Reframing Workplace Culture

By Amrit Sandhar, CEO/Founder, &Evolve

How important is culture really?

What evidence is there that changing the culture of an organisation makes any real difference to performance? After all, some of the organisations deemed to have the worst cultures have shown some of the best performance.

Take Amazon for example. One of the most successful companies in the world, yet its culture has come under fire repeatedly. Journalist Dana Mattioli described working there as like “auditioning for your job every day,” competing with your peers in an environment where 6% of the workforce will be cut annually. She called it “very aggressive, and said “it can be bruising.” That’s even before factoring in the multiple investigations into warehouse safety and wellbeing.

Yet Amazon is worth over $2 trillion and has more than 310 million active users. Jeff Bezos is the second richest person in the world. If success can co-exist with toxicity, surely that suggests culture doesn’t really matter? So why would organisations distract themselves from driving performance to focus on culture?

Culture fuels performance

It’s probably worth stepping back and reflecting on what culture actually is. Many people fall back on the phrase, “It’s the way we do things around here.” And while that’s true, it barely scratches the surface. Culture is rarely designed – it evolves. And that evolution is shaped by every single person who joins, and the behaviours they bring with them. Silence is complicit. When poor behaviour goes unchallenged, it becomes normalised.

According to the CIPD, average employee turnover sits at around 34% – so within just three to four years, provided the turnover rate remains constant, it’s theoretically possible that an organisation could be made up of entirely new people. That means culture is never static, it’s constantly shifting, influenced by who arrives, who leaves, and what gets rewarded or tolerated along the way. This is why focusing on culture isn’t a distraction from performance – it’s an investment in it. And it’s not about perks, ping pong tables or casual dress codes.

Culture lag

When organisations define the culture they need to support their business ambitions, it can often take years to embed. And even then, the progress can feel intangible. Leaders often question whether it’s working, as observable change doesn’t become evident until a tipping point is reached. The danger, therefore, lies in the lag. Because cultural shifts are slow and often imperceptible, an organisation can drift off-course without anyone noticing, until the signs become too obvious to ignore, in ways such as: attrition, stalled innovation, reputational decline and disengagement. By then, course correction takes far more effort. This is why culture must be monitored with the same rigour as financial performance or customer metrics. It is no less strategic, in fact, it underpins them all.

Identity and adaptability

Culture is about identity. It’s about defining who we are, how we behave, and how we work together, especially in a world that is volatile, uncertain, and increasingly complex. When cultures don’t support people, they risk becoming transactional. Where employees show up, do what they’re told, and little more. Compliance may keep the lights on, but it doesn’t fuel innovation, adaptability or resilience. And in times of change, those things matter more than ever.

Think of culture like the receptors on a cell. The more attuned a culture is to its people, the better it can respond to what’s happening around it. Inclusive cultures, where people feel seen, heard and valued are more adaptive, more creative, and more committed. They take ownership of success, rather than simply following instructions. Let’s take Microsoft as another example. Once defined by internal competition and a fixed mindset, it was rapidly losing ground. Under Satya Nadella’s leadership, the company shifted its culture towards collaboration, curiosity, and continuous learning. The result? A revitalised business, a tripling of market value, and a culture that fuels rather than frustrates progress.

The multiplier effect

Culture isn’t a cost – it’s a multiplier. Ignore it, and it multiplies risk. Invest in it, and it multiplies potential. The absence of toxic headlines is not proof of a healthy culture, just as the presence of performance is not always evidence of sustainability. Culture shapes everything; how people work, how they feel, how they innovate, and how they stay. It’s not an initiative on the side. It is the organisation.

Values matter

A culture is underpinned by what matters most to people; what they value. Our behaviours are driven by these values, and it’s the behaviours that shape the culture. Creating a distinct culture requires defining the organisation values, and how this is expressed in the behaviours of all those who work there.

But having this internal guidance system only matters when it’s tested. How does it help the organisation make the right decisions under pressure, or when facing a challenging external environment? How does it guide hiring, development, and how people hold each other to account? Creating an environment of shared responsibility to the values, and alignment with them, is what ensures the culture doesn’t drift when it matters most. It’s not about having the statements and phrases visible, but the actions that express those statements, consistently visible, by all.

Does culture matter?

Only if performance, innovation, trust, and resilience matter too. Only if you want your strategy to do more than sit in a deck. Only if you believe people are more than just inputs in a system. Culture isn’t about making work fun – it’s about making work ‘work.’ It’s about creating the conditions where people can do their best thinking, their best collaborating, and their best work, consistently.

If strategy is your direction, then culture is the terrain you’re crossing. And without the right terrain, even the best strategy will struggle to find its footing, let alone, evolve.