Taken from the Culture de-cooded Podcast episode, several themes from Mark Cuddigan’s experience as CEO of THIS stand out for anyone thinking about culture, measurement and transformation.
1. Behaviour Shapes Culture, Not Statements
Culture is shaped by what leaders do, not just what they say. People notice what gets rewarded, challenged and tolerated, and how decisions are actually made. At Coode, we translate strategic intent into a small number of observable behaviours, because “be more collaborative” only becomes useful when everyone knows what that looks like in practice.
2. Leaders Have to Earn Trust
Leaders built trust through consistency. Honest communication, clear expectations, fair treatment and leaders doing what they say they will do all matter. When those things stop lining up, particularly during periods of change, trust can disappear quickly.
3. Measurement Makes Culture Visible
Everyone has a view of their culture. They don’t always have the same view.
Measuring culture gives leaders an objective picture of what people are actually experiencing, helping to expose the gaps between leadership intent and organisational reality. It gives leaders something to act on, rather than relying on instinct or anecdote.
4. Purpose Shapes Decisions
Purpose only matters when it influences what an organisation actually does. When it does, it shapes priorities, decisions and behaviours, giving people something beyond profit to consider when making difficult choices.
5. Leaders Have to Change Too
Culture change isn’t about asking everyone else to behave differently. Leaders are part of the culture they are trying to change — and their behaviour has an outsized influence on how the organisation works.
If the culture needs to change, leadership behaviour needs to change with it.
6. People Notice How Others Are Treated
People don’t just notice how they are treated. They notice what happens to everyone else.
Promotions, departures and difficult decisions all send signals about what an organisation really values. How organisations manage people out can say as much about a culture as how organisations bring people in.
What this means for your organisation
Mark’s story doesn’t offer a formula for culture. It offers something more useful: real experience of what happens when leadership, behaviour, trust and purpose meet the reality of running a business.
For leadership teams, that means:
- Define the behaviours your strategy requires
- Measure how people experience those behaviours
- Understand the gap between leadership assumptions and employee reality
- Prepare to change leadership behaviour and ways of working
- Track whether things are actually changing
The starting point isn’t always “what’s wrong with our culture?”
It can be a much more useful question:
Is our culture helping us perform as well as it could?
Listen to the full conversation on Culture De-coded with Charlie Coode and Mark Cuddigan
To explore how Coode can help your organisation understand, measure and optimise culture, get in touch here