Culture is critical to change

According to the 2013 Culture and Change Management Survey by Booz & Company, 86 per cent of C-suite executives and 84 per cent of all managers and employees say culture is critical to their organisations' success, and 60 per cent see it as a bigger success factor than either their strategy or their operating model.

Still culture doesn't seem to be a priority when companies are trying to drive change. Only 24 per cent said their companies used the existing culture as a source of energy and influence during the change effort. By contrast, 70 per cent of respondents who said change efforts at their companies were adopted and sustained also said their companies leveraged employees' pride and emotional commitment in the organisation.

The biggest obstacles to successful change are "change fatigue" (which occurs when workers are asked to follow through on too many changes at once). Forty-four percent employees say they don't understand the change they're being asked to make.This sort of uncertainty can keep a change initiative from gaining momentum, finds the survey.