Making even the slightest cultural changes will take way longer than we think it should.

My wife and I have done a number of home improvement projects over the years. We have an inside joke when we are contemplating a new project. Here’s how it works:

First, we identify a project;

Then, I offer an estimate of the time and cost to complete it (these are good faith estimates!);

Then, she takes my estimate and multiplies both variables by 3.

I would like you and I to have the same inside joke when it comes to any cultural change you are proposing. Except the variables are how often you talk about it, and how long the change will take.

Here’s an example. You want to have everybody on your team do their timecards everyday. Historically, they have been done weekly or even longer intervals. You think it will take a few weeks to get everybody on board with just a couple of reminders. I say it’s three months before the change takes place if not longer, and you will talk about it at least a dozen times if not more. And that’s just for timecards!

Let’s say you want to encourage what author Nigel Travis calls a “challenge culture.” This is where people are encouraged to speak up and respectfully challenge ideas and initiatives in an effort to get at great solutions instead of just good ones. And let’s say that historically your firm has not encouraged this kind of behavior. You believe it can be done in just a few months. I say it’s easily a year and more likely a few years before that kind of cultural change really sticks.

The same thing that makes culture so powerful is what makes it so aggravating. It’s resistant to change. So we should expect longer time horizons when considering cultural changes. This requires us to be patient. The general rule is that the bigger the change, the longer it will take.

Expect to talk about the change at least 3x more than you think, and expect the change to take at least 3x longer to implement than you think. And then relax because this is normal!