Jessica Kriegel, Chief Scientist of Workplace Culture, Culture Partners.
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Haleon, the home of Sensodyne toothpaste and Advil (thank you!), is the world’s largest standalone consumer health business. It started as a subset of GSK Pharma, a large British biopharma company. After years of combined success, GSK and Haleon executed a demerger in 2022 for mutual financial gain and a culture shift.
For Haleon's leadership, one of the most important elements of the separation was being seen as a “flat” culture. GSK had a longstanding hierarchical culture; Haleon had 140 people in the most senior leadership ranks out of about 24,000 GSK employees. All 140 were expected to show that they were making their teams flatter and more casual and more customer-centric.
Dana Bolden, Haleon's chief corporate affairs executive at the time, was a big proponent of culture as a driver of growth. He also understood the power of small actions, which is why, at the black-tie demerger event, he paired Air Jordan sneakers with his tuxedo.
Why? Bolden thought it was a great way to signal that, at the new company, people could be themselves fully and not have to dilute themselves for the sake of a hierarchy. With this move, he made a clear statement: “This is us, and this is how we’re different.”
A Culture Shift That Avoids The ‘Action Trap’
By stepping out in a pair of sneakers, Bolden successfully showed that his approach to building a new culture wasn't just another snare in what we call the "Action Trap." Too many leaders think creating the right culture means launching initiative after initiative, expecting them to produce the desired results. What they fail to do is consider experiences and the beliefs they create.
This approach doesn’t lead to results. Instead, employees feel overwhelmed because they have to deal with countless spreadsheets, check-ins and status reports. The human element behind the change is missed and culture ends up sinking. An effective culture shift creates positive, lasting experiences that develop new beliefs in employees. People have a sense of belonging that leads to greater actions and results.
The Road To Your Desired Culture
Leaders in any company can have similar success. Throughout my career, I've seen that the key is crafting a road map that guides a company’s venture with precision. It helps to determine necessary steps, establish tight deadlines and clearly define roles and responsibilities.
The result? Actual progress that is tangible in every metric, including corporate growth and employee retention. In fact, Culture Partners conducted a study and found that culture strength increases by 62% when companies follow a road map.
Here are a few pillars that company leaders can build on to make a positive impact:
• Accountability: This is the first step toward achieving the desired culture results. Having ownership over outcomes impacts experiences, which shapes beliefs and can lead to effective actions. Accountability also creates a sense of autonomy in employees that helps them grow.
• Benchmark: You must mark each milestone. That means recording and tracking results, metrics and deadlines. Be sure this data is available for all to see because morale lifts when employees can visualize success and their role in it.
• The Rule Of Three: If you want to replicate positive results, they need to be remembered. The rule of three—a common writing tool—is an effective method to achieve this. Highlight three ways that embodying the workplace culture has impacted the company and the individual.
When it comes to making a culture shift in the workplace, things don’t have to be complicated. Sometimes all it takes is a single forward step (in a pair of Jordans).
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