Part 2: How To Pay Down Your Culture Debt
Key Take-Aways:
Diagnosing culture debt starts with a baseline. Listen to employees and look for misalignment signals.
Culture must be treated like an asset—tracked, measured, and aligned to operations and performance.
Fixes are possible, but they require intentional communication, leadership modeling, and strategic reinforcement.
You can’t build culture retroactively, but you can recalibrate. Here’s how.
Start with a culture baseline
Use employee listening tools, interviews, or assessments (like the Culture CURV) to understand where alignment is strong or fraying. Don’t assume leaders and staff experience culture the same way.Treat culture like an asset
As organizational psychologist Dr. Edgar Schein noted, “The only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture.” Build culture KPIs into executive dashboards, board reporting, and strategic plans.Communicate with intentional cadence
During high-change periods, information should be timely, relevant, and two-way. Weekly video updates, town halls, and feedback loops signal that leadership is with employees, not just ahead of them.Align values with daily behaviors
Audit reward systems, recognition programs, and client service models to ensure they reinforce—not contradict—your stated values. If excellence is a core value, do you recognize quiet diligence as much as heroic recoveries?Invest in onboarding
New hires, and especially new acquisitions, need cultural orientation just as much as systems training. This includes storytelling, values immersion, and connection to peers across offices and service lines.
Your Culture Is Your Competitive Advantage
In a time of AI transformation, talent shortages, and fee compression, culture isn’t a “soft” issue. It’s your differentiator. Firms with strong cultures have higher employee engagement, better client relationships, and more resilient growth. According to Deloitte, 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct workplace culture is important to business success (Deloitte Human Capital Trends, 2021).
If your firm is growing fast, don’t just focus on what you’re building; focus on what you might be leaving behind. Culture debt is real. The sooner you start repaying it, the stronger your foundation will be.
what’s inside counts