Is Your Company Culture In The Halls Or Just on the Wall?
Why culture definitions must move off your “office posters” and into the hearts of your people to drive real business success.
I walk into a lot of businesses, even some of the clients I work with before we start our journey together, and I see beautiful cultural statements, mission statements, and core values written on their walls, and in their company literature. They are on posters in the lobby, pinned up in offices, and splashed across websites and social media.
But here is the catch. In too many of these businesses, the people working there either don’t know what the definitions mean, or aren’t exemplifying that culture at all.
Today’s myth is that “culture is written down so everyone can see it.”
Let’s bust that wide open.
The “On-the-Wall” Culture Crisis
- The Vast Gap: While 94% of executives believe workplace culture is vital, only 19% think their company actually has the right one.
- The issue with One-Word culture statements: Single-word values (like Integrity or Respect) are left wide open to interpretation. Culture should be written as action statements that you can hire, fire, and filter clients and vendors by.
- It Needs to be a daily conversation: Culture isn’t a set-and-forget poster. It must be actively discussed in every single meeting, operation, and leader-to-team interaction.
The Vast Culture Gap: By the Numbers
Peter Drucker’s famous quote comes to mind here:
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
But the reality of how we handle culture in modern businesses is incredibly disjointed. A Deloitte study highlighted a fascinating statistic: 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct workplace culture is important to their business success.
Almost everyone agrees it matters. But here is the kicker:
Only 19% of those people believe their company actually has the right culture.
That means a vast majority of businesses are operating with a culture that isn’t distinct, isn’t owned, and is simply sitting on a wall rather than living in the hearts of their people.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ 94%
│ Agree Culture is Crucial │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌──────────┐ 19%
│ Believe They Have the Right Culture
└──────────┘
Why One-Word Statements are Failing You
Should we have documented missions, visions, and values? 100% yes. These are the foundation of clear expectations.
But I am incredibly shy of core values and other culture definitions that are just single-word statements. You know the ones: Integrity. Excellence. Teamwork…
Often, when I walk into a business and ask employees to name their core values, they can’t even tell me those single words, let alone what they actually mean. But single word statements, while easy to remember, are wide open for interpretation.
If you want your culture to mean something, your values shouldn’t be passive words. They should be action statements. They should be behaviors you can build a great business on, and actively hire and fire to.
- They should be the filters you use to choose a vendor or a client.
- They should guide how you handle operational bottlenecks and customer complaints.
- They should give us absolute clarity on what we expect, or could be expected of us.
When your culture is written as actions, they stop being corporate jargon and start being a daily roadmap.
For example “honesty” – many companies have this one as a core value… it could be “honesty no matter the cost” – implying that we will be honest even if it costs us something, creating a culture that owns mistakes and learns from them, rather than tries to hide them.
Daily Discussions – Off the Wall and Into the Heart
I had a conversation with a client about their insistence of making sure everyone had the “poster” on their office walls and in the hallways. I understood the sentiment but in response I stated “I would rather it be in their hearts, and actions, than written on the wall”.
You cannot just put a cultural statement on the wall and say, “There it is, now go do it.”
By failing to continuously communicate your culture, you may inadvertently create de-facto culture. We start to tolerate variants and soon it looks different to what we intended. Regular communication coupled with clearer definitions are the fuel to a successful outcome.
I always coach my leaders around the idea – what you tolerate is what you get. Likewise… You build the culture you tolerate, more than the one you write down.
To bring your culture to life, it has to move off the posters and proactively into your day-to-day operations:
- Every Single Meeting: Whether it is a quick weekly huddle or a deep-dive monthly planning session, there should be a team conversation around your core values, your purpose, and your long-term vision.
- Leadership & Development: You must train and lead your people according to these standards. If a leader acts in direct contradiction to your stated values act quickly, otherwise the poster on the wall instantly becomes a joke to your team.
- Your Ecosystem: This isn’t just about your staff. True culture influences the clients you choose to bring around you and the vendors you partner with. It deeply impacts the way you do business and with whom.
And by the way, this doesn’t just apply to corporate companies.
If you are leading a family, a local community group, or even a rugby team, the exact same rules apply. The culture you want is something that has to live and breathe in your day-to-day interactions.
Your Action Item for This Week
I want to challenge you to take a hard, honest look at the people and systems around you today.
Think about your team, your current processes, and your operations. Where is your stated culture currently being contradicted?
Where are you saying one thing on your website, but tolerating another on the shop floor or in your inbox?
Go hold up a mirror to those contradictions and challenge them. You aren’t going to fix everything overnight, but if you focus on it consistently, you will build the culture you actually want, rather than the one that gets built by accident.
Culture is not what you put on the wall. It is what is written into the hearts of your people evidenced by the way they act.
As always, enjoy the journey.
Thanks for reading The Forged Leader!
This article was unpacked further in a recent Monday Myth Check.
Watch the full conversation below: