Cultivating Workplace Culture

I watched a talented employee cry in their car last Sunday. Not because of a personal crisis. Not because of financial trouble. But because of workplace culture. Company culture isn't about words painted on walls. It's about how your people feel on Sunday nights. If your team spends Sundays dreading Mondays, that's not "just how work is." It's a cry for help. Here are 5 culture-transforming principles I've learned: 1. Trust is everything • Share decision-making rationale openly • Create psychological safety for new ideas • Remember: trust flows from leaders first 2. Recognition matters • Celebrate small wins consistently • Make "thank you" a daily habit • Be specific about contributions 3. Rest isn't weakness • Stop sending midnight emails • Champion genuine breaks and PTO • Show that unplugging is respected 4. Communication creates safety • Give growth-focused feedback • Set realistic expectations • Keep people informed 5. Actions trump words • Model work-life boundaries • Share your own challenges • Live the culture you preach The truth? Culture isn't built in a day. But it can be destroyed in one poor decision. Your team's Sunday night experience is the ultimate culture metric. What are you doing to make their Mondays worth looking forward to? ♻️ Share this to inspire someone. ➕ Follow me for more leadership insights.

Recruiter: Our company culture is special. We're like a family. Me: So everyone stays regardless of performance? Recruiter: Well, no. We have high standards. Me: And everyone gets equal resources and attention? Recruiter: We reward our top performers, of course. Me: Then we're not a family. We're a team. And I'd prefer honesty about that. --- The "family" metaphor is the #1 red flag in company culture. When companies say "we're a family," they typically mean: • We expect unlimited loyalty • We'll ask for personal sacrifices • We'll use emotion to override boundaries • We'll take more than we give What healthy organizations say instead: "We're a high-performing team." Teams have: • Clear goals and roles • Mutual respect with boundaries • Transparent expectations • Professional accountability The most toxic workplaces masquerade as the most caring. The healthiest ones never pretend to be something they're not. Google's Project Aristotle found psychological safety—not "family feeling"—is critical for team success. Has a company ever used the "family" narrative to extract unpaid overtime from you? ♻️ Repost to protect others from this manipulative recruiting tactic.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. If your strategy is misaligned with your culture, it will fail. To drive strategy effectively, you must first cultivate a culture that supports and enhances it. Key Strategies to Change Your Culture: * Clear Communication: Transparent communication minimizes resistance. Articulate the change's reasons, benefits, and expected outcomes. Encourage feedback and dialogue at all levels. * Leadership Commitment: Leaders must act as role models, demonstrating the behaviors and attitudes they expect from their team. * Employee Involvement: Engage employees in the process by involving them in decision-making and addressing their concerns. This fosters a sense of ownership and commitment to the new culture. * Training and Development: Provide opportunities for employees to develop skills and behaviors that align with the new culture through educational programs and workshops. * Recognition and Rewards: Align recognition and reward systems with the new cultural values to reinforce the desired behaviors. * Continuous Assessment: Regularly assess the effectiveness of culture change initiatives and be open to making adjustments based on these assessments. Example from Our Experience: During our carveout from Global Payments, our objective was to be the world's best service organization. This involved updating our vision, mission, and values while communicating the change through monthly all-hands meetings, emails, videos, and posters. We improved job descriptions, installed recognition programs around our theme of Living at 212º (Happy to share more about our theme), and introduced new service people and processes. AI technology resolved easy help desk calls, freeing staff to deliver white-glove service. We also learned how to enhance our service quality from the Wynn Resorts service team. We took big steps as we launched our strategic change to ensure the culture was aligned. Changing your company culture is a continuous process. By integrating these strategies, you can create a culture that supports your strategic goals and drives sustainable growth. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences on driving cultural change in the comments below! #CultureChange #Leadership #CorporateStrategy #EmployeeEngagement #Carveout #PrivateEquity

I realized this during a team meeting when a team member shared how their development led to impressive results. It struck me that investing in our people is the true measure of success. Many organizations overlook this crucial shift: They chase metrics but neglect the very heart of their business— their people. Think about it. Are you focusing on: → Employee engagement → Skill development → Mentorship opportunities → Team collaboration → Creating a culture of trust Neglecting these elements stunts growth and innovation. The good news is that fostering people-first leadership is a choice. You can make it part of your organization's culture. Here’s how to get started: 1. Prioritize personal development for your team. 2. Encourage open communication and feedback. 3. Celebrate individual and team successes. 4. Invest in training and mentorship programs. 5. Create an environment where everyone feels valued. Remember, leading by growing people means nurturing their potential while driving your organization forward. So, what steps will you take today to invest in your team's growth?

There ya have it folks... Did not look like a good call from where I'm sitting, but obviously the person designated to make the call seen it differently. Does that make me any less right? So now what? In the workplace speaking up against a bad call can be a tuff situation to maneuver. When people are afraid that something bad will happen to them because of their decision to speak up, in most cases, they won’t do it. And can we really blame them? This is, seemingly, leadership’s failure to foster the type of culture that encourages and rewards people for speaking up. Whether our experience is real or perceived—and sometimes our perception is our reality—if it feels dangerous and like we may be punished for sharing our ideas, concerns, disagreements, and mistakes, the likelihood of our speaking up decreases. The stakes need not be life and death for employees to feel that the risk to speak simply isn’t safe or worth it. And, when people choose to keep their ideas, concerns, disagreements, and mistakes to themselves, everyone loses. The bottom line, for everyone, is that organizations with speak-up cultures are safer, more innovative, more engaged, and better-performing than their peers. Along with embracing safety as a core value, anticipating failure and having reliable processes to minimize risk, mutual respect is a key to working together to create a culture of safety. In a workplace with mutual respect, all members of a team feel empowered to voice concerns about the way things are being done. They know that learning from failure, being open to change and using data and communication to drive reliability, resilience and safety across the system will make everyone better and safer. You want everyone to have the confidence and ability to speak up and the key is giving them the tools to do just that.

They called it family. But when things unraveled, it felt anything but. 💔 At my last job, I gave everything—late nights, above-and-beyond effort, even while in and out of the hospital—because I believed in the mission and in reciprocity. But when the tide turned, the treatment was brutal. Even healthcare was threatened. The same leaders who preached family acted like I was disposable. ⚠️ That’s the danger of “family culture.” It demands sacrifice without promising protection. It looks like belonging, but too often it’s extraction. And here’s why this matters in 2025: culture is being tested everywhere. A client recently told me two members of his family were laid off the same day. One received severance. The other didn’t. Both were left reeling. When culture rests on warm words instead of clear commitments, trust collapses. “We’re family” doesn’t hold in hybrid, volatile times. Leaders can’t afford to confuse kinship with contracts. If you’ve been stung by this, you’re not alone. The pain is real—but so is the lesson. Your work matters. Your effort matters. But it is not kinship. 👥 Leaders: build culture on clarity, reciprocity, and respect. ✔️ Pay what you promise. ✔️ Honor your word. ✔️ Value hard work without demanding self-sacrifice. That’s not family. That’s leadership. 💬 Have you seen the “family culture” myth play out in your work? I’d love to hear your take. #CuriousLeadership #CuriosityQuotient #FutureOfWork #AuthenticLeadership

Ping pong tables. Free snacks. Wellness budgets. Perks like these can make work more enjoyable, but they don’t create a strong culture. Because when the pressure’s on, no one stays because of free coffee. They stay when they feel connected to something that matters. Great cultures are built on clarity and meaning, not just comfort. People want to know: – Why their work matters – How their role contributes to something bigger – What the company stands for beyond its targets Purpose creates alignment. It helps teams make better decisions. It gives people energy, especially when the work is hard. That doesn’t mean perks are bad. But without a clear purpose, they’re just noise. If you're trying to strengthen your culture, don’t start with benefits… Start with the reason you exist. And make sure every person in the organization can see how they’re part of it. #companyculture #purpose #leadership #employeeexperience #talentretention #nspandco

Companies that claim to be "like a family" are making a dangerous mistake. Here's the truth: a company can't and shouldn't try to be your family. Promoting this idea leads to unrealistic expectations and unhealthy dynamics. It blurs professional boundaries, discourages diverse perspectives, and can promote overcommitment. It often lacks true accountability and avoids necessary tough conversations. This mindset can limit inclusivity, valuing loyalty over performance. It may even discourage professional growth and transitions. Building a great culture is about respect, purpose, and shared goals. It's about creating an environment where people can thrive professionally without sacrificing their personal lives. A truly successful company recognizes the importance of maintaining clear boundaries. It values diverse opinions and healthy debate. It promotes sustainable productivity and honest accountability. It creates an inclusive environment open to all, not just a select few. Remember, you can have a positive, supportive work environment without calling it family. Focus on building a culture of mutual respect, clear communication, and shared purpose. That's the foundation of long-term success.

“We’re like a family here.” A sentence that sounds warm in onboarding…but feels manipulative when you're working weekends, missing boundaries, and absorbing emotional labor that was never part of the job description. Let’s talk about the danger of disguising dysfunction as intimacy. In my coaching work with founders, CXOs, and fast-scaling leadership teams, I’ve seen this pattern repeatedly: When companies call themselves a family, they often want the loyalty of kin without giving the protection of a contract. Here’s why this language though well-meaning can become toxic camouflage: 1. Families don’t fire you in a downturn. Companies do. Let’s be honest: Your company might care about you. But it’s not your blood. The minute margins suffer, “family” rhetoric disappears and performance reviews turn into exit scripts. True leadership means being honest about what this is: a professional relationship with mutual expectations, growth, and care—but within boundaries. 2. ‘Family culture’ often implies unconditional sacrifice—from employees, not leadership. In a healthy team, accountability is shared. In a faux-family setup, the employee is guilted into giving more—longer hours, emotional labor, blurred lines—while leadership hides behind culture instead of policies. “Family” becomes a weapon when it replaces fair compensation, mental health protections, or clear job scope. 3. High-performing teams are built on clarity, not sentimentality. Great cultures have empathy, not enmeshment. They foster deep trust, psychological safety, and mutual respect—not emotional entrapment. And here’s the irony: The strongest, most loyal teams don’t need to be called family. They operate like elite units—with high trust, high challenge, and clear boundaries. What real leaders say instead: “We’re a high-trust team, not a family.” “This is a place where you can thrive and protect your personal life.” “We’ll treat you with humanity, but we’ll never blur lines that create long-term harm.” The language you use to define your culture becomes the contract your people believe in. So choose clarity over comfort. And build a company that respects adults—not one that parents them. Have you worked somewhere that sold you “family” and gave you burnout? Or are you a leader actively redefining what culture should mean? Let’s open the conversation. #LeadershipCulture #ToxicWorkplaces #ExecutiveCoaching #OrganizationalDesign #TeamTrust #ModernLeadership #CompanyCulture #BoundariesAtWork

Your culture is the invisible force that shapes how people feel about your brand. And it starts with your leadership — → The way you hire and train → How you embed values into your work → The processes you deploy → The way you demonstrate who you are …these subtle cues convey so much about your brand. Because in a world of copycat products and services… …culture is your secret weapon. It's the DNA that can make your company so special. Here's how to harness it: ↓ 1️⃣ Live out your values Don't just write your company principles on a mission statement and forget about them. Embody them. And actively reward team members who embody them. At Motto, we recognize when someone demonstrates our values through kudos, performance, bonuses, and other recognitions. Whether it's showing radical candor or going the extra mile, we celebrate it. 2️⃣ Rally around a Big Idea Every company worth remembering has a Big Idea that clearly and concisely defines their reasons for existing. Express this in big ways — how your company operates as a whole — and in small ways. For example, the way you end team meetings. We sign off with "Do big things" to remind everyone they're here to do exceptional work. 3️⃣ Embed your values in hiring Your job postings and career page should reflect your culture’s transparency and values. We, for instance, outline each step of our hiring process upfront. This helps us proactively recruit candidates who align with our values and can handle our high-performance environment (while screening out those who can’t). 4️⃣ Proactively invest in growth Each of your employees is an asset. Give team members chances to learn and teach others what they’ve learned. On Friday, we give one hour for our team to take classes and share their knowledge with the team. It builds their skills *and* confidence in leadership. 5️⃣ Use failure as fuel When you hit a wall, always see it as a chance to innovate and bounce back even greater. Embed this into your company DNA more than anything else. Your culture isn't just internal. It shows up in every interaction with customers, partners, and the public. So, nurture it carefully. The culture you nurture today is the brand you have tomorrow.