Changing organisational culture has been described as an extraordinarily difficult task (Molineux, 2013) and a millstone difficult and trouble-causing (Katzenbach, Steffen, & Kronley, 2012) and yet it is a strategy used to reach a cultural competitive advantage and cope with environmental changes (Jones, et al., 2008). Studies have found that, across nearly 300 organisations, only 19% of cases successfully implemented cultural change, citing organisational complexity and unpredictable outcomes as the cause of failure (Molineux, 2013). John P. Kotter, Harvard Business School professor, wrote a book in 1996 titled Leading Change, exploring eight critical stages of changing organisational culture (Kotter, 2007). These eight stages were derived from organisations that were successful in their change processes, and are as follows:

2. Establishing a sense of urgency;
4. Forming a powerful guiding coalition;
6. Creating a vision;
8. Communicating the vision;
10. Empowering others to act on the vision;
12. Planning for and creating short-term wins;
14. Consolidating improvements and producing still more change; and
16. Institutionalising new approaches (Kotter, 2007).

XXX XXXXXX XXXXXX defines itself as XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX priding itself on selling not just X and X but experiences. The brand boasts over XX stores Australia-wide, and in 20XX they were awarded as Winner of the Australian Established Franchisor of the Year. Their business model relies on franchise partners working in their respective stores, providing training on both operational and administrative duties, and XXX XXXXXX refers to these stores as among their best. In (year), the XXX XXXXXX store ceased to be franchised and instead began trade as a company-owned store: managed internally by a store manager, but with all processes and key performance indicators assigned by an external head office. Prior to this change, the franchise owner personally worked in the store per XXX XXXXXXs requirements, actively participated in training employees, and managed the majority of both the stores administrative and operational functions using largely informal power with the help of the store assistant manager. This change was complex, as while it was unavoidable due to contract changes, the global environment at the time was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The combination of strict travel restrictions, dine-in requirements, and the possibility of harsh lockdowns meant that culturally, the ownership change meant little at first due to the disconnect between the XXXX store and the oversight that was meant to be receiving. However, after the pandemics restrictions lifted, changes became apparent. Where working under the franchise partner inspired loyalty to the store, the new management arrangement switched the previous informal leadership style to formal metrics: a large focus on employee efficiency and financial performance with little regard for talent or skills of individual employees. The eventual new