🧑🔎 How Values and Behaviors Drive Results in the Workplace: New Culture Case Studies from McLean & Company

Wednesday, 04 February 2026 04:33.PM

- With organizations increasingly facing talent pressures and rising expectations around employee experience, many still struggle to translate culture into practical, day-to-day behaviors. New case studies from global HR research and advisory firm McLean & Company spotlight how organizations across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors are intentionally designing and articulating culture to support strategy, engagement, and organizational performance. -

As HR leaders continue to seek to connect culture, strategy, and employee experience, values statements alone are not enough to drive meaningful change in the future of work. To help CHROs and their teams address this gap, McLean & Company has released Case Studies: Articulate Organizational Culture, a collection of real-world examples that demonstrate how organizations are defining values, clarifying behaviors, and embedding culture into everyday work. Building on the firm's core blueprint, Articulate Organizational Culture, the case studies offer a practical view of how leaders can turn abstract culture aspirations into concrete actions that support long-term success.

The new resource features organizations across sectors, including:

• A public sector organization that aligned culture with a refreshed strategy.
• A technology firm that translated values into lived behaviors.
• A global nonprofit that closed the gap between mission and practice.
• A healthcare company redesigning values to address burnout and patient satisfaction.

In each case, leaders used data from engagement surveys, values assessments, and employee listening efforts to understand the current culture and identify where values were not consistently visible or embedded in work practices. They then defined clear values and behaviors, articulated culture statements, and committed to shared accountability for change across executive teams, HR, and people leaders.

"Culture only becomes a lever for organizational performance when leaders move beyond posters and slogans to define what values look like in everyday behavior," says Kelly Berte, practice lead, Human Resources Research & Advisory Services, at McLean & Company. "HR leaders who use data to understand the current state and co-create a culture that embeds the values culture into both core programs and everyday workplace practices are far better positioned to build workplaces where organizational strategy comes to life and employees truly thrive."

Key Challenges HR Leaders Face in Articulating Culture

Despite recognizing culture as a strategic priority, many HR leaders face persistent challenges when trying to articulate and operationalize it, McLean & Company reports. These challenges include:

• High-level value statements that lack clear behavioral expectations, making it difficult for employees and managers to translate culture into action.

• Values that may not align with evolving strategies or work realities, leading to gaps between what organizations say they value and what employees experience day to day.

• Limited collaboration between HR and executives that can stall culture efforts, particularly when accountabilities are unclear or competing priorities take precedence.

• Culture initiatives that sometimes remain disconnected from HR programs, such as performance management, recognition, talent acquisition, and leadership development, which reduces their impact and sustainability.

McLean & Company's Practical Process for Articulating Organizational Culture

McLean & Company's Case Studies: Articulate Organizational Culture showcases detailed examples of successful cultural articulation, including the decisions and actions organizations take as they apply the process outlined in the firm's blueprint. The process focuses on creating clarity and shared understanding and includes:

• Assessing the current culture through surveys, values assessments, and employee feedback to identify strengths and gaps.
• Co-creating a focused set of values and behaviors and documenting them in a culture blueprint that links directly to mission and strategy.

Embedding these elements into programs such as recognition, performance management, hiring, and leadership development ensures culture becomes part of everyday work, while ongoing measurement helps sustain momentum and accountability.

Related research and workshops, including Articulate Organizational Culture, Shape and Sustain Organizational Culture, and Gather the Employee Voice to Inform Engagement Action Planning, build on this foundation by supporting the ongoing integration of culture into people programs and day-to-day work.

SOURCE: McLean & Company