How would you answer this question? Is it like the weather, unpredictable and out of our control? Or is it like a garden that you can tend to carefully every day? I’ve found that no matter the initial response, this question gives people pause.
And your answer to this question matters – a lot. Believing that change is possible makes it far more likely to happen. This is what research shows, and what we see every day when we partner with organizations to design intentional workplace cultures.
When organizations see culture as a garden, they begin nurturing the behaviours, norms, and practices that matter. That mindset, combined with intentional actions, makes lasting cultural change possible.
Here are some ways you can shift how your organization sees culture.
1. Create an experience of coherence
Humans are pattern-seekers. When we can’t perceive a clear pattern, it feels disruptive and destabilizing. A lack of coherence around the things that matter tends to create a culture that is experienced as noise rather than guidance. It scatters our attention, heightens stress and makes it harder to know what to pay attention to or how to act.
On the other hand, when organizational purpose, strategy, priorities, leadership behaviours and norms are aligned, culture guides us and creates momentum. People who join the organization feel as though they’re stepping into a current that’s working with them to do what’s needed for the long-term success of the organization. In my view, that’s the definition of a great culture.
So when organizations create coherence, they’re preparing the soil and planting their garden intentionally. Employees know where to focus, behaviours align with intentions and the culture that grows is the one that serves the organization and its people.
Organizations can start by asking themselves these questions:
- Are our purpose, strategy, priorities, and behaviours aligned, or are people left to navigate conflicting signals?
- Do employees feel like their daily work naturally connects to the organization’s bigger goals, or do they struggle to see the link?
- Where in the organization do patterns or processes unintentionally pull people in different directions, and how could we simplify or align them?
2. Carefully consider if you need to use the word “culture”
Edgar Schein, one of our favourite thinkers on organizational culture, cautioned against using the word “culture” too casually. He thought that it had become so common that it had lost its precision, which made it hard to use as a tool for real change. We find the same is true today.
His advice? Focus on what you can actually see and influence: specific behaviours, values, norms and underlying assumptions. These are concrete, actionable levers that shape how people act.
We also find it far more productive and impactful to talk about the specific qualities and outcomes that are needed, like increasing our pace of work, strengthening adaptability, building contextual awareness, enabling field workers or boosting organizational learning, rather than simply referring to “improving culture.”
By focusing on concrete business problems and what you need to grow, you’ll make it easier to support the behaviours, norms and systems that actually create results.
Organizations can start by asking themselves these questions:
- What specific problems will “improving our culture” address?
- What specific behaviours or habits do we need to see more (or less) of to get the results we want?
- What skills do we need at scale?
- Which parts of the organization would look or feel different if the culture truly supported our priorities?
3. Paint your own picture of culture and performance
The right culture for one organization is the wrong one for another. Organizations focused on care and service, like hospitals or social service agencies, need different cultures than those driven by speed, competition or operational efficiency.
That’s why it’s essential to identify your own unique drivers of performance. Leaders need to understand the behaviours, norms and systems that enable or block results. With this clarity, you know what needs to be planted and supported in your organizational garden.
Without this picture, culture efforts can scatter and feel abstract. With it, people have a clear sense of what matters, why it matters and how they can contribute.
Organizations can start by asking themselves these questions:
- What outcomes matter most for our success?
- When we perform at our best, what makes that possible?
- Which behaviours or norms consistently help or hinder results?
4. Unearth what’s hidden
Edgar Schein taught us that culture lives in the hidden layer, the assumptions people rarely say out loud. Chris Argyris called it the gap between “espoused theories” (what we claim to value) and “theories in use” (what we actually do).
For example, think of the organizations that say:
- “We value innovation,” but no one dares to pitch or own a risky idea.
- “We need to speed up the pace of our decision-making,” but create bottlenecks in layers of signoffs.
- “Feedback is critical to our growth,” yet people avoid giving honest input because harmony is a cherished value.
As Edgar Schein reminds us, culture operates beneath the surface. These invisible patterns often determine behaviour far more than formal systems or policies. They’re the unwritten rules that keep organizations stuck in shaping the culture they want and need.
Unearthing these hidden patterns is one of the things we find most fascinating about shaping culture. The work isn’t just about what’s visible; it’s about surfacing the assumptions, unwritten rules and competing commitments that quietly but very powerfully guide behaviour.
Organizations can start by asking themselves these questions:
- What beliefs or assumptions are operating here that we rarely talk about?
- Where is there a gap between what we say we value and what people actually do?
5. Pay attention to what you pay attention to
Across organizational science and leadership theory, the idea that what we pay attention to grows is especially relevant to our gardening metaphor.
For example, an organization that consistently recognizes collaboration and problem-solving signals that these behaviours matter, which encourages more of them. Similarly, an organization that pays attention to learning signals that acquiring knowledge is important, which creates the conditions for those qualities to grow. Conversely, if an organization pays attention to mistakes at the expense of potential opportunities, habits around avoiding risk will grow. Or, if honest feedback is ignored or avoided, people will stop offering it, even if the organization claims it’s valued.
Fear is also one of the most powerful influencers of attention, shaping what grows and what does not. For example:
- A fear of being seen as incompetent can keep people stuck paying attention to perfection instead of progress, which slows the pace of work and decision-making.
- A fear of conflict can keep people stuck paying attention to the potential for conflict instead of the need to have honest conversations.
- A fear of not being seen as independent can keep people stuck paying attention to how they can complete things on their own vs. finding ways to work together.
Attention is sunlight. What organizations notice, acknowledge and support becomes the culture that flourishes.
Organizations can start by asking themselves these questions:
- Which behaviours or practices are we avoiding addressing out of fear of conflict, failure or discomfort?
- If my attention were sunlight, which behaviours and norms would be getting nourishment, and which ones would be in the shadows?
6. Identify the kinds of stories you want more of and the kinds of stories you want less of
One of the best ways to tend to your metaphorical garden is to identify the kinds of stories you want more of in your organization and the kinds you want less of. This is a core principle in how Dave Snowden, the creator of the Cynefin Framework, approaches organizational change.
We find this works well because it approaches culture at the right altitude. It's specific enough to create clarity across the organization and yet broad enough to convey your shared ideas.
For example, if your organization wants to develop a more balanced approach to risk taking, you likely want more stories of people taking calculated risks and fewer stories that involve making low-stakes decisions.
Organizations can start by asking themselves these questions:
- What kinds of stories do we want more of? What enables them?
- What kinds of stories do we want less of? How do we shape our environment to create less of them?
7. Create shared ownership of the garden
Your garden won’t thrive if only leaders at the top are tending to it. While we encourage a holistic approach to shaping the garden, we do want to point out that middle managers are the gardeners closest to the soil. As noted by Roger Martin, an expert in strategy and integrative thinking, middle managers are the critical link between strategy and execution: they translate strategic priorities into the day-to-day behaviours, norms and practices that shape culture. Without their engagement, even the clearest intentions from above can fail to take root.
Creating shared ownership means giving managers and employees at every level the tools, clarity and authority to tend their part of the garden. It means involving them in identifying the behaviours and norms that matter, in observing what is thriving or struggling, and in making small, deliberate changes that align with the organization’s purpose and performance goals. When people feel they have a hand in shaping the environment, they are more attentive, invested and capable of nurturing the culture you want to grow.
Organizations can start by asking themselves these questions:
- How are we involving the managers closest to the work in shaping culture?
- Which parts of the garden are they already tending well and which need more support?
- Where could shared ownership create more alignment and momentum for the culture we want?
- How might empowering people across levels help the desired behaviours and norms flourish?
So, does culture happen to us, or by us?
Culture doesn’t just happen, like the weather. It’s created by what we notice, nurture and reinforce. Like a garden, it thrives when organizations bring clarity, intentionality and shared ownership to the work of shaping it. And just as gardeners find joy in nurturing growth, leaders often discover that shaping culture is both deeply rewarding and instrumental in achieving meaningful results.
