3 Key ingredients for a better workplace culture

I recently read a post by Shelley Johnson (shout out to a fellow culture and leadership junkie) and it listed two things a great culture needs. I want to expand on that a little further and suggest that a great culture requires three things.

Not ping pong tables.
Not engagement surveys.
Not a new values refresh.

1. Leaders who prioritise their own growth.

2. Team members who have empathy for their managers.

3. Executive teams who actively develop their managers and future leaders.

In my keynote speeches I often talk about the fact that leadership is a really hard job.

It’s far easier to criticise than to carry responsibility.
Easier to whisper than to step forward.
Easier to demand psychological safety than to model emotional regulation.

Managers - your nervous system sets the tone for the team.
If you are reactive, they will be reactive.
If you are calm under pressure, they will steady.
Go deep. Stay grounded. Your state matters more than your strategy.

Team members - go easy on your manager.
You see one layer of the system. They carry five.
Empathy travels up as much as it travels down.

Executives - sink or swim is not leadership.
It’s neglect dressed up as resilience.
If you don’t develop your managers, you weaken the entire ecosystem.
Culture is not built at the frontline. It is modelled at the top.

When leaders grow,
When teams extend grace,
When executives steward capability,

You don’t just build healthier teams.
You build healthier profits.

Culture is a shared responsibility.

And it starts with how we treat each other under pressure.