Is Culture Just a Buzzword?

6 min readJun 17, 2021

Welcome to the #culturedrop. Every Tuesday, Galen Emanuele emails tools to advance leadership skills, team culture, and personal growth. No spam, just great content. Sign up now to get it in your inbox.

Culture is as much of a buzzword as “marketing” is, in that if organizations don’t know how to approach it effectively, or if you’ve never seen it tangibly implemented in a successful way, then of course it’s easy to label as a buzzword.

You won’t be shocked to learn that I don’t think culture is a buzzword at all. It’s critical to the success of teams and organizations. What I do think is that most organizations and business leaders buy into the common (and very false) belief that there is no secret sauce to culture and that it’s achieved by simply waving the flag of your company’s values and treating people how you want to be treated.

“…most organizations and business leaders buy into the common (and very false) belief that there is no secret sauce to culture and that it’s achieved by simply waving the flag of your company’s values…”

I’d like to bury that notion for good because there is a secret sauce and recipe to culture. It’s at the center of my work with teams and I’ve personally seen the real-time impact of doing it right. It goes much deeper than high level values and when it’s executed correctly, it is a game changer for organizations.

The challenge around this topic is that while companies are finally waking up to the impact of culture on the performance, engagement, and retention of their people, many leaders do not possess the tangible know-how to design and establish culture in a meaningful, successful way. (At the end of this article, I’ll show you how to do it).

First, a reframing of mindsets around culture.

The end goal of focusing on culture is not just to be able to claim that you have a great culture.

Just like owning a car, the purpose is not simply to have a car. The reason to own a car is so that you can get in it and drive anywhere that you want. The value is the benefits of owning one, not the car itself. The car is just the delivery system.

“The value in focusing on culture and treating it like a strategic priority is not the buzzword label, it’s what it provides to the organization.”

The same goes for culture. The purpose of designing and having a great culture in your organization is not simply to say that you have a great culture. Honestly, who cares what you call it? The value in focusing on culture and treating it like a strategic priority is not the buzzword label, it’s what it provides to the organization.

When it comes to people, what all organizations truly want are teams and individuals who are high performing and engaged, that do great work and produce results. Companies want to attract and retain exceptional employees. They want team members to be adaptive and open to change, to be innovative, to care about the quality of their work and to have healthy, positive communication and relationships with coworkers. All of these things are key to a the bottom line and success of any company.

An exceptional company culture is the delivery system to achieve all of these things.

But why culture? Why focus on that or waste time with it beyond having this sweet poster that says “Integrity. Respect. Trust. Teamwork. Excellence.”?

Great question, so glad you asked. The reason is that people are people. And while a list of company values is nice, it does essentially nothing to impact people’s actual behavior.

Look around. Most companies have all or most of those values I just listed as their core values. But many of those same companies are fraught with toxic, dysfunctional environments, silos between departments, terrible leadership, conflict, poor behavior, and employees who show up way out of alignment with the company’s supposed values.

You need more than a list of values to impact people’s behavior.

“If companies rest on the falsehood that there is no secret recipe to culture, or leave it up to chance, they neglect the reality that the way the people executing their business plan show up every day in their roles is the make or break of the organization’s success.”

What companies need is a clearly defined code of conduct and ground rules that are focused on behaviors, not values, that 100% of the organization is held accountable to without exception, and that are integrated into the fabric and DNA of the company through common systems and processes.

If companies rest on the falsehood that there is no secret recipe to culture, or leave it up to chance, they neglect the reality that the way the people executing their business plan show up every day in their roles is the make or break of the organization’s success.

And one of the main reasons why we can’t leave it up to chance: because employees are human, they’re dynamic, and because they’re diverse.

Diversity gives us our strength, it also gives us conflict.

Inside teams, there are naturally very diverse personality types, communication styles, skill sets, backgrounds, mindsets, working styles, and a myriad of other aspects of diversity; gender, race, life experience, etc. It’s important to recognize that the diversity that companies have on their teams is what gives them their strength. It’s what makes it possible to fill different roles, problem solve, innovate, and effectively function as an organization.

But the dynamics and challenges of human beings working together in organizations with so many different communication styles, working styles, personality types, etc, is that it brings many different forms of conflict.

INSEAD assistant professor Sujin Jang says, “Diverse teams have the potential to be more creative because of the breadth of information, ideas, and perspectives that members can bring to the table.”

Jang continues, “But these teams often suffer from conflicting norms and differing assumptions between members, which can keep them from reaching their full creative potential.”

And no, designing an intentional culture will not remove all conflicts and challenges from occurring. What it will do is develop stronger, healthier relationships, behaviors, mindsets, and communication that allow teams to successfully navigate these dynamics and remain highly cohesive and productive, instead of producing the lingering turmoil and toxicity that cripples many organizations from the inside.

Designed, committed, effective.

“Is culture just a buzzword? Hell no. It’s the delivery system to high performing teams and wildly successful organizations.”

Designing and prioritizing an intentional culture is a strategic, tangible way to be committed as an organization to a code of conduct and a set of ground rules that effectively informs they way people show up together, approach their jobs, and impact others on the team.

That is why culture matters.

When you execute culture well, the result is high performing teams that are engaged, perform well together, are creative, innovative, where individuals feel valued and included, and give discretionary effort way beyond what they give when they are disengaged or dislike their jobs. People will try harder, and they’ll care.

Is culture just a buzzword? Hell no. It’s the delivery system to high performing teams and wildly successful organizations.

(Wondering where to start? I have a very specific tool that I use with teams that I work with to walk through that process step by step. Click here to download my Strategic Culture Plan for free.)

3 Keys to Navigating Remote Work & Team Culture (5 mins)
Leadership Mindset: Honoring Neurodiversity on Teams (2 mins)
5 Ways to Build Team Culture with Remote Employees (5 mins)

Want more?

This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month’s content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop