The Culture That Actually Makes Work, Work

I had a meeting at a company to put in some employee wellness challenges.  It’s a small job for me.   While I was there, the leadership team that I met with were talking about their attentiveness to culture and valuing their employees.  They gave me a tour.  Words were printed on posters in the hallway and stitched onto the company intranet: Respect. Integrity. Collaboration. Excellence. They talked about them in a way that reminded me of my grandma explaining a treasured heirloom.

Then the meeting started. 

A manager presented an idea that challenged an existing process, and the air changed almost immediately. He was interrupted before he reached his third sentence and reminded about budget realities. A colleague tried to support him, and she was told the topic did not fit the agenda. Eyes drifted to the phones that people looked at under the table.  The conversation ended with a decision that had been made long before anyone entered the room.

I have seen versions of that meeting in hospitals, behavioral health centers, technology firms, municipalities, and family-owned businesses across Arizona. The industries differ, the vocabulary shifts, and the same story unfolds. The daily operating system shows what is really going on in the culture. 

I have heard leaders speak about culture as if it were weather, something that rolls in and out of the building beyond human control. What I have learned over decades of working with human behavior is that culture is a value system that is expressed through behavior, and behavior is shaped by the conditions already in place.

I once worked with a behavioral health organization that declared compassion in pamphlets, on their websites, and the rest of their marketing material.  The lobby displayed photographs of caring professionals leaning toward patients with warm smiles. Behind the lobby doors, clinicians were scheduled in fifteen-minute increments with documentation requirements that expanded every rule change.  When a counselor told her supervisor she was exhausted, she was offered a clinical supervision meeting that talked about time-management. 

I could go on and on…but maybe you get where I am coming from.

These experiences taught me that culture is not an accessory to strategy. Culture is the soil where strategy tries to grow. When the soil is thin, even brilliant plans struggle to take root. When the soil is healthy, ordinary ideas can become extraordinary results.

Employees understand this long before any consultants arrive. The receptionist at the front desk knows which executive treats people with dignity. The maintenance worker knows whether safety matters more than speed. A new graduate in her first role and a veteran in his final chapter read the same invisible rulebook. They watch who receives promotions, who receives protection, and who receives silence.

A good hint to what is happening is that people begin to conserve themselves. He speaks less. She risks less. Creativity narrows to the width of a safe answer.

So many people blame the leadership…but from the way I see it, most leaders do not intend this outcome. They inherit structures older than their tenure and pressures louder than their intentions. Boards demand growth, customers demand immediacy, regulations demand compliance and through all the noise, noise, culture drifts.  And it just seems to happen.

What we have to understand is that culture is a system at work that guides decisions and reveals character when pressure rises. For organizations, this means culture deserves the same discipline given to finance, operations, and risk management. Anything less leaves the most expensive asset in the building to chance.

Consistency stands at the center of a healthy culture. I can put in a wellness program, and people may get excited about that…but will employees endure demanding seasons when expectations remain unstable? Will a nurse on a night shift, an engineer facing a deadline, or a customer service representative navigating an angry call be able to give their best when he or she feels unsupported? 

In my years of working with people, particularly in the behavioral health industry, I know that inconsistency creates anxiety, and anxiety consumes the energy required for excellence.

A company demonstrates its real priorities through stable practices, promotion criteria, conflict resolution, and compensation decisions. If collaboration is celebrated, performance systems must reward shared success. If well-being is declared, workloads must respect human limits and work/life balance.

Sometimes this takes courage.  What will the organization do when the soul of it is tested?  What if a profitable client mistreats a staff member?  What if a high performer intimidates colleagues?  What if a deadline tempts leaders to bypass safety?  These crossroads write the authentic story of culture. Employees observe whether leaders choose convenience or principle.

Language also matters. Abstract nouns do not change behavior. Respect becomes real when disagreement of ideas are thoroughly heard. Accountability becomes tangible when a director admits her own misstep before addressing someone else’s.

It is unfortunate that I get so many calls from organizations that simply want to add lounges, gift cards, and a yoga class. I mean, YES, please do these things…but…we have to understand that these gestures are momentary and they cannot replace a coherent value system. Human beings feel valued when decisions align with real principles. 

Building alignment requires attention to daily processes. How are meetings designed? Who receives credit for success? What happens to the employee who admits a mistake? How are new hires welcomed during their first ninety days? The answers to these ordinary questions form the constitution of the workplace.

Training contributes, yet training alone cannot carry the weight. I offer emotional intelligence and mindfulness training – both game changers.  But it is not enough.  What makes the real difference is when behavior changes occur through repeated practice supported by visible leadership example. When a supervisor apologizes publicly, or protects a team from unreasonable demands, he teaches more about values than any workshop.

Measurement has a role, provided it measures what matters. Engagement surveys, retention trends, and promotion patterns reveal the health of the system. Listening sessions with employees uncover truths numbers cannot reach. Data and story must share the same table.

The work never ends. Consultancy is a fractional partnership.  New employees arrive with different expectations, markets tighten, and leaders change seats. Each transition tests the foundation.

When I look back across the organizations that shaped me, I rarely remember their quarterly results. I remember how people treated one another in ordinary minutes. When I was a single mother, I was struggling to get to work on time.  My boss sat down with me and told me how much she valued me and asked if I needed something else to get to work on time.  I broke down crying and told her that my kids and I were all trying to adjusting to our new family structure.  She told me a personal story about how she struggled with getting pregnant and was going through fertility treatment and she understood intense emotions.  She did a schedule change for me so I can start my shift 30 minutes later and take a 30 minute lunch rather than an hour lunch.  It really helped me.  And I always remember her kindness.

For professionals reading this article, I am inviting a both demanding and simple reflection. Examine the unwritten rules in your workplace. Notice what receives applause and what receives silence. Ask whether those patterns resemble the future you want for yourself and for the people who rely on your organization.

If you lead others, begin with one honest conversation. Tell your team what you believe matters more than revenue alone. Acknowledge where the company has missed its own standard. Invite stories about moments when values felt real and moments when they felt hollow. Listening builds the first beam of a stronger house.

If you carry no formal title, your influence remains powerful. The way a man greets a coworker, the way a woman handles stress, and the way a colleague refuses gossip all shape the environment.

Organizations search for complex formulas, and the answer is often plain sight. Sometimes you just need a “third eye” to see it.  The modern workplace will continue to change. Artificial intelligence will alter tasks, economic cycles will test patience, and competition will demand speed. Amid those shifts, can the culture be stable?

I believe every organization can become a place where people offer more than hours for wages. It can become a community where a man ends his day feeling good about his work and a woman  feels her abilities respected and her voice heard.  And people in every position feel valued and able to contribute.  This vision is practical rather than sentimental. Companies with strong value systems outperform others because they release the full capacity of their people. The journey begins with honesty about the present and continues with disciplined choices.  Over time those choices accumulate into a reputation felt by customers, partners, and the general public.

We don’t have to complicate it.  After all, culture is people showing up again and again, doing their best inside the system they were handed. Some days we get it right and some days we do not. But when enough ordinary moments carry a little respect, a little honesty, and a little care, the workplace starts to feel like we want to be.  And this is what makes work, work.