Shaping Workplace Culture: The Leadership Impact

While a good workplace culture can sometimes develop naturally when employees enjoy working together and have time to connect, a holistic and sustainable culture is shaped by leadership. Employees look to their leaders not just for the "why" but also to model the desired workplace culture.

From our recent conversations with leaders, it’s clear that there are many ways to build a strong workplace culture. The common priorities among these top leaders were all about engagement, connection, and experience. Below, we’ll share some of the ways they put this into action.

Experiences and Relationships That Stick

While employees today value autonomy, they also seek a balance of structured opportunities to collaborate, network, and build relationships in the workplace. The most effective leaders create this structure by offering a mix of meaningful in-person interactions—such as team training, collaboration days, and company-wide events—while also setting clear and rightsized expectations for office utilization in alignment with their team's needs and the company vision.

While many leaders commented on the success of their events, some expressed concern that the "eventification" of work may lead to the perception that significant moments at work only occur during large-scale events. Serendipitous encounters often top the list of meaningful interactions and are highly desired by leaders and employees alike.

The leaders we spoke to understood the power of workplace design in enabling organic engagement opportunities such as serendipitous encounters. They advocated for flexible workspaces that support everything from individual focus work to informal collaboration and meaningful team adjacencies, inspiring natural cross-functional collaboration.

Fostering relationships within and across teams is another key aspect of building workplace culture. Strong workplace connections contribute directly to retention, and leaders who actively encourage events such as- informal team gatherings, social events, volunteering, and shared meals helped cultivate a sense of belonging and camaraderie. Many leaders emphasized that prioritizing these activities during work hours ensures inclusivity, allowing more employees to participate without sacrificing personal time. It also reinforces the company's commitment to socialization as a valuable aspect of work.

Designing and Activating the Workplace Experience

Thoughtful workplace design can inspire employees to choose the office, especially when it supports their work, relationships, and sense of connection. The best leaders sought to enhance the workplace experience by advocating for work settings that align with the activities employees seek to complete in the office. Many leaders highlighted the need for dynamic meeting spaces, breakout areas, individual focus spaces, and workplace amenities to create an environment that is both comfortable and productive.

One leader emphasized that employee input should drive these decisions, saying, "Based on this feedback, I think soundproofing meeting spaces will make people happier than new carpet." This employee-centered approach to workplace design not only fosters trust and engagement but also significantly improves office effectiveness. Leaders that valued function over finish, ensuring that their teams have the right space, equipment, and level of privacy to make the office a viable place to work saw the most success.

Modeling desired behaviors is one of the most powerful ways leaders cultivate a thriving workplace culture. For example, when employees observe leaders actively using the new types of furniture settings, mentioned above, they are more likely to do the same, reinforcing workplace culture through both design and behavior. Leadership presence goes beyond simply being in the office—it’s about participating in collaborative work, fostering informal discussions, and making time for meaningful connections.

Closing Thoughts

It’s no surprise that leaders play a major role in employee retention. They shape workplace culture, influencing whether employees feel engaged, valued, and connected to their organization. In companies where employees have a strong cultural bond but experience toxic leadership, there’s often a higher risk of departures—and those employees may take their colleagues with them.

Successful leaders create meaningful interactions that help employees grow together and strengthen relationships. They advocate for workplace experiences that align with their team’s needs, whether that means renovating office spaces, dedicating wall space to team accomplishments, or simply fostering an interactive work environment. Most importantly, these leaders are present, interacting with their teams, and reinforcing the values that drive both organizational and team success.

Workplace consultants can help leaders better understand employee needs and create experiences that empower teams to thrive. Assessments such as the Knight Index and tools like Team Agreements provide valuable insights into managing and engaging dispersed teams effectively.

Check out all the articles in our Workplace Culture 3-part series!

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#HR #Workplacestrategy #WorkplaceCulture

The Workplace Renovation Gamble

Is this how your occupancy feels?

The Workplace Gamble.

If your “Build it and they will come” approach hasn't panned out, you're not alone. It's a gamble. We’re hearing a lot about mandates and seeing less evidence that newly designed office spaces are reaping optimal occupancy results.

Not only do employees want to be included in the process of creating their new workplace, both the project and company benefit from employee engagement. We're calling this, the "Engage them and they will come" approach.

Let’s imagine this is a restaurant:

A restaurant is losing business. On what have historically been the busiest nights of the week, the restaurant is quiet. Below are two imagined scenarios.

Scenario 1- Build it and they will come. The owners decide to invest in renovating their restaurant with the latest furniture and decor, and new items on their menu. After being closed for renovation, they open up, hoping customers will flock to their restaurant. Maybe it’s a hit, maybe it’s a flop, it’s a real gamble.

Scenario 2 - When they come, I will build. Now imagine the same restaurant- digs their heals in the ground. It’s clear they need to make a change, but they want proof of use and funds to necessitate the space. They delay new investments in their restaurant, asking their customers to continue to patronize their outdated establishment, promising to make updates in the future. (ring any bells?) They are asking their customers to take a gamble – if you keep coming, when the time is right, you’ll be rewarded, maybe.

In these scenarios, there is a promise, a gamble, a hope. It's a bit of fantasy thinking, the solution is not likely to meet some groups’ expectations.

We’re seeing this in office spaces.

A company unveils a shiny new space for their employees. As employees were not meaningfully involved in the planning of the space, it doesn’t fully meet their needs. The company took a gamble with their workplace, and while the space may be beautifully designed- the lack of emotional ‘buy-in’ and functionality for employees’ needs lowers occupancy.

“If employers are looking to see employee commitment to the office prior to making informed changes- they are very likely to be disappointed. “

Optimizing Occupancy & Workplace Renovation

Now let’s talk about a reduced risk approach- the “Engage them and they will come” way.

Back to our restaurant. Upon losing business our restaurant begins speaking with customers and their workers to learn more about the state of their business. What are our best dishes, what would you like more of, how is the experience of coming here, working here? What would you like to see in this neighborhood?

Perhaps from this research, the restaurant tries out a few new sample dishes to gain feedback and show people they are listening and making changes. Then they shift their layout to experiment with service experience. They find people mostly come to them for a certain style of food and they can create more space in their menu for this type of cuisine, removing the dishes that are no longer being ordered.

Now this restaurant’s business is beginning to pick up – not because of any major changes- but because there are signs of greater attunement with their consumers. This change has immediately created a more desirable environment prior to a full overhaul. By showing interest in what their customers want, they've gained a wealth of information and fostered loyalty, delivering a clear path between customer feedback and the changes that are integrated.

"People want a high touch change where they don’t have to wait and guess what might happen, they can see the direction changing in a desirable way."

Now the restaurant is ready for their intentional renovation. As they've been creating pilot projects along the way, they feel confident their new direction will be a success. Their customers are cheering them on and telling their friends because they feel connected, valued, and exceptionally served.

An "Engage them and they will come" approach to workplace change, connects with employees throughout the process creating a solution that is built off evidence, insights, and successful pilot experiences. With the guesswork removed, the outcome will already have benchmark data as a proof of concept, ensuring the results you've invested in materialize.

There’s no need for gambling or leaps of faith with your real estate. Creating a Real Estate and Workplace Strategy with a focus on workforce engagement provides a clear and reduced risk path to a successful solution.

Myths of Engagement

Strongly agree, slightly agree, or subtly agree?

Engaging with employees has gotten a bad rap. The usual mix of pulse surveys, chair fairs, and off-the-cuff comments from the squeakiest wheel can make us wonder if there is any value in engaging employees in workplace projects.

Insights from employee knowledge are foundational to developing a workplace strategy and ultimately a final design that is attuned to the employees' and company's goals. Still, we hear a lot of hesitation about "opening pandora’s box" by soliciting employee opinions. An overload of chaotic information doesn't need to be your reality.

With an effective structure, knowledge shared by employees can be synthesized into a valuable resource of insight and information specific to your company. The outcome of successful engagement can enhance acceptance of change initiatives and forecast the most impactful workplace investments.

If you’re saying it’s too early to involve your people- you have likely waited too long.

Here are the top myths about engaging employees in workplace projects:

Myth 1 | It creates unattainable expectations.

• “If I engage them, they’ll expect something I can’t give them.”

• “People will be frustrated if their suggestion isn’t selected.”

Engagement Reality - The themes discussed should align with the scope and desired outcomes of the project. This is not a free for all or a time to make selections.

Myth 2 | Surface level input is sufficient.

• “I’ll wait and engage employees in picking finishes and selecting task chairs.”

• “If we can’t really cater to their needs, what’s the point of asking for additional input.”

Engagement Reality - Employees are likely to be more emotional about surface level input when their core needs have not been met or asked for.

Myth 3 | Too many individual needs will surface.

• “There are too many opinions, I can’t accommodate every voice we’d have a million different projects.”

• “I don’t want to open a can of worms!”

Engagement Reality - Input from employee engagement is sorted into trends and themes uncovering deeper needs and information that will benefit the organization and employees. Employees benefit from being able to share meaningful information productively in a structured environment.

Myth 4 | The project will be slowed down or blocked.

• “Engaging employees will slow down the process- needing to find time to meet and get approval from everyone.”

• “I know what their feedback will be, and it’s crazy, it doesn’t feel worth my time.”

Engagement Reality - Engagement processes can be run quickly at scale in an organization. The goal is not approval but to be informed. The process should make decisions easier, more effective, and reduce buy-in delays.

Myth 5 | The project should be well defined before employees are engaged.

• “I’m just getting the project underway- I’m not ready to engage anyone.”

• "The project is two years' out."

Engagement Reality - Information from employees through structured early engagement is critical to defining a project. Engaging too late creates some of the challenges stated in the myths above.

Let’s be clear, engagement is not a free for all.

Connecting with your employees in preparation for workplace projects should be focused and structured to align with the desired outcomes. As an example, high performance workplace projects contain a selection of questions around likes, dislikes, and "less and more" of what they have already. Questions of this nature provide a framework to collect tangible information while leaving opportunities for facilitators to take in the "between the lines" commentary that is often just as informative.

Engagement processes can include workshops, interviews, and analytic platforms. The information gained will provide opportunities to discover more about employees' roles, activities, and interactions, as well as the types of work settings that will be most supportive. In this way, the guide rails of information sharing prevent overwhelm and unattainable employee expectations.

Workplace specialists can support your company in a methodical process that quickly gains information from across the organization. Engagement processes can be targeted around key information, providing guidance to identify and implement the right projects to support your business in long term success.

Communicating and learning from your employees has the power to help your company be a place that people want to be- a place you want to be.

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