The mistake leaders make when trying to fix culture is thinking that they can fix culture.

Culture is really complicated and nuanced. As psychologists, we don't even have an agreed definition of culture, nor an agreed methodology for assessing, influencing, or changing it. It is so complex that, for most business leaders, it becomes too hard to navigate without working hand in hand with a very experienced psychologist in culture change.

I think the key is to stop leading with culture and instead get the foundations in place first. Those foundations are psychosocial risk factors, which are the elements of an organisation that can cause psychological harm and stress to individuals if they're not properly managed. That covers things like how change is managed and communicated within the business, the level of input people have, how clear people are on their roles and responsibilities, the degree of autonomy they have over how they do their work, and whether relationships are healthy. These are very practical and operational elements of the workplace, but getting them right will improve the employee experience, reduce stress, and have a greater impact on both task and team cohesion.

In terms of culture, what we're actually creating is civility. We're building an organisational environment that isn't causing harm, where people feel able to do their jobs effectively and find meaning in their work. From that point, you can start having conversations about what type of culture the organisation needs to achieve and where it needs to go next. It might start as a very sales-driven, results-focused culture, and then pivot to a more innovative one depending on what's happening in the economy.

Culture can almost be thought of as a lens you place on the organisation, one that reflects what it needs to achieve and how that aligns with its strategy. But if the foundation isn't in place, none of it will work. And I think the mistake leaders typically make is believing that foundation is culture, when actually, the foundation is the psychosocial risk factors.