GrowthForge: Field Notes #8

 Culture is often the first thing blamed when a business starts to feel difficult to run.

People talk about attitude. Engagement. Mindset. Values not being lived strongly enough. There’s a sense that something has shifted, even if it’s hard to pin down exactly what.

At that point, culture becomes a focus.

Workshops are discussed. Language is sharpened. Leaders are encouraged to role-model harder. Sometimes a set of values is refreshed, with the hope that clarity at the top will translate into behaviour throughout the organisation.

Occasionally that helps. Often, it doesn’t.

What tends to get missed is that culture is rarely the root cause. More often, it’s the visible expression of how the system is working underneath.

In the early stages of a business, culture feels natural. People are close to one another. Decisions are made quickly. Effort is visible and consequences are immediate. Behaviour aligns easily because the system itself is simple and direct.

As the business grows, that alignment becomes harder to maintain.

Work is distributed. Decisions take longer. Accountability becomes less obvious. People operate with partial information and competing priorities. Without deliberate attention to structure, the system starts sending mixed signals about what actually matters.

Culture responds accordingly.

If decisions keep escalating upward, people become cautious.

If accountability is unclear, people hedge.

If priorities change frequently, people focus on what feels safest rather than what’s most valuable.

None of this requires bad intent. It emerges naturally from the conditions people are working within.

This is where culture conversations often go off track.

Behaviour is treated as the problem, rather than as information. Values are used as a corrective tool, rather than as a reflection of what the system currently rewards or discourages. Leaders push for “ownership” or “initiative” without addressing the constraints that make those behaviours risky.

The result is frustration on both sides.

Owners feel that people aren’t stepping up. Teams feel that expectations are unclear or constantly shifting. Everyone senses a gap between what’s said and what’s experienced.

In reality, the culture is doing exactly what it should. It’s adapting to the system it’s operating in.

If escalation is rewarded, escalation becomes normal.

If caution is safer than judgement, caution spreads.

If outcomes matter less than compliance, behaviour follows suit.

Changing culture without addressing these underlying mechanics is hard work, and often short-lived.

The businesses that make progress take a different stance. They treat culture as a lagging indicator, not a lever. Instead of asking “what’s wrong with our people?”, they ask “what is the system teaching people to do?”

They look at decision flow, operating rhythm, and accountability together, rather than in isolation. They notice where effort is being wasted, where friction accumulates, and where people are protecting themselves rather than contributing fully.

As those structural issues are addressed, culture begins to shift without being forced.

People speak up earlier because it’s safe to do so. Decisions are made closer to the work because authority is clear. Accountability feels fair because responsibility and discretion are aligned. Trust grows not because it’s mandated, but because the system supports it.

This kind of cultural change is quieter than most expect.

There’s less talk about values and more evidence of them. Fewer initiatives, but more consistency. Less emphasis on motivation, and more on removing obstacles that make good behaviour hard to sustain.

Importantly, this doesn’t mean culture is unimportant. It means it’s downstream.

When structure, rhythm, and decision flow are aligned, culture follows. When they aren’t, culture becomes a battleground for problems that originate elsewhere.

Understanding that distinction changes the conversation.

Instead of trying to fix people, the focus shifts to fixing the conditions they’re working within. Instead of asking for more commitment, the organisation designs for clarity, fairness, and momentum.

And when that happens, culture stops being something that needs constant attention.

It becomes the natural by-product of a system that makes sense.

If that feels familiar and you’d like to talk it through, you’re welcome to book a short exploratory conversation.