Transforming a culture requires a strong CEO and leadership team who make it their everyday business to praise, cajole, correct, and redirect people to come into the fold.

Fourteen months into the transformation agenda, the staff was behaving better and seemed to be more content. Feedback revealed that staff members were relieved that the destructive elements of the culture were being rooted out and fixed.

Twenty months after Justin became CEO, the transformation was solidified. The numbers that drove it home, however, were from the
employees themselves. The baseline survey taken 18 months prior showed that only 22 percent of staff members said they were happy working for Leg Up Learning Centers; 79 percent were now extremely satisfied.

It shows how a small group of people can tank a culture and perpetuate behaviors that are not only bad for staff morale but can threaten an organization’s very existence. With determination, however, and an honest assessment of what the core issues are, leaders can separate the wheat from the chaff and work toward rebuilding a productive, effective work environment. It doesn’t happen overnight, but as in Justin’s case, the positive outcomes are often very much worth the wait.

Read the source article at The Bridgespan Group