In almost every room I’ve run, there’s a moment where someone says a version of the same thing. It’s the exec who need this. Or head office. Or the last CEO. The culture is set somewhere above us, and we’re just living in it.
I get it. I’ve said it. And there’s something in it.
In the research, 79% of people leaders believed they could influence the culture of their own team. Only 25% believed they could influence the culture of their organisation. That’s a big drop. It’s also, I think, a fairly honest one.
So here’s the thing I’ve landed on. Start where you are, with what you have. Not because the organisation doesn’t matter. Because the team is the layer you can actually reach.
Culture is a bit like water to a goldfish. Every team is swimming in one, whether anyone designed it or not. The question is not whether your team has a culture. It’s whether it has one by design or by default. And the people who get to decide that are the people in the room, not the people on the org chart above it.
That’s more freeing than it sounds. You don’t need permission, or a budget, or a values refresh from the top. You need to sit with your team and have a handful of conversations you were probably going to avoid. What do we expect of each other here? What does that actually look like? How do we talk about it when it isn’t happening? What do we do when it is?
I’m not suggesting the organisation gets a free pass. In the same study, 84% of people leaders said creating a healthy culture in their team was the most, or one of the most, important parts of their role. 89% said they should be investing more time in it. And only 3% felt completely confident doing it. That last number is the one I built a practice around. People know it matters. They want to do it. Most of them were never shown how.
If that’s you, you’re not behind. You’re in the 97%. Welcome. The good news is that the team you’ve got is enough to start with, and starting is most of the work.