5 Hidden Reasons Culture Change Fails At Work And What To Do About It

I’ve been working on a set of satirical visuals to go along with a talk I’m giving. Two slides include fake products like ReplyAll-Pro™, for when looking busy is more important than being curious, and Mouse Jiggler-Certified Training™ that lets you pass a leadership module without having to listen. The problem is people laugh at them because they resonate. They capture what’s wrong with a lot of company cultures: nobody talks about what’s broken. PwC found 67% of leaders say culture is more important than strategy or operations, yet most employees report that their workplace culture hasn’t changed in any meaningful way in the past year. Culture change may be one of the most talked about ideas in leadership, and still one of the most resisted. There are plenty of reasons that get listed for these problems, but there are some hidden reasons culture change fails, even when everyone says they want it.

1. When Culture Change Rewards Presence Instead Of Performance

Are you a pro at showing up and saying nothing? That’s become a silent badge of honor in some organizations. People get credit for being visible, not valuable. They might always be online and seem to respond to every message within seconds. I can think of a co-worker who had responses that were so long, they felt like reading War and Peace. When people like that attend meetings, they might say a lot of meaningless jabber. If everyone else isn’t speaking, that’s often enough to earn praise. But it sends the wrong signal: look busy, and you’re doing great.

So, the real high performers start to feel frustrated and low engagement quietly becomes the norm. Leaders who focus on busy or constant input forget to look at outcomes. Are they asking, who moved the needle this week and not just who talked the most?

How To Fix It: Stop measuring time and start measuring traction. Set clear deliverables. Recognize people who take initiative, not just those who log long hours. Create rituals that reward exploration like a monthly “best question asked” spotlight, or allow time for employees to work on one curiosity-driven idea each quarter.

2. When Culture Change Becomes A Game Everyone Knows How To Play

Are you certified in pretending to learn while multitasking? That’s how people have adapted to performative systems. When employees realize that performance is measured by how many boxes they checked instead of contributions made, they start playing the game. That’s how we end up with people using mouse jigglers to stay “active” during training. Or they are obviously typing up something while they should be listening in a Zoom call.

If your culture encourages game-playing instead of exploring problems or asking better questions, employees look for the fastest way to appear compliant. Everyone knows the system is broken, but they keep playing it anyway.

How To Fix It: Evaluate your performance systems to see if you are tracking activity or impact. Replace training with short, interactive, curiosity-based learning bursts. Use follow-up questions instead of quizzes. Reward questions that lead to better solutions instead of just “finishing” modules.

3. When Culture Change Promotes The Behavior It’s Trying To Replace

Was that promotion earned, or just the reward for having an unmatched ability to nod politely? That unspoken skillset tends to get rewarded over actual results in some cultures. Leaders say they want curiosity, collaboration, and innovation, but then promote people who do and say what they think the leaders want to see and hear rather than what needs to be done. Promotions often go to the most agreeable people, not the ones pushing for real progress.

This happens when the selection process favors consistency over courage. The person who always agrees might feel easier to manage, but they won’t challenge outdated systems or stretch others to grow.

How To Fix It: Reward people who question the usual path, not just the ones who memorize it. Ask: who has helped others learn? Who has challenged assumptions without creating chaos? Who has created space for new perspectives? You need to put those metrics on paper. Train managers to look for those who challenge the status quo.

4. When Culture Change Encourages Curiosity Then Punishes It

Ask one bold question and win a front-row seat to your own stalled career. That’s the unspoken prize for pushing too far in meetings where curiosity is advertised but not welcomed. I’ve worked at places where I asked a bold question in a meeting and you could feel everyone looking at each other like “No you didn’t.” There was this sense that everyone wanted to get their popcorn and watch what happened next. Everyone expected a negative response because that’s what usually happened.

It doesn’t take long for people to get the message. Don’t push or challenge leadership. Be sure you just play the game. That’s when people stop raising their hands.

How To Fix It: Start with leadership modeling. Have an executive open a meeting by asking a question they don’t know the answer to. Thank employees who raise tough questions, even if they slow things down. Offer anonymous “challenge prompts” where people point out rules or habits that block curiosity. Celebrate when something changes because of it.

5. When Culture Change Is Assigned To People Without Authority

Welcome to culture training, presented by the committee who pay the highest price for the fallout of it not working. That’s the reality for the people asked to run culture change without any real power to change the system itself. Culture change often gets handed to HR, mid-level managers, or engagement committees. These people care deeply and try hard, but they usually don’t control the systems that actually drive behavior. They can’t change how promotions work, how bonuses are distributed, or how decisions get made at the top.

So, culture becomes something that gets talked about in surveys and meetings, but never changes how the business operates. And people stop believing that it matters.

How To Fix It: If senior leaders want culture change, they need to model it directly. Not just by approving initiatives, but by actively participating in them. Make culture goals visible and specific. Tie part of leadership performance reviews to how well they cultivate learning and curiosity in their teams.

How To Reinvent Culture Change

If you’re still waiting for a culture change but watching every idea disappear into a filed survey, you’re not imagining it. A lot of companies spend more time appearing to change than actually doing it. People hear curiosity praised in meetings, but when nothing ever changes with decisions or promotions, they stop taking it seriously. Until culture stops rewarding silence and spotlighting sameness, you’ll keep seeing the same ‘fresh ideas’ copied and pasted into to-do lists. That culture change you’re waiting for? It’s probably stuck in a draft email labeled “Circle Back To Later.”