We often talk about culture like it’s a big, strategic initiative.

But most of the time, culture isn’t built in grand gestures. It’s shaped – and felt – in the small, everyday moments. The ones that happen when no one’s watching.

It’s not what’s written in the values deck or displayed on the office wall. It’s how people behave, consistently, especially when things get hard, tense, or uncertain.

Here’s where culture really shows up:

1. How meetings are run

  • Who speaks first? Who never gets airtime?
  • Are decisions made before the meeting or in the room?
  • Do people leave feeling energised or unclear and unheard?

Every agenda, every tone, every follow-up tells your team something about how this place works.

2. How conflict is handled

Disagreement isn’t a problem, avoidance is.

If people are afraid to challenge, push back, or raise concerns, things don’t get better. They just get buried.

Psychological safety isn’t just about being nice. It’s about being honest and respected when you are.

3. How mistakes are responded to

  • Are mistakes treated as learning moments or liabilities?
  • When someone slips up, is the instinct to understand or to blame?

Growth-focused cultures see mistakes as feedback, not failure.

4. How success is celebrated

  • Do only the loudest voices get recognised?
  • Is overtime praised more than efficiency?
  • Is success framed as individual achievement or collective effort?

What you praise, people repeat. Choose carefully.

5. How people feel when they leave a conversation

This one’s simple, but powerful.

Are people walking away from interactions feeling safe, stretched, seen – or something else entirely?

Culture is emotional. How you make people feel is how they’ll describe your company.

Culture isn’t built once at a strategy away day.

It’s built, and rebuilt, every day in the micro-moments that add up to how we do things here.

At Zeal, we help organisations turn vague values into real behaviours – the kind people actually experience at work. See how we can help your organisation instill positive workplace culture.

Because culture is always being created. The question is: are you shaping it on purpose?