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Every organisation has a culture.
The question is not whether you have one. It is whether it is helping or hindering your people.
After working with leadership teams across multiple organisations, I’ve found that high-performing cultures don’t happen by accident. They are intentionally built through a combination of leadership behaviours, shared beliefs, and daily habits.
One model is the 12 Essentials of Culture, originally inspired by Brad Shorkend’s work. It provides a practical way to think about the building blocks that enable people to do their best work.
1. Shared Purpose
People perform better when they understand why their work matters.
A compelling purpose aligns teams, improves decision-making, and gives meaning beyond simply completing tasks.
Ask yourself:
“Could every employee explain why your organisation exists?”
2. Ways of Working
Culture is reflected in how work gets done every day.
Clear ways of working create consistency without unnecessary bureaucracy. They define how decisions are made, how teams collaborate, and what “good” looks like.
3. Meaningful Communication
Communication is far more than sending information.
High-performing organisations communicate openly, honestly, and consistently. Leaders create clarity, listen actively, and ensure information reaches the people who need it.
People rarely leave because of too much communication.
They leave because of uncertainty.
4. Awareness
Great organisations remain aware of both their internal and external environments.
They notice changing customer needs, market shifts, risks, and opportunities before competitors do.
Awareness also means leaders stay connected to their people instead of leading from behind reports and dashboards.
5. Stoke
Energy is contagious.
When people are excited about what they’re building, they bring creativity, passion, and discretionary effort.
Leaders create “stoke” by celebrating wins, removing obstacles, sharing success stories, and connecting work to purpose.
6. Ownership and accountability
High-performing cultures don’t depend on managers chasing people.
People willingly take ownership because expectations are clear and they understand how their work contributes to the bigger picture.
Accountability should feel empowering—not punitive.
7. Recognition
Recognition is one of the simplest and most underused leadership tools.
People want to know their contributions matter.
Recognition doesn’t always require awards or bonuses.
A sincere “thank you”, public appreciation, or acknowledging someone’s growth often has a bigger impact.
8. Workspace
The workspace isn’t only physical.
It includes your digital tools, meeting culture, collaboration spaces, and psychological environment.
Ask yourself:
Does your environment make it easy for people to focus, collaborate, and deliver value?
9. Knowledge Flow
Knowledge trapped inside individuals creates bottlenecks.
Knowledge shared creates agility.
Great organisations intentionally improve the flow of information through communities of practice, documentation, mentoring, and transparent communication.
The faster knowledge flows, the faster organisations learn.
10. People Push
Growth happens outside our comfort zones.
Great leaders challenge people while supporting them.
They coach rather than control, encourage experimentation, and create opportunities for continuous learning.
People grow fastest when they feel both supported and stretched.
11. Care
Culture starts with caring.
High-performing organisations genuinely care about their people, customers, and the quality of their work.
Care means:
- treating people with respect
- listening before acting
- supporting one another
- taking pride in delivering value
- acting with empathy and integrity
People give their best when they know someone genuinely cares.
12. Innovation with Intent
Innovation isn’t about chasing every new idea.
It is about continuously finding better ways to serve customers and improve how work gets done.
The best organisations create safe environments for experimentation while remaining focused on delivering meaningful outcomes.
Innovation should always have purpose.
It all starts with trust
Although these twelve essentials are powerful individually, they only thrive when built on a foundation of trust.
Trust creates psychological safety.
It allows people to ask questions, admit mistakes, experiment with new ideas, challenge respectfully, and collaborate openly.
Without trust, even the best processes eventually fail.
With trust, ordinary teams often achieve extraordinary results.
Final thoughts
Culture isn’t created by posters on the wall.
It is created by thousands of small decisions made every day.
Every conversation.
Every meeting.
Every decision.
Every act of leadership.
If leaders intentionally strengthen these twelve essentials, they create an environment where people don’t simply come to work. They come to contribute, innovate, grow, and succeed together.
