Culture – A real story
Culture Isn’t What You Write on the Wall — It’s What Your People Feel Safe Enough to Tell You
There’s a moment in every growing business when something feels off.
Not broken — just misaligned.
The energy in the room shifts.
The values still sound good, but they don’t feel as lived as they used to.
That’s where one of my clients found themselves earlier this year.
Growth was up, results were solid, but something in the culture was quietly straining.
The Symptom: Silence
The Owner told me:
“Everyone’s working hard, but our meetings feel flat. It’s like we lost our spark.”
The values on the wall said Trust, Collaboration, Integrity.
But when we looked closer, decision-making was bottlenecked, feedback was soft, and great work often went unnoticed.
So, instead of another offsite or team workshop, we ran a Feedback Survey.
The Process
10 minutes, Anonymous, Independently Facilitated.
The questions weren’t about happiness — they were about honesty.
Do you feel safe to speak up? Do leaders model the values? Where does trust show up — or drop out?
We had 85% participation.
People were desperate to be heard.
The Results
The data told a clear story:
Engagement: 4.2/5 — people still cared deeply.
Leadership Trust: 3.1/5 — uncertainty about consistency and fairness.
Wellbeing: 3.8/5 — strong, but stretched.
Values in Action: 3.3/5 — the words were there, but not always lived.
The comments were the gold.
“We love working here, but sometimes it feels risky to challenge decisions.”
“We talk about collaboration, but it’s often the same people deciding.”
“We love our leaders but they are not always consistent”
The Turning Point
At the debrief, the Owner said:
“It’s confronting, but it’s the most honest feedback we’ve ever had.”
Within six weeks, they’d implemented three shifts:
Leadership started weekly open Q&As.
A peer-recognition ritual was introduced.
Decisions were tracked transparently.
By the next quarter, trust scores had jumped by 20%.
That’s not engagement fluff — that’s realignment.
The Insight
Culture isn’t built by writing values.
It’s built by listening to whether those values are felt.
Most businesses don’t need another “values refresh.”
They need honest feedback from the people living it daily.
That’s what our feedback survey delivers — fast, human, and psychologically safe insight that cuts through assumptions and perceptions.
The Offer
If you want to know what your people aren’t saying but really thinking, run a Survey process before your next strategy day. We’ve put together a step by step process that you can access from our resources page - if you want to Try it yourself
Alternatively, let us help you;
Anonymous
Data + Insight
Clarity in under four weeks
Independently facilitated