CULTURE DOESN'T CHANGE THROUGH SYSTEM: What HR and CEOs often overlook
- Leksana TH
- Oct 12
- 7 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Part 1 of 2 A Short Scene That Happens Far Too Often
I’ve sat in many boardrooms across Southeast Asia where the atmosphere feels deceptively optimistic. The HR team presents a beautifully crafted new performance management cycle. Slides are polished. Processes look logical. KPIs are tightened. Talent architecture is clear. The CEO nods approvingly. The leadership team agrees enthusiastically.
Everyone leaves the room believing transformation has begun.
But few months later, nothing is different. Or if there was a change, it did not last longer than a year after the program hands over happened.
Managers complain the new system adds more admin. Employees say it’s the same conversation wrapped in new templates. Leaders fill in forms but still hesitate to give real feedback. The values posters on the wall feel disconnected from everyday behavior. And HR quietly senses something they cannot yet name: the system is technically correct, but the transformation is not alive.
I’ve seen this pattern in Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City — everywhere.
And it reveals a deeper truth many HR leaders already sense:
Culture does not change through systems. Culture changes through consciousness, relationships, and leadership presence.
Systems matter, yes. But they cannot transform what people have not transformed in themselves.
I. HR Leaders Are Doing Their Best — But They Are Not Supported for the Depth of Work They Are Asked to Do
Let me begin with deep respect.
HR plays one of the most complex, thankless roles in any organization. You are expected to:
Design systems that please CEOs
Protect the company legally
Develop leaders
Manage performance conflicts
Drive culture change
Be the moral compass
And keep everyone happy
It is an impossible mandate.
And in Asia, the pressure is intensified by cultural norms: respect for authority, fear of confrontation, reluctance to challenge the CEO, and a deep desire to maintain harmony.
HR professionals in this context are not only managing systems — they are managing centuries of social conditioning.
So when an HR leader feels stuck, overwhelmed, or powerless to drive culture change, this is not a personal failing.
It is a systemic reality.
This article is an invitation to look beneath that reality.
II. The Fundamental Problem: Excellent Systems, Insufficient Inner Readiness
Most HR leaders are highly trained in:
Organizational structure
Performance management
Compensation design
Labor law
Talent management
Psychological assessment
Learning and development frameworks
These technical skills matter.
But here is what many progressive HR leaders quietly admit when we speak privately:
“I know how to design the system. I just don’t know why people don’t change.”
To answer that, we need to look at the nature of transformation itself.
Peter Senge reminds us:
“Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”
Which means: If leaders and teams behave the same after a system change, it’s because the deeper system — the human system — has not shifted.
Otto Scharmer (Theory U) says transformation requires leaders to evolve their way of seeing — not just their way of doing.
Robert Kegan shows that adults operate from different stages of meaning-making, and most organizational systems don’t reach the depth needed to shift people’s underlying mental models.
Richard Barrett reminds us that culture reflects consciousness — especially the consciousness of those leading the system.
In practice, this means:
You cannot design your way into culture transformation. You can only develop your way into culture transformation.
And most HR leaders, through no fault of their own, have not been guided to develop at the depth required.
III. Why HR Knows People — But Often Cannot Shift People
Many HR leaders come from a psychology background. This is a strength — and a limitation.
Psychology teaches analysis, classification, and understanding of individual traits.
But culture change is not psychological. It is systemic.
Culture is not the sum of individual personalities. Culture is the invisible field created by:
Leadership consciousness
Organizational history
Power structures
Collective traumas
Unspoken rules
Emotional undercurrents
Everyday conversations
What people fear
What gets rewarded
You cannot analyze your way into shifting a system like this.
You have to work with it.
This requires modalities and capacities that most HR academics never teach:
Systemic constellations
Adult development frameworks
Theory U presencing
Collective trauma awareness
Values consciousness
Deep coaching
Energetic leadership presence
Group field facilitation
Embodied leadership development
Adaptive leadership
Organizational dynamics
These are not “nice-to-have” tools. These are the actual mechanisms of transformation.
Without them, HR leaders feel like this:
“I can design the perfect HR system, but I can’t seem to get people to live it.”
It is not a competency issue. It is a developmental gap.
And the gap is growing wider as organizations face:
Higher complexity
Multi-generational workforces
Hybrid collaboration challenges
Burnout
Constant restructuring
Eroding trust
Fear-driven leadership
Unresolved organizational trauma
The world has changed. But the way HR is trained has not.
IV. In Asia, a Silent Constraint: HR Struggles to Manage Up
Here is something few people say openly — but every HR leader in Southeast Asia feels:
HR speaks loudly downward, but very softly upward.
Because in Asian organizations:
CEOs hold concentrated power
Disagreement is seen as disrespect
HR is often positioned as “support”
Conflict is avoided
HR’s job is interpreted as “keep harmony”
Political risk is real
Challenging the CEO can end your career
So HR becomes a messenger of the CEO’s intentions — not a strategic challenger of the CEO’s blind spots.
This is not HR’s fault. It is cultural conditioning.
But the consequence is serious:
You cannot lead culture transformation if you cannot challenge the culture keeper —the CEO.
Many HR leaders know exactly where the problem lies:
CEO emotional reactivity
Senior leaders who avoid accountability
Power imbalances
Fear-driven decision-making
Hidden political battles
Misalignment between values and actions
Leaders who reject feedback
Reward systems that contradict stated values
But they cannot say it.
So the system stays the same.
V. The Hidden Inner Landscape of HR Leaders
Most HR leaders I coach tell me the same things:
“I’m tired of firefighting.” “I feel like I’m doing everything alone.” “I know what needs to change, but I can’t get buy-in.” “I’m afraid of being seen as too emotional or too soft.” “I have to show strength, even when I feel overwhelmed.” “I want to create real impact — not just run processes.”
These confessions reflect a deeper truth:
Most HR professionals are still operating from survival consciousness.
Not because they are weak —but because the system pushes them into it.
Richard Barrett’s levels of consciousness describe this well:
Level 1: Security — “I must survive.”
Level 2: Relationship — “I must be liked.”
Level 3: Self-esteem — “I must be seen as competent.”
When HR leaders are stuck in these levels, they:
Avoid upward truth-telling
Prioritize pleasing the CEO
Stay in overdrive
Overcompensate with frameworks and programs
Struggle to set boundaries
Seek external validation
Fear being seen as ‘too challenging’
This is not a moral failing. It is a developmental reality.
And you cannot facilitate higher consciousness in an organization if you are still navigating survival consciousness in yourself.
This is why inner development is not a luxury.
It is a prerequisite.
VI. Why Transformation Needs More Than Systems:
The System Is Human Before It Is Structural.
Here’s the truth:
HR systems are structural.
Culture is relational.
Systems can shape behavior —but only if people have the inner readiness to adopt them.
Let me offer a simple metaphor:
A system is like a beautifully designed musical score. But without musicians who have trained their inner listening, timing, and emotional expression, the music will always sound mechanical.
Culture is the music. Leaders are the musicians. HR systems are the sheet music.
When leaders lack:
emotional maturity
systemic awareness
developmental depth
relational intelligence
humility
presence
courage
inner calm
genuine care
No system can make them play differently.
VII. A Short, Accessible Sidebar: What Is Systemic Constellation Work?
Many HR leaders in Asia are curious about constellations but unsure what they are.
Here is the simplest, non-technical explanation:
Systemic constellations reveal hidden dynamics in an organization that normal analysis cannot see.
A constellation can quickly surface:
Unspoken power dynamics
Historical events affecting current behavior
Loyalties and invisible rules
Emotional undercurrents
Conflicts people are afraid to verbalize
Leadership blind spots
Systemic blockages
Lack of alignment
Energetic entanglements
Competing priorities
Lack of psychological safety
In 20 minutes, a constellation can reveal what months of consulting cannot.
It does not replace HR systems. It completes them.
Because systems work on the visible and constellations work on the invisible —the part of the system that actually drives behavior.
VIII. A Truth Many HR Leaders Know But Rarely Say
Across Southeast Asia, something interesting is happening:
Many HR leaders are becoming keynote speakers, authors, LinkedIn thought leaders, and influencers. They are celebrated publicly. Their organizations are promoted as “best in class.”
But internally, the culture is struggling. This is not hypocrisy. It is overcompensation.
HR leaders are projecting excellence externally because they do not feel empowered internally.
They feel more freedom on stage than in the boardroom. And when an HR leader’s energy splits— part inside the organization,— part building a future outside it, the system feels it.
Transformation requires full energetic presence. If your attention is divided, your impact is divided. Again, this is not moral judgment. It is energetic reality.
IX. The Real Work HR Needs to Do — Inner, Structural, and Upward
Transformation requires three parallel shifts, and all three must happen together.
Shift 1 — The HR Leader’s Inner Development
You cannot facilitate transformation at a level deeper than the level you operate from.
Inner development includes:
Shadow work
Recognizing your fear patterns
Trauma-informed awareness
Growing your presence and listening
Developing the capacity to hold tension
Moving from survival → integration → purpose-driven leadership
Strengthening boundaries
Increasing emotional range
Expanding systemic awareness
This is the foundation.
When you shift inwardly, your organization feels it.
Shift 2 — The Organizational System Redesign (Structural + Conversational + Energetic)
System redesign must go beyond structure.
You redesign what conversations leaders have, how they listen, how they think together, where attention flows, and how energy moves in meetings.
This is where my integration of:
Systemic constellations
Systemic intelligence
Theory U
Leadership Circle
Barrett Values
Developmental psychology
Adaptive leadership
Trauma-informed facilitation
Executive coaching
comes into one practical, grounded methodology.
It’s not theory. It’s the actual mechanics of transformation.
Shift 3 — Managing Up: Speaking Truth to Power with Wisdom
You cannot change culture without changing the leadership dynamic above you.
This requires:
Courage
Presence
Systemic diagnosis
Strategic timing
Emotional neutrality
Developmental maturity
Understanding CEO psychology
Elegant truth-telling
Respectful challenge
This is where most HR leaders struggle. And this is where coaching and systemic facilitation can completely change the game.
(to be continued to part 2)
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Leksana TH
