This is the challenge that many organisations face. Is now the right time to change? How do we change when we do not have our people with us?

The reality is cultures evolve regardless of whether you are actively trying to make a change or not. Recent events will only have accelerated these changes. You are better actively managing them than letting it slide into a position that is not healthy for your organisation or its people.

So where do we start? The problem is 'culture work' is generally not well understood. Organisational leaders sit in a room for a couple of days, come up with some values, and think the job is done. As many of us know - this is only the very beginning of a long journey.

A few things to think about:

FIRST UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU HAVE - Articulating your current culture can be tricky. Use the tools you have already, engagement surveys, exit interviews, Employee Value Propositions etc. Do make sure that you talk to people though. Ask people: 'What's it like to work around here?','What type of people get praised most?', 'Where are the cool places to work here?', 'What has changed?'.

KNOW WHERE YOU WANT TO GO - Once you know what your cultural strengths are, and the potential areas of weakness, what do you want to do about it? How will this impact your strategy? Do you want to be a different organisation with different working practices? Do you have a choice?

INVOLVE SOCIAL GROUP LEADERS - These are the people that you work with who everyone knows. They have been around forever and understand how to get things done. They may not be your top talent or senior leadership - but they know what’s going on and are prepared to talk about it.

CULTURE EVOLUTION TAKES TIME - It’s not easy and it’s not straight forward. You will make mistakes, and have unexpected successes, but you really do have to be in it for the long game.

MEASURE IT - If you do not measure it, then how will you know you are on the right path? Each organisation will have different things that are worth measuring depending on who they are and where they are going. Just make sure though, that you have a mix of hard and soft measures.

ALIGN YOUR HR PROCESSES - If you are not recruiting people that will support your desired organisation culture - then you are wasting money. If you do not reward those that demonstrate your desired behaviours - then why should people bother?

It is not easy - but it makes the difference. If we do not start this journey now, when will we ever?