Culture Eats Strategy. So Make Organizational Culture Your Focus.

(Illustration by iStock/VictoriaBar)

As so many of my fellow nonprofit leaders know, people are essential to the work we do. Those of us who choose careers in the social sector are driven by our passion and commitment to advance positive change in the world. Culture is deeply relevant to today’s workforce, and leaders across our sector are weighing their approach to elements of organizational culture such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), work-life balance, trust, and engagement.

Across my career, I’ve worked in roles that span planning, evaluation, and leadership—experiences that provided me with a toolkit and perspective that have been invaluable in my journey as a nonprofit leader. Drawing on these experiences was crucial when I became president and CEO of The Pew Charitable Trusts in July 2020—a time of immense social challenge. I knew that supporting our team would be a high priority; it is for every CEO. These dedicated people apply their talents to helping communities and individuals thrive. But leading at a time of global transition made abundantly clear the importance of looking inward with the same sense of urgency, focus, and intention that we commit to our programmatic goals.

There’s inescapable truth in the saying “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” I won’t say that Pew has perfected our desired culture, but I can say with confidence that over the past few years, we’ve made important progress toward building a diverse, welcoming, and inclusive culture that permeates the organization at every level—improvements that have strengthened our ability to address the challenges of a changing world. We did this by following an approach that has served Pew well for decades in our programmatic work and that I believe can help other organizations in maintaining their focus on culture in an environment of constant change: fostering conversation and building trust, collecting facts and evidence, applying expertise, and crafting strategies that reflect our values and goals.

Prioritizing People

As a new chief executive, I was motivated by the opportunity to shape an inclusive and innovative organization—one with a workplace culture built on mutual trust and respect, and one that embraced the insights generated by a creative and diverse staff. But like so many nonprofit leaders I spoke with in 2020, I was both deeply troubled by what was happening in the world and firmly committed to responding in a deliberate and intentional manner.

With the entire organization’s rapid pivot to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, my executive team and I committed to a thoughtful management approach, because we recognized that people crave stability in uncertain times. We followed local public health recommendations in each of our office locations and prioritized work-life balance throughout the organization. I increased my efforts at internal communications, attempting to fill the gap left by the loss during the pandemic of in-person work and hallway conversations. And when we finally welcomed employees back to the office, we introduced a hybrid work plan designed to strengthen our culture and enhance relationships through professional development and activities such as social events and volunteering in our communities. We also heightened our focus on DEI as an important lens to guide culture change across our operations.

Using Data to Guide and Measure

I wanted to bring objectivity to the culture change efforts we were undertaking; I wanted to rely on evidence, not intuition, to guide us. Pew is by nature a data-driven organization, but I believe all organizations can benefit from this sort of rigor and clarity. In our case, establishing a solid basis in research is consistent with how Pew approaches its programmatic work, and so this way of thinking is familiar to our employees. This empirical approach—our common language—is also essential in building trust and confidence throughout our organization.

We drew on internal surveys and assessments to gain deeper insights into the nature of our colleagues’ experiences in the workplace. The feedback indicated that many employees didn’t feel included or encouraged to speak up—a sentiment felt more deeply by people from historically marginalized groups. We found that our emphasis on rigor and excellence sometimes came across internally as an impossible insistence on perfection. These findings moved us to deepen our focus on recognizing what we needed to do to attract and retain diverse talent, encourage participation, and nurture a respectful culture, all while maintaining the high standards of our work.

In 2022, we commissioned a staff survey to take stock of our efforts around DEI, supervisory and leadership effectiveness, and internal communications, and to measure employee engagement overall. The results revealed strengths, such as a shared commitment to doing quality work, as well as weaknesses, such as concerns about opportunities to learn and grow, that combined to help our leaders and teams identify areas on which to focus. From this data, individual departments and teams began to devise their own work plans to address the aspects of culture that most require their attention.

The data established a foundation, and a follow-up survey conducted last year gave us a chance to measure our progress. This follow-up survey showed some improvement in employee engagement. But to dig deeper to understand the employee experience, we asked, “What gets in the way of you doing your best work at Pew, and how would you fix it?” Among many suggestions, two themes stood out: the need to reduce bureaucracy and the need to improve clarity of expectations. We’ve incorporated both points into our efforts to improve operational effectiveness. The pushback to change, which anyone in any organization has heard countless times, is “But that’s how we’ve always done it.” Now, with feedback from our staff, we have more reasons to press for change.

Based on the findings, we also created formal policies—with funding—for employee resource groups (ERGs); made improvements to accessibility; and expanded our internal communications. We initiated meeting-free holidays to respect religious and cultural traditions, and our ERGs hosted Ramadan and Pride events and celebrated cultural heritage months. These steps are enabling individuals to foster relationships, share resources, learn from others, and create communities—further cultivating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment.

Seeking Out Expertise

Calling on experts is a common way for organizations to stay informed on the issues and to chart strategies that deliver measurable results. In October 2021, I was pleased to welcome to our team an organizational change leader who could help us weave DEI practices into our culture and throughout our mission, vision, programs, and policies: Makeba Clay, our vice president for DEI, leads a department that guides and supports our efforts, providing a dedicated focus on DEI throughout our operational and programmatic work. The role reports directly to me, and Makeba is a member of the executive team, reflecting our commitment to DEI as a strategic lens that will strengthen our collective efforts to make a difference in the world.

We also engaged outside experts to assess and provide recommendations on specific aspects of our culture. These professionals gathered honest feedback from internal stakeholders and provided us with concrete recommendations on a range of topics—from training on interpersonal communication so that we can disagree and do so with respect, to improving DEI in our external communications. And we brought in speakers to share their thoughts on inclusive leadership, psychological safety, and other topics to increase staff understanding and create a greater sense of belonging and connection.

Making Priorities Clear and Putting Them Into Practice

Mission is critical for all organizations—without it, it becomes impossible to stay aligned and focused. At Pew, our mission is to improve public policy, inform the public, and invigorate civic life.

Our 75th anniversary in 2023 offered an important moment for the entire organization to undertake a renewal of the institutional values that support our mission and guide our work. We initiated an anniversary event series focused on values, organized by and presented exclusively for Pew colleagues, that featured an array of speakers. This series sparked important conversations throughout the organization—for example, how to live by our value of nonpartisanship in a hyper-partisan era. The events and discussions enriched our internal dialogue and have prompted us to think critically and creatively about how to balance the personal and the institutional. Ultimately, our institutional values are designed to shape the way we conduct our work, engage with our many partners, and interact with one another.

Concluding Thoughts

As a member of Pew’s staff for many years before I became CEO, I understood that my colleagues were passionate about our work and our impact, but I also understood that they also wanted to be more seen, heard, and empowered. That’s why, in my first message to our staff as their president and CEO, I committed to the idea that Pew should be a place where everyone feels that they’re part of the organization, that they belong, and that they’re respected. As I’ve learned in conversations with other CEOs in the subsequent four years, the challenge we organizational leaders share is in creating an environment that balances the needs of the individual, the needs of the institution, and the needs of the work. In my view, a consistent focus on culture is the key to finding that balance.

I’ve often been reminded over the past four years that workplace culture belongs to—and is shaped by—everyone in the organization. It’s also clear, looking back, that our progress couldn’t have happened without leadership, planning, and a commitment to listening, learning, and adapting. We’ve benefited in tangible ways from bringing in more expertise, fostering conversation between colleagues, incorporating diverse perspectives within the data that we collect and share, evaluating our efforts, and articulating our values to provide a fuller picture of our mission and guide our people. All of these efforts are helping us to build a culture that is welcoming—meaning that it’s inclusive, nurtures relationships, advances shared commitments, and encourages trust.

For Pew, maintaining a consistent investment in our culture has helped to demonstrate that we can adapt to change while maintaining our values and commitments over time. Our work on culture isn’t finished, but Pew has become better as an organization in ways I couldn’t have imagined at the start of this journey.

Read more stories by Susan K. Urahn.