If you are out there actually changing your culture, then I need to prepare you for the inevitable. Well, maybe “inevitable” is too strong a word. But after you make progress moving in the direction of the desired culture, you are probably going to slide backwards towards the old ways.

Cultures are strong things. They’ve been around for a while They’ve worn grooves or ruts in your road, and even though you’ve popped the car out of those ruts to move in a different direction, every now and then those wheels will catch again, and you find yourself in your old patterns.

Don’t freak out about this, and don’t declare your culture effort to be a failure. This doesn’t have to be a drama-laden episode. Simply pop those wheels back out of the rut, since now you know it can be done. This is the work of culture change, particularly at the beginning.

Do the work.