Some people just don’t get culture. That’s not a criticism—it’s reality.
The word ‘culture’ gets thrown around a lot, in every context imaginable. But how often is it paired with concrete criteria that leaders can grasp? Rarely. And that’s the problem.
Too often, culture stays fluffy. Abstract. A nice idea with no teeth.
In most organisations—here’s a bold oversimplification—you’ll find two groups of people.
Those who get culture. They’ve seen its power and know it drives performance.
And those who don’t. They’ve never experienced (or recognised) its impact and can’t connect the dots between culture and results.
Neither group is wrong. But this divide highlights the two biggest questions most organisations fail to answer:
What exactly is culture?
How does it improve performance?
Answer those questions, and you unlock real conversations at the top table—about the culture you have, the culture you need, and how to build it.
What Exactly Is Culture?
We define culture as the patterns of behaviour that are encouraged, discouraged, or tolerated by people and systems over time.
This is where meaningful conversations start. What behaviours are helping you achieve your goals that you should encourage more of? Which ones are blocking progress that you should discourage? And what’s being tolerated that’s holding you back?
This is where the second question comes in. How Does It Improve Performance?
To answer this, connect the dots between behaviour and outcomes. What performance improvements do you want to see? What patterns of behaviour will deliver them? For example:
Want to boost customer retention or lifetime value? Focus on behaviours that build trust, long-term relationships, and personalised service. Can you encourage more of this? Do you tolerate (even encourage) hard-sell tactics or behaviours the put sales over service?
Need to drive innovation and agility? Look at your managers who champion risk-taking and experimentation. They create safe environments where people bring and test new ideas without fear of failure. Or, are people penalised for failure or rewarded for short term wins? They will be hesitant, binging conventional solutions – their creativity stifled.
Culture isn’t a fluffy concept. It’s practical—and a strategic enabler.
In the coming weeks, we’ll share practical ideas for bringing culture into focus—making it real, relevant, and valuable, no matter your business goals.
But for now, we’re curious:
How easy is it to have a meaningful culture conversation in your organisation?
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