How are cultures formed?
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By Adi
Solution Architect and Founder of ARC
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Hello and Welcome to all new and old subscribers of ARC’s Leadership Campfire.
Today we are going to talk about The choice in one’s hands to shape their organisation’s culture.
Specifically, we'll cover:
- How culture forms beneath the surface through recurring behaviours, assumptions, and mental models—just like an iceberg.
- Why treating only the visible ‘events’ leads to temporary fixes—and how deeper patterns must be understood and challenged.
- What you can do to shape culture—because change begins with one person, one choice, and one repeated behaviour.
Let's get into it.
What lies beneath the surface?
You have probably heard of the human iceberg, a metaphor and a concept used to explain how only a small portion of who we are visible to the world. What people see is just the tip: our behaviour, words and actions.
Beneath the surface?
That’s where things get real. Our thoughts, values, fears, emotions and beliefs shape how we see the world. But what happens when a group of human icebergs come together?
As OD consultants, we were taught that in a group of 7, there are 8 members. The 8th member is the group itself. When so many icebergs come together, a cultural iceberg gets formed.
The Cultural Iceberg
When individuals interact repeatedly- over shared goals, emails, feedback loops, crises and even coffee breaks— they unknowingly form something bigger than themselves.
That’s culture.
Just like the human one, this iceberg also has a visible tip and a vast foundation underwater.
Let's consider an example of "How a Culture of Micromanagement gets Formed."
Event: After repeated errors by an employee, the managers started checking in multiple times a day on minor progress updates.
A pattern gets formed: This behaviour from the manager gets repeated over time. Employees stop taking initiative and start waiting for explicit instructions. Innovation and ownership decline.
An Assumption/Structure gets built: The system rewards control over trust. Managers are evaluated based on the visibility of control, not team autonomy.
Mental Model: “If I don’t manage everything, it won’t get done right.”
Culture is a 90-day moving average
A culture isn’t absolute, it is dynamic.
It is a 90-day moving average of the collective behaviour in your organisation: such fluidity is the nature of culture. It shifts when people act differently and especially when those people are leaders.
Every time someone breaks a pattern or violates the existing norm, they signal to others what’s acceptable. If the environment embraces it, a new pattern emerges.
That’s how cultures evolve. Sometimes, without anyone noticing.
Ever been on an escalator in Singapore?
Let me share a quick story. On a recent trip, I noticed how everyone stood on the right side of the escalator and walked on the left. The first time, oblivious, we stood on the left. A few dirty looks later, we got the message.
By Day 3, we were doing it automatically.
By Day 4, we were the ones giving dirty looks to tourists.
We weren’t given a policy or a manual. We read the system. We adjusted. We passed it on. This is how culture spreads. One interaction at a time.
Coming back to the example of the ‘Culture of Micromanagement’
The way to solve this problem is to go beneath the surface and challenge the assumptions and the structure that are playing out for those events to happen.
That is easier said than done, so let’s start by highlighting what not to do.
If one looks at the events as the problem, which in this case is that the manager constantly checks in on work, then for a while, these events might stop occurring, but eventually, they’ll get repeated.
Because that’s the nature of events and patterns, they are sticky in nature. Until the deeper mental model of “If I don’t manage everything, it won’t get done right” is changed, the event is likely to repeat itself, forming an endless feedback loop.
So, how do you really solve the problem?
If you only treat the symptoms (like delays, rudeness, absenteeism), you’re just firefighting.
Instead, ask:
- What assumptions are leading to this behaviour?
- What mental model are we reinforcing?
- What kind of culture do we want to build?
Changing people’s behaviour on a large scale takes a lot of work, time and intention. Above all, it takes real leadership.
The above is an oversimplified version of it.
Here’s a truth about cultures and systems
You are never a victim of the system. You are the actor, and you have the power to choose.
It all starts with one choice. One behaviour.
That’s the power you hold- whether you are an intern or a CEO.
That’s how the biggest change in the world happened with one person.
Thank you for being part of ARC's Leadership Campfire.
What is the one thing that you take back from this edition?
I would love to know.
It was a pleasure reading your messages from the last edition.
And like always, I look forward to replying to your mails personally.
Until next time,
Towards change,
Adi
If you enjoyed reading this newsletter, there is a high chance that we'll enjoy working together even more.
And by the way, I'm also happy to just nerd about Organisation Development or Applied Behavioural Science without any sales pleasure.
So feel free to choose a time for our chat here, or just hit 'reply' to this email :)
Let's talk soon.
Adi Raheja
PS: In case you missed reading the previous edition, it was about the word that Rohit Sharma was associated with throughout his career: 'Talent' :) Read here