By Jonathan H. Westover, PhD
Abstract: This article explores strategies for preserving organizational culture during leadership changes. It emphasizes the importance of aligning employees around core values, clearly communicating the company's purpose, and empowering employees at all levels. By defining and socializing core values, articulating the higher purpose of the organization, and fostering employee empowerment through decision-making authority and autonomy, companies can sustain their cultural integrity even as leaders come and go. Case studies from various industries illustrate how these strategies effectively maintain cultural continuity and enhance organizational resilience. Ultimately, a well-managed cultural framework enables companies to navigate transitions smoothly, ensuring that culture remains a steadfast driver of success and identity.
Company culture has long been seen as a key determinant of organizational success. A strong, positive culture can help drive engagement, innovation, and performance. However, culture is also fragile—it can be threatened when the leaders who helped shape and exemplify that culture depart. The loss of key leaders risks more than just disruption; it potentially undermines the very foundation of a company’s identity. And yet, leadership transitions are inevitable.
Today we will explore research-backed strategies for maintaining strong culture even as leaders leave. Through alignment of values, communication of “why”, and empowerment of all employees, companies can navigate change in a way that sustains what gives them life.
Research Foundation for Company Culture
Academic research has demonstrated culture’s importance time and again. According to Deal and Kennedy (1982), culture refers to the deep patterns of values, beliefs, and behaviors that develop within an organization. It acts as the “glue” that coordinates what people do (Cameron & Quinn, 2011). Numerous studies have linked positive, mission-driven cultures to higher employee commitment (Ostroff et al., 2013), customer satisfaction, innovation (Shao et al., 2013), and financial returns (Friesen et al., 2013). In contrast, poor or misaligned cultures undermine these advantages and leave companies vulnerable. Therefore, sustaining a strong culture during leadership transitions is mission-critical for organizational success.
Values Alignment
The foundation for maintaining culture is aligning employees around core organizational values. Research shows values determine employee behaviors to a significant degree (Finegan, 2000). When leaders depart, employees can lose their compass if values are not effectively communicated and exemplified. To sustain positive culture:
Clearly define your core values: Use a collaborative process to identify 2-5 principles that capture your company's purpose and way of doing business.
Socialize values company-wide: Communicate values via onboarding, employee handbooks, walls/posters, stories of lived values. Foster discussions of how work fulfills values daily.
Hire and promote based on values fit: Look beyond skills/experience. Prioritize candidates whose personal values align naturally with the role and company's.
Model values in leadership: Make values-driven decisions. Admit mistakes transparently. New leaders must internalize values first to guide others.
The consistency of values provides an ideological "through line" even as people change. Companies like Ford and Mercedes-Benz credit adherence to core values with maintaining identity for over a century despite multiple leadership successions.
Communicating Purpose and "Why"
Closely tied to values is communicating an inspirational sense of organizational purpose—the "why" behind the work. Research shows people are motivated primarily by higher meaning and impact, not just profit or reward (Pink, 2009). When leaders leave, purpose can fade if not continually reinforced. Leading companies address this by:
Articulate why your work matters: Beyond products/services, define your company's higher societal contribution in an emotive, values-driven way.
Connect purpose to daily work: Regularly showcase real customer impact stories. Illustrate concrete ways each role fulfills purpose.
Make purpose a leadership cornerstone: New leaders must express clear commitment and energize others around fulfilling the "why".
Reinforce purpose across touchpoints: From meetings to marketing, integrate consistent reminders of greater significance behind efforts.
By keeping higher purpose at the forefront even during transitions, employees stay inspired, focused and bonded through a shared sense of meaning beyond individual roles or leaders. This unity of mission provides stability.
Employee Empowerment
While alignment of values and articulation of purpose provide the ideological “software”, implementing an empowering culture is the practical “hardware” through which these manifest daily. According research, employee engagement and initiative rise when individuals are trusted with meaningful responsibility and autonomy (Harter et al., 2002). To foster empowerment during leadership changes:
Delegate decision-making authority: Give employees clear domains to make timely choices within policy guidelines.
Promote self-managed teams: Cross-functional groups directly accountable for outcomes boost peer accountability.
Invest in skills development: Ongoing training allows growing responsibility over time.
Implement suggestion programs: Invite grassroots innovation; reward creativity fairly.
Share performance information: Transparency about metrics, budgets inspires ownership for sustainable success.
Empowerment develops intrinsic motivation and “owners’ mindset” regardless of person in the top job. It ensures culture is driven from within at all levels rather than imposed from above.
Practical Application
These strategies have proven effective for maintaining culture through leadership transitions in various industries.
At government service provider U.S. Digital Service (USDS), core values around public service, openness and empowerment have endured three leadership handovers. Townhalls communicate relentless focus on citizen impact as technology accelerates accessibility. Rotating short-term “tours of duty” brings in outside talent on one-year contracts, cross-pollinating values through ongoing refreshing.
Engineering firm SAS prepares well in advance for founder Jim Goodnight’s eventual retirement through entrenching respect, integrity and “client-first” values. Open book management shares business realities with all. Self-managed agile teams autonomously carry innovation forward, while monthly newsletters remind 9,000+ global employees how analytics empower better decision-making elsewhere.
Construction giant Skanska developed its Nordic Values playbook for adhering to Sustainability, Care, Commitment and Ethics throughout Sweden, Norway, Finland, Poland and UK. Regional “Values Ambassadors” cascade principles through activities recognizing coworkers living principles. Regular all-hands “Values Days” unpack real-life dilemmas with emphasis on behaving right, not just being compliant.
Conclusion
In today's complex business landscape defined by constant flux, maintaining culture may be the ultimate organizational constant companies can control. Research shows culture acts as an invisible yet powerful driver shaping how people think and work together. By developing a shared bedrock of guiding values and higher purpose, clearly communicating the "why", and empowering employees at all levels to shape daily realities, companies can sustain their core identity with continuity even as leaders evolve over time. With proactive stewardship of defining cultural attributes, transitions need not equate to disruption but represent opportunities for reinvigoration. A strong culture anchored in people and principles outlives any single person and sustains organizational effectiveness far into the future.
References
Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (2011). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Deal, T. E., & Kennedy, A. A. (1982). Corporate cultures: The rites and rituals of corporate life. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Finegan, J. (2000). The impact of person and organizational values on organizational commitment. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 73, 149-169. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317900166897
Friesen, L., Kay, A. C., Eibach, R. P., & Galinsky, A. D. (2013). Seeking structure in social organization: Compensatory control and the psychological advantages of hierarchy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105(4), 590–609. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033786
Harter, J., Schmidt, F., & Hayes, T. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), 268-279. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.2.268
Ostroff, C., Shin, Y., & Kinicki, A. J. (2013). Organizational culture and climate. In N. W. Schmitt & S. Highhouse (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Vol. 12. Industrial and organizational psychology (2nd ed., pp. 643-676). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.
Shao, Z., Feng, Y., & Liu, L. (2012). The mediating effect of organizational culture and knowledge sharing on transformational leadership and enterprise resource planning systems success: An empirical study in China. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2400-2413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.07.011
Jonathan H. Westover, PhD is Chief Academic & Learning Officer (HCI Academy); Chair/Professor, Organizational Leadership (UVU); OD Consultant (Human Capital Innovations). Read Jonathan Westover's executive profile here.
Suggested Citation: Westover, J. H. (2024). Maintaining Company Culture through Transition: Strategies for Continuing Strong Culture When Key Leaders Depart. Human Capital Leadership Review, 11(1). doi.org/10.70175/hclreview.2020.11.1.10
