Creating a Culture Canvas

Following a major restructure, a newly formed management team came together for a 'Culture Reset' session. They were a mix of long-standing leaders adjusting to a new reality and new hires stepping into key roles. On paper, they were a team. In practice? Despite excitement, there was tension, uncertainty, and a lot left unsaid.

Using a Culture Canvas from Fearless Culture as a framework to guide the session I focused on helping the team move beyond generic buzzwords to define what their culture actually looked like and what they wanted it to become. We started with the basics: What drives us? What holds us back? As expected, words like "trust," "collaboration," and "accountability" surfaced quickly. But when I asked, What does trust look like here? When has collaboration failed? the real conversations began. Being external to the organisation and not part of the team helped me ask those tricky questions, but soon everyone was doing it and we created a space of honesty and clarity.

One leader admitted they weren’t sure where decision-making truly sat post-restructure. Another voiced concerns about unspoken expectations. Instead of sidestepping these tensions, we mapped them, exploring behaviours, mindsets, and barriers that shaped their current reality. Using the Culture Canvas, the team co-created a shared understanding of their culture, defining clear behaviours for how they’d challenge each other constructively, resolve conflicts, and celebrate wins (something they realised had been sorely missing).

By the end of the session, they had more than just aspirational statements—they had a practical culture blueprint they had built together. No generic values stuck on a wall, just a real, actionable agreement on how they wanted to lead and work. The shift was palpable: from uncertainty to clarity, from hesitation to ownership.