How Change Happens

Human resources leaders and teams have a pivotal role to play in enabling enterprise-wide cultural change to advance their organization’s commitment to equity and belonging.

Despite significant corporate investments and public commitments to DEIB, frontline employees continue to report the lowest overall feelings of inclusion and are 20% less likely than corporate employees to believe that DEIB policies are effective. More than 70% want to be promoted within their companies—but only 4% advance to corporate roles.

Practice and policy change needs to be accompanied by a focus on mental model shifts and culture change in order for organizations to see impactful and sustainable progress. In How Change Happens, we introduce an actionable change management strategy for HR leaders designed to address the harmful policies, practices, norms, narratives, and relationships that hold systemic inequities in place.

Change Management Process for HR

Based on our work with companies and the advisers who support them, we’ve identified a five-step process for shifting organizational culture and mental models. While the steps are generally sequential, this work is iterative and ongoing—progress is nonlinear, and each stage reinforces the others over time. Used together, these steps give HR leaders a practical roadmap for driving the sustained, enterprise-wide change needed to create more equitable and inclusive workplaces.