In Excel 2013, there are a couple ways you can do this.
The easiest way:Select the cells or column you wish to change.On the “Home” tab, find the “Number” section and click on the small box with an arrow in the lower right.This brings up the “Format Cells” window.Normally the window defaults to the “Number” tab.On the number tab, select “Date” and then scroll down until you find the desired date format in the “type” window.Other possible methods include using the “locale” pull down.I have never used the function.I think it is new to Excel.I am unsure if part of a spreadsheet can be set to a different locale or if the entire worksheet is affected.If all else fails, in the “category” box select “custom” and create a custom date format.
If you are pasting data into a template and the cells are already set to the desired date format, you need to use “paste values” or a similar function to ensure that the data keeps the template format.
Another possible option, if the template does not have the correct formatting, is to use “Paste Special” and then select “Keep source formatting,” although this may bring in undesirable source formatting in other ways.