Culture Change Doesn't Happen in a Vacuum: Shape the Path

by Aaron Chan

In the first two parts of this series, we looked at the Rider and the Elephant.

We talked about giving people clarity.

We talked about creating the emotional connection and helping people find a reason to move.

But there is one more piece of the puzzle.

Because even when people know what to do and want to do it, they can still find themselves working in an environment that makes the old behaviour easier.

And this is where we come to the third part of Chip and Dan Heath's Switch:

Shape the Path.

Sometimes, it's not the person

I think this is an important shift in how we look at culture change.

When people don't behave the way we want them to, our first reaction can be:

“Why aren't they changing?”

Maybe we need to train them. Maybe we need to communicate more. Maybe they need to be more committed. Maybe they need to take more ownership. But perhaps we should pause and ask another question:

“What is it about the environment that is making the old behaviour easier?”

Because behaviour doesn't happen in isolation.

It happens within a system.

The processes.

The policies.

The technology.

The way decisions are made.

All of these things shape behaviour — often without us even realising it.

Make the right behaviour easier

Let's take collaboration as an example.

Imagine an organisation saying:

“We need to collaborate more.”

But teams are measured entirely on their own individual targets. Information is kept within departments. People need five levels of approval before making a decision. Meetings are mostly attended by people from the same function. And everyone is already overloaded with work. Then we wonder why collaboration isn't happening.

Perhaps the problem isn't that people don't understand collaboration. Perhaps we have designed a system that makes collaboration difficult.

If we want different behaviour, sometimes we need to change the environment around that behaviour.

Look for the friction

One of the questions I like to ask when working with organisations is:

“What is making the behaviour we want difficult?”

If we want people to give feedback, but there is never any time in our meetings for meaningful conversations, perhaps the issue isn't that people don't value feedback.

If we want people to innovate, but every new idea requires multiple approvals, perhaps the issue isn't a lack of creativity.

If we want people to take ownership, but every decision has to go through the boss, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised when people keep waiting for instructions.

Sometimes, the behaviour we are asking for is competing against the system we have created.

And when that happens, the system usually wins.

Build it into the way people work

Culture is not created through one workshop. It is created through repetition. If we want a behaviour to stick, we need to find ways to build it into the everyday rhythm of work.

For example:

Want more reflection?

Build reflection into the end of every project.

Want better accountability?

Make commitments visible and follow them up.

Want more feedback?

Make feedback part of regular one-to-ones.

Want more collaboration?

Create shared goals rather than only individual targets.

The less people have to rely on remembering to “do the new thing”, the more likely it is to become a habit.

Eventually, we stop thinking about it as a new behaviour.

It just becomes the way we work.

Change the Path, not just the people

Perhaps this is the biggest lesson for me from this part of Switch.

When culture isn't changing, don't immediately assume that people are the problem.

Look at the Path.

Ask:

What are our systems rewarding?

What behaviours are our processes encouraging?

Where are we creating unnecessary friction?

What have we made easy?

What have we made difficult?

Bringing the three together

And perhaps this is why I like the simplicity of the Rider, Elephant and Path metaphor.

The Rider needs clarity. The Elephant needs motivation. And the Path needs to support the journey.

If we only work on one, the change becomes difficult to sustain. People can know what to do but not care enough to do it. They can care deeply but not know what to do. Or they can have both clarity and motivation, but keep running into systems and processes that make the change almost impossible. Real culture change happens when we bring all three together.