I work with many businesses and organizations, helping them create and build a better employee experience and winning team culture. This helps increase staff engagement and participation in the buy in for creating better customer experiences. The results leading to a more successful business and vibrant organization.
When we begin this transformational journey, we know that a winning Team Culture isn’t built in a day — but it is built every day. It’s not just shaped by company-wide town halls or glossy mission statements on walls, but by everyday moments, micro-interactions with the staff, and the choices that everyone makes in how team members show up for each other at work. It’s really about the desire to move beyond buzzwords and toward a more meaningful, human-centered workplace culture.
The good news? Creating an engaging, winning team member workplace culture doesn’t always require a massive overhaul. Sometimes, the easiest transformations begin with the smallest, most intentional steps. It’s all in the everyday interactions between people.
How Everyday Moments Shape Your Employee Experience and Team Culture
Think about the last time you felt truly included at work. Was it because of a new HR policy? Or was it because a colleague remembered your birthday, your child’s softball game, anniversary, health concerns, ill grandmother, upcoming vacation or a manager asked how you really were during a one-on-one, or you were recognized for a quiet win?
These micro-moments that matter may seem minor, but collectively, they tell the story of your employee experience and team culture. When businesses start to treat these everyday interactions as a way to do business, culture stops being something abstract and becomes something tangible.
Team Exercise:
Begin by starting every weekly team meeting with a simple check-in: Just a moment for each person to share something personal and something work-related. It might seem small, but it’s become one of the most meaningful parts of our week.
Over time, you will see how this simple habit builds trust, strengthens relationships, and helps everyone feel a little more seen and supported. No fancy tools, no big rollout, just a regular, human moment that reminds us we’re more than job titles. It’s proof that sometimes, the smallest shifts in how we connect and communicate can have the biggest impact on workplace culture.
The Feedback Loop
One of the most overlooked tools in culture-building is also the simplest: feedback. But feedback isn’t just about performance reviews or employee surveys. It’s about conversation. It’s the kind of feedback that says, “I feel like my voice isn’t just heard but acted upon. This is the foundation for a responsive, evolving and engaging employee experience.
Managers Are Your Culture Makers
If workplace culture is lived daily, then your managers are its most consistent ambassadors. They’re the ones shaping how decisions are communicated, how teams feel about their work, and how values come into life (or don’t) in practice.
Investing in managers as culture carriers means training and equipping them not just with leadership training, but with the mindset and support to model change, accountability, fairness, and inclusion. It means encouraging them to better lead their teams not just as workers, but as people with feelings, emotions, achievement, recognition and appreciation.
A manager who checks in with empathy, especially during challenging situations and change, doesn’t just deal with the issues, they increase trust. And trust, after all, is the currency of any strong team culture.
Ultimately, team culture isn’t just what you do, it’s how you make people feel. It’s the stories your employees talk about working at your business. It’s whether people feel safe to speak up, empowered to make change, and inspired to bring their full selves to work.
That means every change you make as a business, rolling out new sales or marketing initiatives, employee recognition programs, customer policies or programs make sure you include employee participation and feedback is shared by all.
A survey of 112,000 Small Business found that teams that are more engaged are 18% MORE PRODUCTIVE and 23% MORE PROFITABLE than those who are struggling. In other words, engaged employees work harder and drive more revenue for your business.
Whether you’re a business owner, manager, HR professional rethinking your company values or a team leader trying a new meeting format, you’re shaping culture. Let’s not forget the power of the small things, because those are often what matter most. Every decision and every small moment that matters is a chance to build better employee experiences, not just for today, but for the future. Now that is Magical!
Need help? If you’re rethinking your approach to engagement and feedback, schedule a FREE 30 Minute Strategy Session Call with me to discuss Redefining Your Employee Experience & Increase Staff Engagement, and I will provide you the right tools, tips and affordable training workshop options that can help you build a more connected, committed workforce.
Click Here: https://go.oncehub.com/DiscoverySessionCall
Let’s build a better workplace together to create your employee experience and business team culture where people can grow, contribute, and belong. Just imagine reducing turnover, increasing employee engagement, building a business people want to work for, and create a better customer experience. Again, the power of the small things that matter most to your success.
John Formica is America’s and Australia’s Customer Experience Coach, team culture experience expert, keynote speaker, and Top 10 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Customer Loyalty. For information on customer experience programs, leadership training, team culture, business growth, how to find and hire great people and tailored training programs just for you or to book John to speak at your next event, contact 704-965-4090 or visit our website at JohnFormica.com.