The Thing We Need to Fix Is the Culture?
As a business and leadership coach, I often hear this comment from leaders and business owners:
“The thing we need to fix is the culture.”
Usually, they say this when employees are disengaged, departments are not cooperating, accountability is weak, or workplace conflicts are beginning to affect performance.
But what exactly is culture?
What do leaders mean when they say they want a “better culture”? Who creates culture? And how does a culture develop inside an organization?
I have read many articles and books about organizational culture. One of the most valuable perspectives I discovered comes from Edgar Schein, author of Organizational Culture and Leadership.
Schein explains that culture is not simply the atmosphere in the office. It is not the company outing, the motivational posters on the wall, the free coffee, or the values displayed in the reception area.
Culture is much deeper.
Culture Is “How Things Are Done Here”
Imagine a new employee joining your company.
During orientation, the employee is introduced to your mission, vision, and core values. The presentation says the company values teamwork, innovation, accountability, and open communication.
But after a few weeks, the employee notices something different.
People avoid sharing bad news with the boss. Employees blame one another when something goes wrong. Managers compete instead of collaborating. New ideas are welcomed during meetings but quietly rejected afterward.
What will the employee believe—the orientation presentation or the behavior experienced every day?
The behavior will win.
Culture is the collection of shared assumptions people develop as they work together. It teaches employees what is acceptable, what is dangerous, what gets rewarded, and what should never be questioned.
In simple terms, culture answers the question:
“How do we really do things around here?”
The Three Levels of Culture
Schein describes culture as having three levels.
The first level is artifacts—the things people can see.
These include office design, dress codes, company traditions, meeting practices, stories, policies, and visible behavior. Artifacts are easy to observe but can be difficult to interpret correctly.
The second level is espoused values—what the organization says it believes.
These include the company’s mission, vision, strategies, and core values. They describe the kind of organization leaders want to build.
The third and deepest level is underlying assumptions.
These are the beliefs people rarely discuss but consistently follow. They include assumptions about trust, authority, mistakes, relationships, and success.
A company may say, “We value innovation.” But if employees are punished whenever an experiment fails, they will quickly learn the real rule:
Do not take risks. Protect yourself.
The poster says innovation. The underlying assumption says safety.
And the underlying assumption will shape the culture.
Leaders Create Culture—Whether They Intend To or Not
Schein’s most important message is that culture and leadership are inseparable.
Leaders create culture through what they repeatedly model, measure, reward, and tolerate.
Employees watch what gets the leader’s attention. They notice how the leader responds during a crisis. They see who receives recognition, who gets promoted, and which behaviors are ignored.
A leader may say, “People are our greatest asset.” But when difficulties come, does that leader listen to employees or immediately look for someone to blame?
A leader may say, “We believe in teamwork.” But does the reward system encourage collaboration or individual competition?
Your team does not learn your real values from your speeches. They learn them by watching your decisions—especially the decisions you make under pressure.
Every decision tells a story about what truly matters.
A Good Culture Creates a Competitive Advantage
A healthy culture does more than make people feel good. It improves how the entire organization performs.
When employees trust their leaders and one another, they communicate more honestly. Problems are reported earlier. Ideas move more freely. People spend less time protecting themselves and more time solving problems.
A good culture also creates clarity.
Employees understand the purpose of the organization, the behaviors expected of them, and how their work contributes to the bigger picture. Because expectations are clear, teams can make better decisions without waiting for the leader to approve every small action.
This produces several positive results:
Higher employee engagement and motivation
Stronger trust and cooperation
Better communication across teams
Greater ownership and accountability
Faster problem-solving and decision-making
More creativity and innovation
Improved customer experiences
Higher employee retention
Stronger and more sustainable performance
Customers can often feel a company’s culture without ever seeing inside its office. They experience it through the way employees communicate, solve problems, honor commitments, and respond when something goes wrong.
A frustrated and fearful employee will struggle to create an excellent customer experience. But an employee who feels trusted, valued, and connected to a meaningful purpose is more likely to serve customers with genuine care.
A good culture also makes an organization more resilient. When challenges come, people do not immediately blame one another or retreat into their departments. They come together, speak honestly about the problem, and work toward a solution.
Strategy may show people where the organization wants to go. But culture determines whether people will work together to get there.
Why Culture Is Difficult to Change
Culture is difficult to change because it gives people stability.
Employees learn how to survive and succeed within the existing system. They know which behaviors are safe, which opinions should remain unspoken, and who has influence.
When leaders introduce change, they are not simply changing a process. They may be challenging people’s identity, competence, relationships, and sense of security.
This is why announcing a new list of values rarely changes anything.
You cannot change culture by replacing the posters.
Culture changes when people experience a new way of working, see it produce better results, and see leaders consistently support it.
How Leaders Can Begin Changing Culture
Culture change begins with honest observation.
Before introducing another slogan, leaders should ask:
What behaviors do we currently reward?
What happens when someone makes an honest mistake?
Can employees safely disagree with their managers?
How do we respond when someone brings us bad news?
Who gets promoted, and what does that communicate?
Where do our actions contradict our stated values?
What behavior have we tolerated for too long?
Change requires both discomfort and safety.
People must understand why the current culture can no longer continue. At the same time, they must feel safe enough to learn, experiment, admit mistakes, and practice new behaviors.
Leaders must then align the organization’s systems with the desired culture. Recruitment, onboarding, performance reviews, rewards, promotions, meetings, and leadership behavior must all communicate the same message.
If you want accountability, define it and model it.
If you want trust, tell the truth and invite honest conversations.
If you want collaboration, reward shared success.
If you want innovation, allow people to learn from intelligent mistakes.
Culture Is the Shadow of Leadership
When leaders say, “We need to fix the culture,” they often speak as though culture were something separate from leadership.
It is not.
Culture reflects what leadership has consistently created, reinforced, or permitted.
The encouraging news is that leaders can change it. But change will require more than a new statement on the wall. It will require leaders to examine their own assumptions, listen to their people, align their systems, and consistently demonstrate the behavior they expect from others.
If you want to understand your organization’s culture, don’t start by reading its values.
Watch what happens when pressure rises, mistakes are made, and difficult decisions must be made.
That is where the real culture becomes visible.
What leaders consistently model, measure, reward, and tolerate eventually becomes the culture.
