Change management: the costly blind spot

Too often, companies approach transformation with linear tools: project management, communication plans, individual coaching. These methods bring rigor, but they are not enough to trigger real change.

Why? Because they don’t address the heart of the matter: organizational culture.

Culture as a Strategic Lever

The research of Edgar Schein, Gerry Johnson, and Peter Senge converges on one point: resistance to change is not rational. It arises from shared beliefs, collective routines, and implicit narratives that structure the life of an organization.

Ignoring these dimensions condemns any transformation to remain cosmetic: structures may change, but behaviors and underlying logics persist.

The real challenge, therefore, is to align structure and culture.

Transformation plans provide the framework; cultural work ensures depth and sustainability.

It starts with an exploration phase

Before acting, one must understand what holds the system together — or what makes it resist.

  • Map the routines: what people do without thinking, yet which shapes daily life.
  • Explore collective narratives: the shared stories that express “who we are” and “what matters here.”
  • Uncover mental models: the tacit beliefs that guide decisions and fuel resistance.

This exploratory work requires a qualitative, sensitive, and systemic approach.

HR leaders and managers play a central role: creating spaces for listening, valuing employees’ voices, and facilitating the surfacing of collective representations.

… Then comes cultural transformation

The example of ING (Netherlands) illustrates a successful alignment of structure and culture.

In 2015, the bank launched a large-scale transformation to become more agile in response to fintech competition.

It reorganized teams into multidisciplinary squads, grouped into tribes, reducing hierarchy and empowering employees end-to-end.

But the decisive shift was cultural:

  • Shifting from control to trust by granting real autonomy to teams.
  • Encouraging experimentation, rapid feedback, and continuous learning.
  • Bringing IT, business, and operations closer together to break down silos.
  • Establishing rituals of transparency and co-location, strengthening communication and collective alignment.

These levers created an environment where culture supports strategy instead of hindering it.

The results:

  • Higher employee engagement,
  • Greater responsiveness to customer needs,
  • Reduced time-to-market for digital products.

Today, ING is recognized as a European benchmark for successfully combining structural and cultural transformation.

In conclusion:

cultural transformation cannot be decreed

Working on culture means accepting to go deep — into beliefs, emotions, and collective interactions.

It is not a matter of communication but of profound accompaniment.

That is why organizational coaching is often necessary: it bridges strategy and lived experience, creates the conditions for collective learning, and helps the organization transform from within, without imposing an external model.

Organizational coaching acts as a systemic mirror: it helps teams see what they no longer see, reconnect meaning with action, and transform culture without forcing it.

Key Takeaways

  • No lasting transformation without cultural work.
  • Culture is not a “soft issue” — it is a strategic asset.
  • Organizational coaching is the catalyst, as it reconnects structure, culture, and meaning.
  • Aligning framework and culture anchors change deeply in practices and mindsets.

As Edgar Schein aptly put it: “If you don’t manage culture, it manages you.”