Summary

Duration: 2 hours

Group Size: ~10 participants

Format: In-person, highly interactive

Workshop Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Understand what team culture is and why it matters
• Articulate their current team culture (as it actually is)
• Identify their desired team culture (who they want to be)
• Recognise gaps between current and desired culture
• Define specific cultural elements (behaviours, values, norms, beliefs)
• Leave with a draft team culture framework and next steps

Materials Needed

• Flipchart/whiteboard
• Post-it notes (multiple colours)
• Printed handouts: Team Culture Assessment, Understanding Culture Framework, Culture Definition Guide, Culture Mapping Toolkit, Team Action Plan
• Large paper for culture mapping
• Markers
• Timer
• Name tags/table tents

Process

SEGMENT 1: Opening & Discovery (20 minutes)

Welcome & Context Setting (3 min)

• Brief welcome and workshop objectives
• Ground rules: honest reflection, all perspectives valued, focus on what’s real not what sounds good
• Normalise that culture often goes unnamed and may surprise us when made explicit

Activity: “Culture Stories” (17 min)

Purpose: Surface current team culture through real experiences and identify what needs attention

Individual Reflection (5 min):

Think about your team’s culture—the way you really work together:

• A moment that felt like “this is us at our best” (when the culture supported you)
• A moment that felt like “this isn’t working” (when the culture got in the way)

For each moment, note:

• What was happening?
• What cultural elements were visible (behaviours, norms, beliefs)?
• What did this reveal about your team culture?

Small Groups (9 min):

Groups of 3-4:

• Each person shares one “best” and one “not working” story (2 min each)
• Listen for: What patterns emerge? What’s the real culture (not the stated one)?
• Note themes on post-its

Whole Group Harvest (3 min):

Facilitator creates two columns on flip chart:

• “Culture that supports us” (what’s working)
• “Culture that holds us back” (what’s not working)

Capture themes without judgment

Frame: “Today we’ll make our culture explicit, name what’s really happening, and define the culture we want to build together.”

Facilitator Notes:

• Common themes include collaboration vs. silos, psychological safety vs. fear, autonomy vs. micromanagement, innovation vs. risk-aversion, accountability vs. blame, transparency vs. politics, pace (urgent vs. thoughtful), focus (scattered vs. clear).
• Listen for the gap between what teams say their culture is and what stories reveal it actually is.
• Some may be surprised by disconnects between team members’ experiences.
• Watch for people sugar-coating—encourage honesty about what’s really happening.
• This discovery sets up the entire workshop, so ensure real culture surfaces, not aspirational statements.

SEGMENT 2: Understanding Team Culture (15 minutes)

Mini-Teach: What Is Culture and Why It Matters (15 min)

The Definition:

Team culture: The shared patterns of behaviour, unwritten rules, norms, beliefs, and values that shape how a team works together. Often summarised as “the way we do things around here.”

Key Insight: Culture isn’t what you say it is. It’s what you actually do, especially under pressure. It’s revealed through daily choices, not mission statements.

Why Culture Matters:

For performance:

• Culture drives behaviour more than policies
• Shapes what gets prioritised and how
• Determines speed and quality of decisions
• Enables or blocks collaboration
• Predicts how team handles challenges

For people:

• Culture determines who thrives and who struggles
• Affects psychological safety and wellbeing
• Shapes whether people can bring their best
• Influences retention and engagement
• Creates sense of belonging or exclusion

For sustainability:

• Strong culture provides stability through change
• Weak or toxic culture creates constant friction
• Culture is self-reinforcing (good or bad)
• Unexamined culture drifts over time
• Intentional culture requires ongoing attention

The Four Elements of Culture:

1. Behaviours (What We Do)

The observable actions and patterns:

• How we communicate
• How we make decisions
• How we handle conflict
• How we collaborate or compete
• What we do under pressure

Examples:

• “We interrupt each other in meetings”
• “We always deliver on commitments”
• “We avoid difficult conversations”

2. Norms (The Unwritten Rules)

The implicit expectations about what’s okay and what’s not:

• What’s acceptable vs. unacceptable
• What gets rewarded or punished
• What’s discussed vs. what’s taboo
• How things “should” be done
• What’s considered normal

Examples:

• “You’re expected to respond to emails within an hour”
• “Don’t bring up problems without solutions”
• “It’s okay to miss deadlines if you’re busy”

3. Values (What Matters to Us)

The principles that guide choices:

• What we care about most
• What we’re willing to sacrifice for
• What we use to make trade-offs
• What we stand for
• What we won’t compromise

Examples:

• “We value speed over perfection”
• “Quality matters more than deadlines”
• “People come before projects”

4. Beliefs and Assumptions (How We Think)

The underlying mindsets and worldviews:

• Assumptions about people and work
• Beliefs about what leads to success
• Mental models about how things work
• Shared stories and narratives
• Taken-for-granted truths

Examples:

• “People need close oversight to do good work”
• “Conflict is dangerous and should be avoided”
• “Our way is the only right way”

How Culture Works:

Beliefs → Shape values → Drive norms → Result in behaviours → Reinforce beliefs

Example: Belief: “Mistakes are failures” → Value: “Perfection” → Norm: “Hide mistakes” → Behaviour: “Don’t take risks” → Reinforces belief

The Culture Gap:

Espoused culture: What we say our culture is (values on wall, statements in documents)

Actual culture: What we really do (revealed through behaviour, especially under pressure)

The gap exists because:

• We describe aspirations, not reality
• We’re unaware of actual patterns
• Some things are too uncomfortable to name
• Culture evolved without conscious choice
• External pressures override intentions

Goal: Make actual culture visible, then consciously choose desired culture.

Culture Is Created and Maintained By:

What gets attention: What leaders and team members focus on and talk about

What gets rewarded: What’s praised, recognised, promoted, compensated

What gets tolerated: What behaviour is allowed to continue without consequence

What gets modelled: How leaders and influential team members behave

What gets told: The stories shared about successes and failures

Key principle: Culture is what you do, not what you say. To change culture, change what you attend to, reward, tolerate, model, and tell stories about.

SEGMENT 3: Mapping Current Culture (25 minutes)

Framework Share: How to See Your Culture Clearly (3 min)

Your current culture already exists—it’s happening every day. The challenge is making it visible and explicit so you can consciously choose what to keep and what to change.

Today you’ll map your culture across all four elements: behaviours, norms, values, and beliefs.

Activity: “Current Culture Mapping” (22 min)

Setup: Teams map their actual current culture

Individual Reflection (7 min):

Using the Team Culture Assessment handout:

For your team’s current culture, identify:

Behaviours: 3-4 things we actually do regularly

Norms: 2-3 unwritten rules that govern our team

Values: 2-3 things that really drive our decisions (not what we say, what we do)

Beliefs: 1-2 underlying assumptions we operate from

Be honest—describe what is, not what should be

Small Group Sharing (10 min):

Groups of 3-4:

Round 1 (5 min): Share your observations

• Where do we have alignment (seeing same culture)?
• Where do we see differently?
• What surprises us?

Round 2 (5 min): Look for patterns

• What’s our actual culture (not aspirational)?
• What cultural elements are strongest?
• What’s implicit that needs to be explicit?

Capture key themes on flip chart

Whole Group Synthesis (5 min):

Each group shares 2-3 key observations about current culture

Facilitator captures on master flip chart, organising by the four elements

Note areas of agreement and disagreement

Facilitator Notes:

• This is the most critical activity—getting honest about actual culture.
• Expect some discomfort as gaps between stated and real culture emerge.
• Push for specificity: not “we’re collaborative” but “we make decisions in side conversations after meetings.”
• Watch for defensive reactions when reality doesn’t match aspirations—normalise this as valuable data.
• For intact teams, this becomes their actual culture map to work with.
• For mixed groups, this is practice in the method.
• Some teams may discover they don’t have shared culture. They’re really multiple micro-cultures. This as important insight.
• Look for “the elephant in the room”. Things everyone knows but no one says. Create safety to name these.

SEGMENT 4: Defining Desired Culture (30 minutes)

Framework Share: From Current to Desired (5 min)

The Process:

Now that you’ve mapped your current culture, you can consciously design your desired culture—who you want to be.

Three approaches:

Keep: Elements of current culture that serve you well

Stop: Elements that hold you back or cause harm

Start: New elements you need to add

Key Questions for Desired Culture:

Given our work and context:

• What kind of culture do we need to succeed?
• Who do we need to be to do our best work?
• What cultural elements would help us thrive?

Given our challenges:

• What culture would help us navigate what’s hard?
• What needs to shift to address our biggest issues?
• What’s missing that we need?

Given our aspirations:

• What kind of team do we want to be?
• How do we want people to experience working here?
• What culture would we be proud of?

Desired Culture Framework:

Define across all four elements:

Behaviours: What will we actually do?

Norms: What will be our unwritten rules?

Values: What will guide our decisions?

Beliefs: What assumptions will we operate from?

Important: Desired culture must be:

• Authentic (fits who you really are)
• Needed (addresses real challenges)
• Specific (clear enough to guide action)
• Achievable (realistic given constraints)
• Chosen (not imposed or copied)

Activity: “Desired Culture Design” (25 min)

Purpose: Define the team culture you want to create together

Individual Brainstorm (7 min):

Using Culture Definition Guide handout:

For each element, note ideas for desired culture:

Behaviours to keep, stop, start:

Keep: _______________________________________________

Stop: _______________________________________________

Start: _______________________________________________

Norms to establish: _______________________________________________

Values to prioritise: _______________________________________________

Beliefs to shift or strengthen: _______________________________________________

Small Group Design (12 min):

Groups of 3-4:

Task: Draft a desired culture framework

Round 1 (6 min): Share individual ideas

• What do we want to keep from current culture?
• What do we need to stop or change?
• What new elements do we need to start?

Round 2 (6 min): Synthesise into framework

• Agree on 3-4 key behavioural commitments
• Identify 2-3 essential norms
• Clarify 2-3 core values
• Name 1-2 foundational beliefs

Capture on flip chart

Whole Group Synthesis (6 min):

Each group presents their desired culture framework (90 seconds each)

Facilitator captures common themes and interesting differences

For intact teams: Begin identifying consensus on desired culture

For mixed groups: Note patterns and principles

Facilitator Notes:

• Push for specificity. “Be respectful” isn’t specific enough“. “Listen without interrupting” is.
• Ensure desired culture addresses real needs, not just sounds nice.
• Watch for copying other organisations’ cultures—help teams find what fits them.
• Some elements may be controversial. Don’t smooth over disagreement, explore it. The discomfort reveals important differences that need working through.
• If an intact team, they may not reach full consensus. That’s okay, capture options to refine later.
• Ensure desired culture is aspirational but achievable. Not so perfect it’s demotivating.
• Look for desired culture that contradicts itself (e.g., “move fast” and “be thorough always”)—help teams see and resolve tensions.

SEGMENT 5: Identifying the Culture Gap (20 minutes)

Framework Share: Understanding the Gap (5 min)

The Culture Gap:

The distance between current and desired culture is your culture gap. This is what needs to shift.

Three Types of Gaps:

1. Awareness Gap

Current culture exists but is invisible or unacknowledged

Solution: Make it explicit, name what’s really happening

2. Capability Gap

Desire to change culture but lack skills, resources, or support

Solution: Build capability, provide resources, create support

3. Commitment Gap

Stated desire for culture change but unwilling to make hard changes

Solution: Get honest about what you’re truly willing to do

Why Gaps Exist:

• Habit and momentum: Current culture is established and self-reinforcing
• Misaligned incentives: Systems reward old culture, not desired culture
• Fear of change: Unknown feels riskier than familiar dysfunction
• Lack of skills: Don’t know how to create desired culture
• Insufficient leadership: No one consistently models or enforces desired culture
• Competing priorities: Culture change requires time and attention
• Structural barriers: Organisational systems work against desired culture

Closing the Gap Requires:

• Clarity: Explicit description of desired culture
• Commitment: Willingness to make hard changes
• Consistency: Sustained attention over time
• Accountability: Calling out old culture, reinforcing new
• Support: Resources and capability building
• Patience: Culture change is slow

Key Insight: Small gaps can be bridged through behaviour change. Large gaps may require fundamental shifts in beliefs and systems.

Activity: “Gap Analysis and Priorities” (15 min)

Purpose: Identify specific culture gaps and prioritise what to address

Individual Analysis (5 min):

Using Culture Mapping Toolkit handout:

Compare current and desired culture:

Biggest gap (most important to address): _______________________________________________

Type of gap: ☐ Awareness ☐ Capability ☐ Commitment

What would need to change: _______________________________________________

What makes this hard: _______________________________________________

Trio Discussion (8 min):

Groups of 3:

• Each person shares their biggest gap (2 min each)
• Discuss: What are our priority culture gaps?
• Identify: What needs to change first? What’s a realistic starting point?

Brief Share-Out (2 min):

Popcorn: “Our biggest culture gap is…”

Facilitator captures priority gaps

Facilitator Notes:

• Help people distinguish between gaps that are easy to name but hard to change (e.g., “we need more trust”) and specific, actionable gaps (e.g., “we need to stop talking behind each other’s backs”).
• Push for root causes, not symptoms.
• Watch for gaps that blame external forces—help teams identify their agency.
• Some gaps may be too big for the team alone—note these as organisational issues while focusing on team control.
• For intact teams, begin prioritising which gap to address first. Don’t try to close all gaps at once—culture change requires focus.

SEGMENT 6: Making Culture Real (20 minutes)

Interactive Teaching: From Definition to Reality (8 min)

The Challenge:

Defining desired culture is the easy part. Living it consistently is hard. Culture change fails when:

• Defined once then forgotten
• Not connected to daily behaviour
• Leadership doesn’t model it
• No accountability for old culture
• Systems and incentives don’t align
• Treated as project not ongoing practice

Making Culture Real Requires:

1. Make It Visible

How:

• Document culture explicitly (don’t leave it implicit)
• Post it where team sees it regularly
• Reference it in meetings and decisions
• Include in onboarding and team rituals

Why: What’s out of sight is out of mind

2. Connect to Daily Decisions

How:

• Ask “Is this aligned with our culture?”
• Use culture as decision-making criteria
• Call out when behaviour contradicts culture
• Celebrate when behaviour exemplifies culture

Why: Culture must be lived daily, not just discussed occasionally

3. Model Consistently

How:

• Leaders and influential team members go first
• Demonstrate desired behaviours especially under pressure
• Admit when you fall short
• Show the culture is real, not just words

Why: People watch what you do, not what you say

4. Address Violations

How:

• Name behaviour that contradicts culture
• Have direct conversations about misalignment
• Apply consequences when necessary
• Don’t tolerate behaviour that undermines culture

Why: What you tolerate becomes your actual culture

5. Recognise and Reinforce

How:

• Notice and appreciate culture-aligned behaviour
• Tell stories of culture in action
• Recognise people who embody the culture
• Make cultural contribution part of how you evaluate success

Why: What gets recognised gets repeated

6. Review and Refresh

How:

• Regular check-ins: Are we living our culture?
• Quarterly culture conversations
• Annual culture review and refresh
• Adjust as team and context evolve

Why: Culture needs ongoing attention to stay alive

The Culture Conversation:

Regular team discussions about culture:

• How are we doing living our culture?
• Where are we strong? Where are we weak?
• What’s getting in the way?
• What do we need to start, stop, or keep doing?
• Is our desired culture still right?

Timeline for Culture Change:

Weeks 1-4: High awareness, initial behaviour change, feels awkward

Months 2-3: Inconsistency, some reversion to old culture, need reinforcement

Months 4-6: New patterns starting to stick, feels more natural

Months 6-12: New culture becoming established, but needs ongoing attention

Year 2+: Culture embedded, but never on autopilot—always requires maintenance

Key Insight: Culture change is marathon, not sprint. Need sustained attention and consistency.

Activity: “Culture Implementation Planning” (12 min)

Purpose: Identify practical steps to make culture real

Individual Planning (5 min):

Choose one element of desired culture you want to help bring to life

What I’ll do to make this real:

Model it: _______________________________________________

Recognise it: _______________________________________________

Address violations: _______________________________________________

Small Groups (5 min):

Groups of 3-4:

Share commitments and build on each other’s ideas

Identify: What will we do as a team to live our culture?

Quick Harvest (2 min):

Popcorn: “One way I’ll help make our culture real…”

Facilitator Notes:

• Push for specific actions, not vague commitments. “Model transparency” becomes “share my thinking in decision-making.”
• Watch for people committing to change others’ behaviour—focus on what they personally will do.
• Some may feel powerless if not in leadership. Help them see everyone shapes culture through their choices.
• For intact teams, begin capturing collective commitments.
• Ensure plans are sustainable—small consistent actions matter more than heroic one-time efforts.

SEGMENT 7: Integration & Commitment (10 minutes)

Tool Distribution (2 min)

Provide take-home resources:

• Team Culture Assessment (already have)
• Understanding Culture Framework
• Culture Definition Guide (already have)
• Culture Mapping Toolkit (already have)
• Team Action Plan

Team Action Planning (6 min)

For intact teams:

Using Team Action Plan handout, capture:

Our current culture (key elements): _______________________________________________

Our desired culture (key elements): _______________________________________________

Our priority culture gap to address: _______________________________________________

Specific actions we’ll take:

How we’ll keep culture alive: _______________________________________________

When we’ll review progress: _______________________________________________

For mixed groups:

Individual commitments:

• One culture element I’ll work on in my team
• One action I’ll take this week
• How I’ll start the culture conversation

Closing Round (2 min)

Quick popcorn: “One commitment I’m making about team culture…”

Facilitator provides:

• Reminder that culture is what you do, not what you say
• Encouragement that small consistent actions shape culture
• Note that culture change requires ongoing attention
• Invitation to be honest about gaps and patient with progress

Secret Sauce

Energy Management

• Segment 1 should feel honest and revealing (possibly uncomfortable—that’s good)
• Segment 3 is the mirror moment—can be sobering when actual culture is named
• Segment 4 should feel energising and creative
• Segment 5 may feel heavy (the reality of gaps)—balance with Segment 6’s agency
• Keep momentum toward action—culture work can become abstract
• If energy dips, add 2-minute stretch between Segments 4 and 5

Common Challenges

“We have a great culture.” Explore: What specifically makes it great? What could be even better? Push past surface-level positivity.

Sugarcoating reality. Push for honesty: “What would you say if no one was listening?” Help create safety for truth-telling.

Aspirational vs. actual confusion. Keep asking: “Is this what we do or what we wish we did?” Name the difference.

Blame and defensiveness. Normalise that all cultures have gaps. Focus on “what can we control” not “whose fault is it.”

Too many priorities. Help teams focus: “If you could only change one thing about your culture, what would it be?”

Desire without commitment. Test: “Are you willing to do the hard things required?” Push past wishful thinking to real commitment.

Mixed perceptions of culture. Explore the differences: “What creates these different experiences?” This is valuable data.

Toxic elements surface. Don’t minimise. Acknowledge seriously and note some things may need attention beyond this workshop.

Timing Flexibility

• If running behind: Reduce Segment 4 to 20 min (3 min teach, 17 min activity)
• If ahead: Deeper exploration in Segment 5 on what makes closing gaps hard
• Can extend Segment 7 for intact teams to develop detailed action plan

Key Facilitator Moves

In Segment 1: Create safety for honesty—this sets the tone for the whole workshop

In Segment 3: Push past aspirational statements to actual culture—keep asking “Is this what we really do?”

In Segment 4: Help teams be ambitious but realistic about desired culture

In Segment 5: Help teams see specific, addressable gaps not overwhelming problems

In Segment 6: Build agency and hope while being realistic about timeline

Throughout: Model the honesty and directness you want them to have about culture

For Intact Teams vs. Mixed Groups

Intact teams: This is real culture work—they’re defining their actual culture. Push for specificity, honesty, and commitment. They should leave with draft culture framework.

Mixed groups: Focus on learning the process and principles to take back. Use examples and practice, but acknowledge they’ll need to do this with their own teams.

Follow-Up Suggestions

• For intact teams: Finalise culture framework within 2 weeks, then share widely
• Reference culture in next 3-4 team meetings to build awareness
• Monthly: Check in on culture—are we living it?
• Quarterly: Culture conversation—what’s working, what needs attention
• Annually: Review and refresh culture as team evolves
• Address culture violations promptly when they occur
• Celebrate examples of culture in action

Success Indicators

You’ll know the workshop worked if:

• Participants can articulate current culture honestly (not aspirationally)
• Clear understanding of what culture is (behaviours, norms, values, beliefs)
• Honest acknowledgment of gaps between current and desired
• Specific desired culture defined (not generic or vague)
• Recognition that culture is what you do, not what you say
• Individual and team commitments to make culture real
• Balance of inspiration and realism about culture change
• Energy about possibilities alongside honesty about challenges
• Plans are specific and actionable, not vague intentions

Appendix: Key Concepts Summary

Culture Is What You Do, Not What You Say

Culture is revealed through behaviour, especially under pressure. Mission statements don’t create culture—daily choices do.

Culture Has Four Elements

Behaviours (what we do), norms (unwritten rules), values (what matters), and beliefs (how we think). All four need attention.

All Teams Have Culture

Whether chosen consciously or evolved unconsciously. The question isn’t whether you have culture, but whether you’ve named and shaped it intentionally.

Current Culture Must Be Named Honestly

You can’t change culture without first seeing it clearly. Honesty about actual culture is the starting point.

Desired Culture Must Be Specific

“Good culture” is too vague. Specific behaviours, norms, values, and beliefs make culture actionable.

Gaps Are Normal and Valuable

All teams have gaps between current and desired culture. Naming the gap is the first step to closing it.

Culture Change Requires Consistency Over Time

Small, sustained actions shape culture. One-time declarations don’t. Culture change is a marathon requiring ongoing attention.

Everyone Shapes Culture

Not just leaders—every team member influences culture through what they model, recognise, tolerate, and talk about.