When I am asked to help many businesses and organizations create and transform their team culture, I always emphasize to them that 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, but by everyday moments, micro-interactions, and the choices you make in how you and your leaders show up for each other at work.
The good news? Creating an engaging, inclusive workplace culture doesn’t always require a massive overhaul. Sometimes, the most effective transformations begin with the smallest, most intentional shifts.
How Everyday Moments Shape Business/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 recognized your efforts, a manager asked how you really were during a one-on-one, or you were appreciated for a quiet win? These micro-moments may seem minor, but collectively, they tell the story of your business/organizational culture. When businesses start to treat these everyday interactions as foundational, businesses as usual, culture stops being something abstract, just words on a mission statement and becomes something tangible. Something that will move a team or business towards success.
One of the strategies that I help implement for my clients seeking culture transformation is to start 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 their week.
Over time, we’ve seen 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 them that 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 one of the simplest: feedback. But feedback isn’t just about performance reviews or pulse surveys. It’s about conversation. It’s the kind of feedback that says, “This process feels confusing, and here’s how it affects me,” or “This initiative made me feel more connected to the team.”
When employees feel like their voices aren’t just heard but acted upon, it lays the foundation for a responsive, engaging and more evolving employee experience.
Businesses and Organizations that excel in employee experience strategies tend to have agile feedback mechanisms, not because they want to “monitor” people, but because they see culture as a two-way dialogue. They understand that it’s not enough to ask questions; they must also be ready to listen, adapt and act based on the answers.
Your Managers Are Culture Makers
If workplace culture is lived daily, then your managers are your most consistent ambassadors. They’re the ones shaping how decisions are communicated, how your teams feel about their work, and how values come to life (or don’t) in practice.
Investing in your managers as culture carriers means equipping them not just with leadership training, but with the mindset and support to model vulnerability, fairness, and inclusion. It means encouraging them to lead with curiosity, to normalize learning from failure, and to approach their teams not just as workers, but as people with emotions, feelings, context, complexity, and capability.
A manager who checks in with empathy during a change initiative doesn’t just ease transitions, they deepen trust. And trust, after all, is the currency of any strong business/organizational team culture.
Inclusion Is an Ongoing Practice, not a One-Time Initiative
A positive workplace culture isn’t built through one-time initiatives or check-the-box training. It’s built through the everyday: How meetings are run, how remote colleagues are looped in, how diverse holidays are acknowledged, and how every voice is welcomed, not sidelined. The most lasting shifts happen when the team becomes part of how decisions are made and how people interact, not just what’s written in policy.
One of the most effective employee experience strategies that works so well in the workplace is creating peer-led learning groups focused on internal communication, or team-based audits that look at how decisions are made. These initiatives don’t require a large budget, just genuine commitment. And in return, they open the door to honest conversations, increase awareness, and help build a workplace where everyone feels heard, respected, and able to thrive.
Team Culture is Telling Your Story
Ultimately, team culture isn’t just what you do, it’s how 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.
Transform Team Culture – Build a Better Workplace Together
What is your shared mission? Are you truly committed to creating workplaces where people can grow, contribute, and belong. And while most businesses start out trying to transform their team culture with big ideas, let’s not forget the power of the small things, because those are often what matter most to your employees and team.
Whether you’re the business owner, manager or HR professional rethinking company values or a team lead trying a new meeting format, you’re shaping culture. Every decision is a chance to build a better employee experience, not just for today, but for the future. Keep making those choices count. Now that is Magical!
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.