– Rikki Gainey, People & Culture Consultant
When it comes to building and evolving a high-performing team, the process of moving from good to great isn’t always about making drastic changes – it’s about nurturing what’s already working and aligning it with a shared purpose.
Last month, Tamara and I had the privilege of delivering a Culture workshop to a team that was already doing great things. The energy, enthusiasm, and willingness to grow in the room were palpable, and it left me feeling truly inspired. This team wasn’t starting from scratch; they were actively invested in exploring ways to fine-tune, elevate, and solidify the culture they had been cultivating.
One of the key themes explored during the session was around culture not belonging solely to management but to everyone. It’s a common misconception that workplace culture is something that is “set” by the leadership team. In reality, culture is shaped by how every single person shows up every day. It is the shared values, actions, and behaviours that everyone contributes to, whether we’re aware of it or not.
As we dug deeper, the team began to recognise that their collective culture wasn’t something that was handed to them from above. Instead, it was a reflection of the way they engaged with each other, communicated with each other and their clients, and the accountability they took in upholding the values they held dear. They understood that everyone in the room had a role in building that culture – through how they responded to challenges, how they collaborated, or even how they showed up in moments of uncertainty.
That idea became even more powerful when we discussed the concept of ownership. For a team to elevate its culture from good to great, every individual needs to take responsibility for the part they play. It’s easy to look to leadership to “fix” things or direct the way forward, but true cultural transformation requires every person to actively participate in the culture they want to see. It’s about recognising that your actions shape the environment around you, and that’s where the real magic happens.
This reminded me of the impactful Are We Monkeys? video by Fiona Robertson. In it, Robertson speaks about an experiment conducted by the University of Wisconsin in the 1960s, where six monkeys were placed in a cage. Inside the cage was a banana at the top of a ladder, just out of reach. As you would expect, the monkeys each tried to get the banana, but as they climbed the ladder, they were shot with a water cannon. Don’t worry – the cannon didn’t injure the monkeys, but it quickly taught them that bad things happen when you climb the ladder.
Over time, the researchers replaced one monkey at a time, and each new monkey would attempt to climb the ladder. However, they were attacked by the other monkeys as a warning that bad things happen when you climb the ladder. Eventually, all the original monkeys were replaced with monkeys that had never experienced being hit by the water cannon. However, they never tried to climb the ladder because they had learned from the other monkeys that bad things happen when you climb the ladder. This highlights exactly how culture works – particularly when we hear the phrase, “That’s just how we do things around here.”
For the team we were working with, the lesson was clear: to take their culture from good to great, they couldn’t afford to slip into autopilot mode. They needed to actively create the culture they wanted and to challenge themselves when they noticed behaviours or norms that didn’t align with their higher goals.
By the end of the workshop, the team was buzzing with new insights. They had a renewed sense of empowerment, knowing culture isn’t something that happens to them – it’s something they co-create. Whether it’s supporting each other through tough projects, speaking up when something isn’t working, or celebrating wins, they recognised that culture is a living, breathing thing that is shaped moment by moment.
It’s one thing to talk about culture – it’s another to live it in every conversation, every meeting, every interaction. Culture is the sum of how we show up every day. When everyone takes ownership and contributes to shaping it, the results are powerful. That’s how a good team becomes a great team.
Ready to take ownership and build a thriving team culture? Join us at our upcoming Culture Workshop on March 20. Contact Rikki to find out more.