What's really driving your culture?
When leaders talk about culture, they often refer to values on a wall, a company manifesto, or a carefully worded purpose statement. But ask most employees what culture actually feels like, and you’ll hear something far more telling: “It’s just the way we do things around here.”
At Go M.A.D. Thinking, we define culture as the collective thinking and behaviour of the people in your organisation. And here’s the uncomfortable truth: your culture isn’t what you say it is. It’s what people experience daily in conversations, meetings, decisions and habits. So if your culture isn’t producing the results you want, it’s time to ask: what’s really driving it?
Culture is built on beliefs
Culture begins with belief systems. These are shaped by each individual’s thinking—about themselves, others, and the organisation. Beliefs might be helpful or hindering. They might be based on facts, assumptions, or unspoken norms. But they all lead somewhere: they influence behaviours. And those behaviours form your culture.
If you want to understand what’s shaping your culture, pay attention to how people behave in everyday scenarios:
- What gets said (or left unsaid) in meetings?
- How do people react to new ideas or change?
- Where do people look for permission, reassurance or approval?
- Who gets involved in shaping decisions, and who doesn’t?
These are not random interactions. They are microcosms of culture. And they can either reinforce or reshape your organisation’s collective mindset.
Conversations reveal culture
- The conversations people have with themselves: These are inner dialogues shaped by past experiences, beliefs, and expectations. They directly impact confidence, ownership and mindset.
- One-to-one conversations: These reflect the quality of relationships, psychological safety, and trust across the organisation.
- Group conversations (e.g. team meetings, leadership updates): These are a mirror for how aligned, empowered, or disengaged your people are.
Want a snapshot of your current culture? Listen in on a few meetings. The tone, energy and language will reveal more than any engagement survey ever could.
Think meetings don’t matter? Think again.
Meetings are more than just scheduled check-ins. They are the cultural petri dishes of your business. They reflect the dominant ways of thinking, communicating, and decision-making.
One NHS Trust we worked with as part of our ThinkOn® initiative reduced meeting time by 30%, simply by embedding high-quality, solution-focused questions into their conversations.
But the real transformation wasn’t just time saved—it was the shift in energy, clarity, and creativity across teams. That’s cultural change in action.
A practical framework for culture shift
If you want to move beyond talk and make culture a lever for performance, you need a structure that turns intention into action. That’s where T.R.E.C.® (Transforming Results and Enabling Change) comes in.
Our T.R.E.C.® programme helps organisations:
- Uncover what’s really driving their current culture
- Align beliefs, behaviours and business goals
- Launch 30, 60 or 90-day improvement challenges to build momentum
- Embed thinking tools and leadership habits that stick
And it’s not a one-size-fits-all. It’s tailored to your organisation’s unique context, using insights from our Catalyst team productivity app to pinpoint the cultural barriers holding you back.
The culture you want starts with the questions you ask
So, ask yourself and your leadership team:
- How do our everyday conversations align with our stated values?
- What do our meetings say about our culture?
- What unspoken rules are shaping behaviour?
- Are we focusing enough on the people side of change?
Culture change isn’t about slogans. It’s about small, visible shifts that change how people think and act—consistently.
And if you’re ready to take that first step, we’re ready to support you. Let’s create a culture that not only feels better, but performs better too.
Book a call with one of our Thinking Engineers to get started.
