Organisational culture is poised to remain a top five priority for HR leaders in 2025 a trend that underscores its critical role in driving long-term business success.
In fact, business history is full of examples of how failure to establish and maintain a strong and positive culture creates instability and hinders performance and overall business growth.
While research has long highlighted the importance of culture and the challenges in getting it right, it is becoming increasingly clear that the real struggle lies not in identifying or caring about culture but in embedding it into the fabric of daily work. For instance, a recent survey of 1,400 HR leaders across 60 countries found that 97% aimed to change some aspect of their organisation’s culture.
Falling Short
Despite having a clear vision and employee buy-in, many organisations continue to fall short of translating cultural aspirations into tangible, everyday behaviours. In essence, embedding culture remains the uncracked code for most companies. However, recent advances in technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), could provide the key to unlocking a solution to overcoming the challenge of embedding culture.
That said, technology has also made embedding culture more challenging over the past decade, largely due to the rise of hybrid working practices, further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, redefining how employees interact, collaborate, and connect. These changes, while beneficial for flexibility and productivity, have added complexity to the task of fostering a unified and vibrant organisational culture in everyday work.
Nonetheless, we believe that the rewards of successfully embedding organisational culture substantially outweigh the obstacles such that it is worth persevering: studies indicate it can lead to a 35% increase in performance, 63% higher employee engagement, and a 25% rise in employee retention. This explains why addressing this challenge has become a top priority for leaders. Between 2021 and 2023, the number of CEOs who reported adopting an intentional and rigorous approach to culture more than tripled, rising from 11% to 35%. This “rigorous approach” reflects a commitment to integrating core values into daily behaviours and interactions – the moments that truly define a company’s culture.
The Tools for the Job
But what tools do CEOs and CHROs have to take a more rigorous and intentional approach to embedding culture? Traditional methods, like posters in elevators, may, at best, provide reminders, but they fail to translate those values into the daily behaviours and interactions that define a thriving culture.
Advances in technology, such as virtual meetings in the Metaverse or online collaboration platforms, can enhance productivity and improve employee well-being, but they address only limited dimensions of culture. What about fostering innovation, curiosity, determination, or ambition? Every organisation has its own unique values, yet many of these technologies fall short in supporting the behavioural alignment needed to bring those values to life in day-to-day work.
Imagine if every employee had access to a personal behavioural coach who deeply understood their organisation’s values and could guide them in aligning their actions accordingly…
How AI can embed company culture
Thanks to advancements in AI technology, the concept of personalised behavioural coaching is no longer a distant aspiration but an achievable reality. AI can deliver real-time coaching to employees, promoting culturally aligned behaviours during their daily interactions – an innovation spearheaded by ScultureAI. Unlike traditional culture coaching, which is often reserved for senior leaders, AI has the potential to democratise access, enabling every employee to contribute to a strong, cohesive organisational culture at all levels.
In today’s digital-first workplace, countless interactions occur daily online, many of which are practically invisible to organisations as they happen. This lack of visibility has historically hindered efforts to embed culture effectively, as these interactions are where culture is formed and reinforced. However, AI overcomes these challenges by seamlessly integrating into existing digital workflows, like Slack, email or Teams, offering employees real-time, private feedback and coaching to align their behaviours with organisational values.
We should note that a privacy-first approach is essential for any AI-based culture coaching tool. Both individuals and organisations may harbour concerns about sensitive information being stored or misused, with employees particularly wary of their conversations or feedback being repurposed for performance evaluations or assessments. Such fears could inadvertently create the wrong impression of surveillance rather than support, undermining the tool’s purpose. To mitigate these risks, robust privacy policies must be at the forefront, prioritising trust and confidentiality above all else. Employees need assurance that the tool is designed to facilitate cultural alignment and behavioural growth, not to serve as a mechanism for oversight or control.
Final Thoughts
Harnessing AI to scale culture coaching marks a transformative step forward for HR leaders and executives. AI-powered tools like ScultureAI offer a unique opportunity to translate intangible cultural values into tangible actions, embedding them seamlessly into daily interactions. This ensures that culture evolves from being a static statement to a dynamic force driving behaviour and decision-making across the organisation.
With AI’s ability to deliver real-time, context-sensitive feedback, companies can bring the vision of a strong, cohesive culture to life – reinforcing it consistently and responsively across teams, departments, seniorities, and geographies.
