How Microsoft manages culture change

Your company’s culture is not an accident. It’s a deliberate choice that must be reinforced regularly from the top down.

And of course, that all has to be communicated.

Joe Wittinghill, corporate vice president of talent, learning & insights at Microsoft, took to the stage Wednesday at Ragan and PR Daily’s Strategic Communications Conference, to explain how the tech giant has gone about changing their culture to inspire and innovate their international staff.

“We’re making sure as we make those changes that we can clearly communicate them not only to employees and candidates and interns, but also to our customers and partners,” Wittinghill said during “Creating a culture that thrives in change: How we inspire and innovate (so you can too).”

Here’s how Microsoft has approached this challenge.

Microsoft’s key cultural attributes are easy to remember: they’re customer obsessed, diverse and inclusive, and one Microsoft (that is, one team working together).

Nearly half of Microsoft’s employees started during the pandemic. That distance and newness can make it much more difficult to communicate culture than it is when you’re in an office at least 40 hours a week.