How to build team culture that sticks

"Corporate culture isn't built by policies. It's built by moments-the unscripted experiences that catch us off guard, bring us closer, and quietly shape how we show up for one another. But many efforts labeled " culture-building," including onboarding programs, leadership retreats, and all-hands meetings, still feel like productivity theater: tightly scheduled and heavy on performance. Today, it's worth asking whether that model has simply run its course."

"While leaders like to bring up the idea of team culture, few can describe what theirs feels like in practice. That's because culture doesn't live in a mission statement or a values deck. It lives in the stories people tell when no one is watching. It lives in how they feel after a team gathering. It lives in the space between intention and lived experience."

Corporate culture is formed by unscripted moments and shared experiences rather than policies, mission statements, or values decks. Many common culture-building efforts—onboarding programs, leadership retreats, and all-hands meetings—often become tightly scheduled, performance-heavy events that fail to create genuine connection. Designing experiences that foreground awe, storytelling, and shared creativity produces trust, courage, and belonging. Data from Deloitte and Gallup show low employee alignment with corporate purpose and daily cultural connection, indicating a gap in lived experience. Treating culture as experience design rather than language or artifacts enables organizations to create moments people carry with them.

Read at Fast Company