportunity to enhance reputation, deliver on emerging or underserved needs and increase market share. Internally, it serves as an opportunity to drive lasting cultural change and inspire renewed purpose within the evolved organization.   

There’s a lot written about mergers failing because of culture. Unfortunately, most organizations are not using company culture effectively or systematically to maximize value and minimize risk in their deals. Organizations and deal team’s care. But it’s not a significant part of the integration playbook and doesn’t receive the required attention to make it accretive to the deal.  

At Prophet, we view culture as a hidden asset in determining the success of an M&A deal. Yet, culture is integral to the success of an organization. As organizations become more digitized and automated, people change businesses, which is why we have developed the Human-Centered Transformation Model. Our Human-Centered Transformation Model provides an easy and accessible, holistic lens for unpacking complexities and highlighting and understanding specific components to address cultural integration.  

With this framework in mind, here are five common cultural pitfalls many companies face during M&As and actionable insights on how you can turn the tide and achieve maximized return on your investment.   

1. Not Applying the Same Rigor to Cultural Analysis as to Deal Economics  

M&A teams pride themselves on meticulous due diligence. They dig into every financial, legal and operational element they can find. But they are often under-equipped for systematic analysis of the culture of the company they are acquiring. Nor do they detail the pathway to cultural integration in the same way that they would for the financial and legal elements to prove the viability and value of the deal.  

To overcome this challenge, M&A deal teams must determine cultural similarities and differences between the two organizations before finalizing the deal. To help our clients do the proper cultural due diligence, we build this critical cultural analysis and integration process into our transformation and integration playbooks. Gathering cultural data pre-deal reduces risks and speeds up integration by informing the strengths and differences between companies.   

It’s critical to find common ground to build on. Identify the bright spots that should be preserved due to intrinsic or financial value. It is also an opportunity to anticipate friction and allocate resources to support rapid integration.  

2. Lack of Transparency and Intention About Strategic Cultural Choices  

In most merger situations, leaders don’t clearly articulate the type of culture required to make the integration and future NewCo growth strategy successful.   

However, being honest and upfront about the cultural preferences that best support strategy, brand and integration strategy will begin the merger on a solid foundation and earn the trust of both sets of employees.   

Whether there is a dominant culture, a selection of specific attributes from both organizations worth merging, or a net new culture, executives must be transparent with employees. Be honest and open about the decisions, processes and rationale for every choice to preserve trust and respect across organizational lines.   

One critical choice to get right is who is selected for leadership positions. Individuals chosen for the top jobs within the NewCo signal to employees whether or not elements of their legacy organization’s culture and values will endure. The goal at this stage is not to be popular. Instead, it is to set a clear strategic frame for the people and cultural aspects of the journey ahead and a clear “why” that explains the decisions and the approach.  

3. Failure to Align Leaders From Both Parties  

M&A deals often come together in a rush. There may be multiple bidders. Or companies aware of the market anxiety that comes from a prolonged rumor phase, are anxious to make deals official. Once signed, the focus shifts rapidly to the physical and operational integration elements – there is always a lot of work to be done, and it’s very easy to overlook perceived ”softer” topics such as values and beliefs.   

That’s a mistake. As early as possible, leadership groups from both organizations need to come together to co-create purpose and values, the ambition for the desired culture and a roadmap to get there. It’s also essential to involve employees as early as possible. Regardless, if leaders from both sides don’t have the opportunity to debate and align on a shared ambition, direction and journey, the road ahead is much harder. Leaders from both sides of the NewCo must have a shared message for the organization’s purpose and values rather than deferring to their unmerged entities’ old purpose and values.   

Aligning the cultural direction and ambition during the early stages of an M&A deal is especially important when acquiring start-ups, which are often based on a radically different ethos than larger companies. Without deciding how to protect that difference from the outset, the acquirer can wind up squashing the cultural traits that are most valuable for growth.  

The nitty-gritty of cultural integration can come later. But there must be some initial high-level sense of how that might happen amongst the leadership group. Without a shared vision for what the united cultural DNA will be–the NewCo’s purpose and values–the deal is unlikely to fulfill its promise.  

4. Not Managing Cultural Messages – Everyone Is Watching Everything  

Once leaders from both parties have reached a consensus on what this new DNA will be, they must actively and consistently model those values as integration begins and beyond. Our research on Catalysts highlights leadership behavior as a fundamental lever in cultural transformation, especially during M&A events.  

In times of uncertainty and change, all eyes are on leadership. Every action and message–intentional or not–is analyzed and interpreted by employees. Never mind the top leader appointments, even decisions that may seem tactical, such as the choice of ERP platform or brand color palette, can send a cultural message. Senses are heightened in times of change. An organization failing to manage cultural messages consistently creates unnecessary fear and upset, impacting productivity and value.  

Intentional signaling early on and careful consideration of decisions, timing and positioning –with specific details about this new, merged culture–will be critical to building trust and engagement for the journey ahead. Being thoughtful about language, decisions, symbols, and rituals in the moments that matter will enable the integration to proceed at a quicker pace. Understanding employees’ experiences, perceptions and needs are essential.   

Put yourself in the shoes of employees. Use tools rooted in neuroscience, such as “SCARF,” to establish a standard toolkit and language, invite dialogue, track trends and equip your leaders to make good decisions and deliver consistent messages in line with your chosen culture strategy.   

5. Stopping Too Early 

It takes longer than most teams expect to holistically embed the “new” culture–to make it the culture. Leaders involved in the deal are like the elite athletes in a marathon. They are off and running before the employee base has even reached the start line and can quickly move on without thinking about those behind them. Once leaders have passed the initial messaging phase, they are often surprised at the depth and time commitment required to make cultural changes stick.  

This work requires detailed roadmaps to be clear on the destination and the steps to get there. These need to be measured and managed, even beyond the early integration phases, to help leaders stay the course and bring people with them.  

 Prophet’s Human-Centered Transformation Model (HCTM) provides leaders with an accessible lens for unpacking complexities and highlighting specific components that require focus–such as required skillsets and capabilities, important behaviors and symbols and the central structures, processes and governance mechanisms. The priorities can then be easily explored and understood to support rapid integration and drive sustainable value.   

Throughout the journey, leaders can promote the foundational DNA elements of the organization’s mission, purpose and values to act as the north star as they track tangible outcomes and signs of progress against the roadmap.  

---