Ever wondered about what organisational culture really means? You know, the thing plastered all over careers pages, mission statements, and job descriptions. The thing we all say matters but rarely agree on what it is.
Ask ten leaders to define organisational culture and you’ll get ten variations, all confidently stated, most of them fluffy. “It’s how we do things around here.” Okay, but what things? Whose way? In this article Lubna Haq asks, does it actually matter, or is it just another workplace mirage?
Culture: Is it a Red Herring?
Sometimes, culture feels like a red herring. A distraction from poor leadership, misaligned incentives, or bad strategy. When things go wrong, we say, “It’s a culture issue.” But was it? Or was it simply a lack of accountability dressed up as a “vibe” problem?
Research by Edgar Schein, one of the foremost authorities on organisational culture, tells us that culture isn’t just perks and posters. It’s a deep, often unconscious set of assumptions that shape how people think, feel, and act at work (Schein, 2010). That makes it powerful, but also dangerous. Because when it’s unhealthy, it’s like a virus in the system.
And yet, culture is often wheeled out post-crisis as the convenient villain. Just look at Uber’s 2017 implosion, which was blamed on its “toxic culture.” But culture didn’t arise spontaneously, it was a product of deliberate leadership decisions and incentives that rewarded aggression over accountability.
Who Really Owns Culture?
Here’s a contentious thought: culture isn’t set at the top. At least, not sustainably. Yes, leadership influences it, and attempt to embed it, but real culture is bottom-up. It’s shaped by middle managers, social norms, informal networks, team rituals, and unwritten rules.
In a 2022 McKinsey study, 70% of employees said that their immediate team culture mattered more to them than the broader company culture. Yet most culture-building efforts are designed top-down and rolled out like compliance programmes. It’s like trying to grow a garden by issuing memos to the plants.
Culture lives in the daily micro-behaviours: who gets promoted, who’s interrupted, whose voice is heard. It lives in how decisions are made, how mistakes are treated, and whether feedback is safe.
So, what is culture?
Culture is what you celebrate. It’s what you tolerate. It’s the lived, shared experience of being in an organisation with like-minded colleagues. It’s the difference between “we care about feedback” and “being let go for giving it.”
If you’re not intentional about it, culture will still exist—it just might not be one you like. Or one anyone wants to stay in.
So maybe it’s time we stop treating culture like a brand campaign, and start treating it like a living, breathing ecosystem. One that needs tending, not just tagging.
A view from a leadership consultant’s lens
In one consulting engagement with a mid-sized financial services firm, Lubna highlights how she was brought in to help “strengthen the culture.” The CEO proudly shared their values framework, integrity, innovation, inclusivity, all the usual buzzwords. They had delivered values workshops, leadership roadshows, and even branded internal merchandise to reinforce the message.
But something felt off.
In confidential interviews and focus groups, employees described a vastly different reality. Decision-making was slow and opaque. Risk-taking was punished, not rewarded. Senior leaders were rarely visible or approachable. Worst of all, the “inclusivity” message felt performative; diversity metrics were published externally, but internally, certain teams were described as “boys’ clubs,” and mentorship was scarce unless you “fit the mould”.
Senior managers were asked what happened when someone challenged the status quo. One paused, gave a tight smile, and said, “They stop getting invited to meetings.”
The disconnect was clear: culture was being communicated through campaigns, but it wasn’t being lived through behaviour. No amount of posters or branded lanyards could rectify this.
The conclusion? Culture can’t be painted on, it has to be part of the mortar within the walls.
Do younger generations even care?
Contrary to the stereotype of apathetic job-hoppers, younger generations do care about culture, but not the performative version.
A Deloitte study found that 77% of Gen Z respondents said that a company’s purpose and values were a deciding factor in where they worked (Deloitte, 2023). But here’s the interesting fact: they’re less impressed by ping-pong tables and more interested in transparency, inclusivity, and whether leadership walks the talk.
This generation is particularly adept at spotting inauthenticity. You can’t fake culture when everything is screenshot-able, Glassdoor-able, and shareable on TikTok. They want alignment between what companies say and what they do, and they’re willing to leave when it doesn’t add up.
Why do so many get it wrong?
Because we confuse culture as performance with culture as experience.
We create statements instead of systems. We run workshops but ignore the org chart. We hire “cultural fits” instead of building cultural intelligence.
Worse, we turn culture into a branding exercise. The glossy “culture decks” made famous by Netflix (and copied endlessly since) can be helpful, if they reflect reality. But when they become more performative than reflective, they create dissonance. And dissonance erodes trust.
The silver bullet to a great culture then? (Spoiler! There isn’t one)
There’s no single formula. But from years of research and observation, a few patterns emerge:
- Clarity over slogans. People want to understand how things work, not just hear that “we’re agile.”
- Psychological safety over forced positivity. The best ideas don’t surface in fear.
- Accountability over empty values. If values aren’t enforced, they’re just wallpaper.
- Flexibility over control. Especially in a hybrid world.
- Humility at the top. Leaders who admit mistakes model real strength.
- Listening at every level. Not surveys—real listening.
As Harvard’s Amy Edmondson puts it, “A fearless organisation is not one without problems—it’s one where people feel safe enough to speak up about them.”
It’s starts with identifying where you are now, where you want to be and what great looks like in your business context and then empowering employees to align to it. And those individual contributors that you’ve allowed to exhibit behaviours and values that aren’t aligned. It’s time for them to seek other employment. Otherwise you allow them to undermine all your hard work. Nothing is more important than the health and success of the business, you’ll have your new highest performer soon enough.
To learn more about how NSCG has helped organisations identify What Great Looks Like™ and powering your people, view our leadership development page