Culture is the bedrock of any business. Corporate culture defines how employees communicate, how the work gets done and how people feel about heading into the office each day. It also directly impacts how employees handle the constant changes required to successfully implement digital transformation.

Changing such a fundamental part of any business can seem like a huge undertaking. But Mary Mesaglio, research vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, breaks it down into three simple steps.

Understanding the Three-Step Model

Companies are under pressure to complete digital transformations, Mesaglio says. But the rapid pace of change can leave employees feeling overwhelmed or confused. “They can’t handle any more change coming at them, or at least they think they can’t,” she explains.

Culture is the biggest barrier to change — and therefore to digital transformations, adds Mesaglio. To ensure an initiative is successful, company leaders must start by changing the culture conversation with three steps:

Hack. Change something small but critical.
Nudge. Push people toward the behavior you want with a subtle initiative.
Prod. Leverage consequences and incentives to make the change real.

These steps were designed with culture transformation in mind. In theory, they could be applied to other business areas (such as product development or hiring); in this case, however, they're being applied to culture in order to fight digital transformation fatigue.

Let's dig into each step in detail.

Hack: Exploit One Point

In the Mesaglio model, a hack is low effort, immediate and noticeable. Executives make a bold decision and implement it immediately, and employees take notice.

Gartner’s Kasey Panetta suggests that some culture hacks (like replacing status meetings with written updates) can be implemented in as little as 48 hours. Culture hacks offer visible and immediate results, and “can move culture from a barrier to an accelerator.”

Start Small

Think of hacks as small-scale initiatives. They don't involve an org chart or a huge financial commitment. They can be decided in one meeting and put to use the next day.

Many experts encourage executives to start small when they're contemplating culture changes. For example, Gartner vice president Elise Olding encourages leaders to begin a business transformation with a small, motivated group of employees. Their successes can be shared with a larger group to kick off a company shift. “If culture is the elephant in the room, the worst thing to do is eat the elephant all at once,” she says.

Small shifts, whether done in breakout groups or with the organization as a whole, can also help your team to adjust to the culture changes at a reasonable pace.

"Begin phasing in the changes slowly; this will give your team members plenty of time to adjust and adapt to the new culture comfortably,” Frances Geoghegan, founder and managing director of Healing Holidays tells Darren Perucci at Bamboo HR.

Hacks for Meetings

What elements should companies consider when looking for a culture hack? The answer can vary dramatically from organization to organization. But meetings offer ripe opportunities.

In a study from organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry, 67 percent of respondents said they spent too much time in meetings and calls, which kept them from making an impact at work. In addition, 34 percent of respondents said they waste 2 to 5 hours each week on calls or meetings that accomplish nothing.

A leader in a company like this could place an immediate moratorium on meetings with more than 15 participants. Or team leaders could ban check-in calls lasting more than 15 minutes. These quick decisions highlight a culture pivot toward efficiency, and that could deliver big results.

Process Hacks

Processes offer plenty of opportunities for culture hacks, as these are the steps employees follow daily. Even seemingly simple processes could be ripe for change.

Consider Facebook’s performance review system, writes tech reporter Salvador Rodriguez. Employees were required to obtain approximately five peer reviews twice a year. "This peer review system pressures employees to forge friendships with colleagues at every possible opportunity, whether it be going to lunch together each day or hanging out after work," he says. Many former employees blamed the company’s “cult-like” atmosphere on this review system.

A quick hack here could simply be to have performance reviews written by employees’ managers or direct reports. With that one change, the company culture could start to shift.

Nudge: Make Changing Easy

Some culture shifts can't succeed with a top-down implementation. These are larger initiatives that require employee buy-in. A subtler nudge approach can entice employees to move in the right direction.

Plenty of experts encourage companies to nudge their employees to embrace change. That nudge could apply to a variety of business areas.

Meeting Structure Nudges

As much as employees might dislike meetings, they do help teams strategize and share. But executives could nudge their teams to talk about the right things when they get together.

Grant Freeland, senior partner and managing director at the Boston Consulting Group, writes about a company that used this approach. The company wanted to put "customers first," but after analysis, realized that customers were rarely discussed in executive meetings. Placing customers at the top of the agenda refocused the meetings.

Another nudge is establishing a "desired outcome" meeting approach, says Tai Tsao, coauthor of “Momentum: Creating Effective, Engaging and Enjoyable Meetings.” The meeting leader determines who must attend based on the desired outcome of the meeting, and then shares the desired outcome with participants prior to the meeting. The outcome is repeated throughout the meeting, and at the end, the team evaluates its progress.

Although these approaches differ from each other, both involve setting a specific goal and employing an agenda. The techniques could transform any meeting.

Nudging Office Design

Changing where employees sit and what they see while at work can be a powerful way to nudge teams into new behaviors.

"Empty square footage is underused square footage which means you're not getting your investment return on that corner of the office,” writes Jeff Pochepan, president and CEO of office design and furniture installation firm StrongProject. “You should think about how it could be better utilized to solve a frequent employee challenge, such as taking calls in a busy modular workspace, or having a quick co-worker brainstorming session."

An open office plan might be right for some companies, especially if combined with huddle spaces and conference rooms. Other businesses might nudge by adding more barriers and private spaces.

"If collaboration and problem-solving are core values of your company, an open floor plan may not be the best approach. Open floor plans are a great idea in theory, but often end up sounding more like a library versus the collaboration and comfort found in offering private office spaces," Laura Brophy and Andre Filip write at WorkDesign Magazine.

Staffing Nudges

Senior-level executives have the opportunity to change work assignments. Sometimes that nudge can lead to insights that transform the culture.

For example, if your company wants to develop a culture of customer service, you could ask every staff member to deal with a customer. Strategy consultant Len Markidan says companies could encourage everyone to respond to one customer support request every day. If there aren't enough tickets to go around, the responsibility could shift from employees to departments. A change like this could shift your culture in a hurry.

Prod: Incentivize Change

If a nudge is the carrot in the Mesaglio model, the prod is the stick. Executives use rules to force a change, and they sprinkle in incentives to make shifts seem enticing. Experts often encourage leaders to enforce the changes they want to see, but stress that training plays an important role.

Edgar Schein, the Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus and a Professor Emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management, says it’s nearly impossible to change culture through direct attempts to do so. Instead, leaders should define the behaviors they want to see, and then train their staff to act this manner. After training, incentives and punishments reinforce the lessons.

Some companies are more comfortable with a soft approach, especially if employees are encouraged to make big changes that seem daunting.

"In the beginning, your team will likely need continual, positive – and oftentimes, public – reinforcement to support ongoing good work," writes Bernie Gracy, chief digital officer at roadside assistance dispatch software platform Agero.

Reinforcement might include highlighting individual accomplishments in company-wide emails and publishing successful projects in company newsletters. These can help employees feel like their hard work is both noticed and appreciated.

What Happens Next?

Follow the hack, nudge and prod model, and you'll have a company that might look and feel very different. But validation is critical.

"What does your organization measure? What gets measured gets done. Does your organization measure the right behaviors for the culture, based on the values it espouses? Does it meet the goals around those objectives/measures?" writes the team at Clemmer Group, a management consulting company.

While Mesaglio's model involves quite a bit of conversation and planning, without measurement, it's hard to know if your company is really moving through a meaningful change process. Build assessment into the model, and you'll ensure that your transformation is more than skin deep.

Three-Step Approach to Combat Change Fatigue Through Culture Transformation