CULTURE DOESN'T CHANGE THROUGH SYSTEM: What HR and CEOs Often Overlook

Part 2 of 2

X. Why CEOs Need to Understand Transformation Differently

Most CEOs assume culture shifts when HR rolls out:

• a new performance cycle

• a leadership framework

• a values refresh

• competency models

• employee engagement initiatives

But McKinsey’s global research has shown for more than a decade:

70% of transformation efforts fail — not because the system is wrong, but because the leadership consciousness doesn’t shift.

In the Asian corporate landscape, this is even more pronounced because:

• Hierarchy is strong

• CEOs tend to centralize decision-making

• Confrontation is avoided

• Leaders rarely receive upward feedback

• Saving face matters more than vulnerability

• Emotional expression is constrained

• Relationship harmony is prioritized over truth

So when CEOs expect culture change to trickle down, they are overlooking the truth:

Culture flows from the consciousness of the leadership team — not the structure of HR.

Here is the uncomfortable reality:

If the CEO doesn’t evolve, the culture won’t evolve.

If the executive team doesn’t change its way of thinking, relating, and listening, the organization will keep recycling the same patterns.

If senior leaders still:

• avoid honest conversation

• operate in silos

• use authority instead of inquiry

• reward compliance instead of courage

• tolerate political behavior

• fail to model vulnerability

then no HR system can change the culture.

This is why I often say:

The fastest way to assess an organization’s culture is to spend one hour with its senior leadership team.

They are the culture.

Not HR. Not the system. Not the workforce. Not the posters.

Culture = leadership energy in motion.

This is the piece CEOs often overlook — and the place HR struggles to address.

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XI. Real Transformation Is Visible at the Frontline — Not the Boardroom

Let’s be honest: Most executives think culture transformation is successful if:

• workshop attendance is high

• people are “engaged” in sessions

• values are launched beautifully

• communication campaigns are well-received

• consultants deliver glossy reports

The Leadership conversation changes, the energy in the room shifts, the everyday micro-behaviors realign and business outcomes improves - naturally.

But culture is not measured in meeting rooms. It lives at the frontline.

Culture becomes real when:

• team leaders speak honestly

• employees feel psychologically safe

• conflict becomes constructive

• people admit mistakes

• collaboration happens naturally

• fear decreases in the system

• frontline decisions reflect the values

• managers coach instead of command

You know transformation is working when:

the conversation quality changes, the energy in the room shifts, the everyday micro-behaviors realign, and business outcomes improve — naturally.

If only the boardroom shifts, but the frontline stays the same, you don’t have transformation — you have a well-presented storyline.

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XII. Three Signs You’re Actually Changing Culture

After years facilitating systemic transformation, I’ve seen these three unmistakable indicators that real change is happening.

Sign 1 — Leaders Start Telling the Truth Earlier and Easier

You hear things like:

• “I need to admit something…”

• “I was reacting from fear.”

• “I realize I’ve been avoiding a conversation.”

• “Let’s talk about the real issue.”

Truth replaces performance.

When this begins to happen, the system becomes more alive.

Sign 2 — Meetings Become Spaces of Learning, Not Performance

Leaders:

• listen more deeply

• interrupt less

• explore rather than judge

• ask questions instead of giving advice

• reflect on their own patterns

• offer support instead of guilt

This is a sign the leadership system is evolving developmentally.

Sign 3 — Frontline Employees Feel the Shift Without Being Told

When frontline teams say:

• “Something feels different.”

• “Our leaders are calmer.”

• “We’re talking more honestly.”

• “We’re solving things faster.”

• “There’s less fear.”

You know the culture is coming alive.

This is the real measure.

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XIII. What HR Leaders Can Start Doing Immediately

You might wonder:

Where do I start if the system feels too big or too political?

Here are practical, immediate steps.

You can't lead anyone else further than you have gone yourself.

A. Start with Yourself — Inner Development First

Ask yourself:

• What am I afraid to say to the CEO?

• What patterns do I repeat under pressure?

• Where do I seek validation?

• What unconscious loyalties do I carry?

• How do I behave when I feel unsafe?

• What are my triggers in leadership conversations?

• Where does my presence uplift or collapse energy?

Transformation begins with self-honesty.

B. Shift Your Energy Before You Shift Your System

Your energy sets the tone for HR.

When you:

• enter rooms grounded

• ask honest questions

• hold silence with confidence

• stay in curiosity, not defensiveness

• speak truth without aggression

• hold steady in the face of senior pressure

… leaders feel the difference.

This is not psychology. This is presence.

C. Redesign Conversations — Not Just Systems

Start inviting leadership teams into deeper conversations:

• “What are we not talking about that we should be?”

• “What emotions are present in this room right now?”

• “What is the fear beneath this resistance?”

• “What is the real cost if we don’t address this dynamic?”

• “How do we want to be together as leaders?”

Culture transformation begins when conversations deepen.

D. Use Constellation Micro-Exercises

You don’t need a full constellation workshop. Simple constellation-inspired activities can surface so much:

• Map the leadership system

• Place roles in a room and observe dynamics

• Represent the relationship between “vision” and “current reality”

• Allow people to stand where they feel drawn in the system

• Reveal hidden blockages visually

These small practices unlock big insights.

E. Begin Managing Up with Elegance and Courage

You don’t need to fight. You just need to speak from a place of truth and care.

Try:

“Here’s what the system is showing us…”“I’d like to share a pattern I’m sensing…”“I believe we can go deeper here…”“What if we look at this from another level?”

“I want to offer something that could help us move forward…”

When spoken from centered presence, truth becomes easier for CEOs to receive.

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XIV . What CEOs Need From HR — That HR Is Rarely Empowered to Give

CEOs don’t just need HR to design systems.

What CEOs truly need (but rarely articulate) is an HR partner who can:

• help them see blind spots

• reveal systemic dynamics

• challenge assumptions respectfully

• bring psychological safety into leadership conversations

• help the team confront reality

• serve as a mirror to the leadership system

• enable deeper collective intelligence

• integrate multiple transformational modalities

• facilitate tough conversations without causing rupture

• help them grow developmentally

Most CEOs in Asia have never experienced HR operating at this level. When they do, it changes everything.

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XV. What “Integrated Transformation” Actually Means

Leaders often ask me:

“What exactly do you do that is different from typical consulting or coaching?”

Here is my honest answer:

I work at the level where transformation actually happens —the level where systems breathe, where relationships form, and where consciousness shifts.

This is not one modality. It is an integrated, living framework that draws from:

• Systemic constellations

• Systemic intelligence

• Systems thinking (Senge)

• Theory U (Scharmer)

• Adult development (Kegan)

• Leadership Circle

• Barrett Values

• Internal Family Systems

• Trauma-informed facilitation

• Adaptive leadership (Heifetz)

• McKinsey change leadership research

• Deep coaching methodologies

Most consultants offer frameworks. Most coaches offer conversation. Most HR leaders offer processes.

Integrated transformation fuses all three: system + relationship + consciousness.

This is the depth HR and CEOs often overlook —not because they are unaware, but because few practitioners know how to guide work at this level.

Sustained change always starts from the Inside.

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XVI. So What Does Real Culture Change Look Like?

When this integrated approach is used, organizations experience:

1. A Leadership Team That Becomes More Human and More Conscious

• More truthful

• More reflective

• More attuned

• More emotionally intelligent

• More connected

2. A System That Stops Pretending and Starts Learning

• Hidden issues surface

• People speak honestly

• Decisions are clearer

• Alignment is stronger

• Energy is cleaner

3. HR Becomes a Strategic Partner — Not an Administrative Unit

• Influencing the CEO

• Elevating leadership conversations

• Embedding systemic practices

• Facilitating deep transformation

• Being taken seriously

• Leading with presence

4. The Frontline Feels the Shift Without Being Told

This is the real proof of transformation.

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XVII. A Path Forward — Beginning With One Conversation

If you’ve read this far, it means you already know:

You’re not interested in surface-level change. You’re not looking for another tool or framework. You’re drawn to what’s deeper, systemic, real, and alive.

Whether you’re an HR leader or a CEO, the first step is simple:

Start with a diagnostic conversation.

Not a presentation. Not a pitch. Not a pre-designed program.

A genuine exploration of:

• What is happening in your system right now?

• What deeper patterns are shaping your culture?

• Where your leadership team is developmentally?

• What your HR function needs to operate at its next level?

• What hidden dynamics are blocking transformation?

• What becomes possible if you work at depth?

Sometimes, in just one conversation, clarity emerges that has been missing for years.

An Invitation to Experience Systemic Depth

If appropriate, we can also create a pilot constellation or leadership insight session —a short, powerful experience where your leadership team can:

• see hidden dynamics made visible

• surface blind spots in a safe space

• understand their own patterns

• feel the difference between intellectual change and embodied change

• reconnect to purpose and alignment

These sessions often become a turning point. Leaders say:

“We have never worked like this before.” “It felt honest.” “This was the real conversation.” “Now we understand what’s been blocking us.”

This is the beginning of transformation —not on paper, but in the living system of your organization.

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XVIII. Closing Reflection: Culture Changes When Leaders Do

Culture will never change just because systems change. Culture shifts when:

• leaders evolve

• conversations deepen

• truth becomes safer

• HR steps into its full presence

• systemic dynamics are understood

• the inner landscape of leadership shifts

This work is demanding. It is emotional. It is developmental. It is systemic. But it is also deeply human — and profoundly worth it.

Because when an organization becomes alive, people become alive within it.

And that is the culture every leader is longing to create.

If you’d like to explore what this could look like for your organization, I’m here.

Not to pitch. Not to prescribe.

But to discover with you what becomes possible when we stop relying on systems alone —and begin working at the depth where real transformation actually happens.

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Leksana TH