Who is Responsible for Your Culture?

How do you feel on a Sunday night?

Me in Pacific Rim National Park, British Columbia

Not the polished answer.

The honest one.

Earlier in my career, I found myself in a role I was not well suited for. I wasn’t playing to my strengths. I wasn’t clear on expectations. And my leader, who was carrying her own version of Sunday Scaries, projected that anxiety straight onto me.

My entire Sunday would be dominated by a tightening in my chest. The weekend never truly felt restorative. I couldn’t sleep properly. I was distracted with my family. Even joyful moments were interrupted by the dread of Monday morning.

Thankfully, I didn’t stay there very long. But the impact was real. It affected my work, my health, my family life. And, I now understand is this: That wasn’t just about job fit. It was about culture.

Anxiety like that rarely comes from workload alone. It comes from ambiguity. From misalignment. From unspoken tension. From leadership that hasn’t learned how to regulate itself.

Culture shows up in your nervous system before it shows up in your strategic plan. That’s why culture is not a perk. It’s a leadership discipline.

Clarity Reduces Anxiety

Recently, as I prepared for an upcoming webinar with Nature United, I reviewed their Code of Conduct. “People and Nature Thrive When We…” They define what that means.

Respect each other. Engage in quality conversations. Safeguard human rights. Act with integrity. Stay safe. Avoid conflicts. Protect confidentiality.

This level of clarity does something powerful. It reduces ambiguity. When expectations are named and behaviours are defined, people can exhale. They know where they stand. But what impressed me most is that Nature United doesn’t stop at documentation.

They have a Culture Crew mandated to actively nurture a healthy workplace. They host a Roots and Resilience Week and I’m so inspired and grateful to be a small part of it next week.

Awareness does not shift culture. Integration does.That is what owning the culture looks like.

Own the Culture

In my FLOW framework, one of the four pillars is Own the Culture. Culture is not HR’s responsibility. It’s not a once-a-year retreat. It’s not a framed values statement in the boardroom. It is the accumulation of everyday leadership behaviours. It’s how leaders manage their stress so it doesn’t spill onto their teams. It’s how feedback is delivered. It’s whether boundaries are modeled or quietly punished. It’s whether power is exercised with care.

The absence of ownership feels like Sunday night dread. The presence of ownership feels like steadiness. Nature United is intentionally building structures that support mentally, physically, and socially fit teams. They are backing their values with time, resources, and accountability. That matters.

Lead with Integrity

I saw a different but equally powerful example of this in my recent work with the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre. Before a Governance retreat, we conducted a culture audit. The results were strong - high trust, deep commitment, alignment around mission. Again, super inspiring. It would have been easy to celebrate and move on. Instead, their board fiercely prioritized protecting that culture. They understood something many organizations overlook: healthy culture is fragile. Growth pressures, funding uncertainty, leadership transitions - these can erode what once felt solid. So they chose governance practices that safeguard what makes them strong. That is Lead with Integrity in action.

Integrity is alignment between what we say matters and what we actively protect.

Those are two recent great examples. I must say more often I see the opposite. I’ve sat in boardrooms where expertise quietly becomes dominance. Where urgency overrides curiosity. Where confident voices unintentionally narrow participation. It rarely looks destructive. It often looks efficient. But over time, participation shrinks. Questions feel risky. Alignment becomes compliance. No one intends harm. Yet culture tightens. Integrity requires vigilance. Not suspicion. Vigilance.

Culture Lives in the Body

Culture is not abstract. It lives in your body on Sunday night. It lives in how your leaders regulate. Whether your board protects psychological safety as fiercely as it protects financial oversight. When we focus on what matters, lead with integrity, and own the culture, people don’t just perform better. They rest better. They show up better. They live better. And that ripple extends far beyond Monday morning.

If This Resonates…

Yes, I am grateful to be working with some very cool clients lately. You could be one of them!

If your board or leadership team is ready to move from admiring healthy culture to actively stewarding it, I would love to work with you. This fall I have capacity for more client engagements focused on governance alignment, culture audits, and leadership integration. (This work can often be dovetailed into a Strategic Planning process - that is where the budget usually sits.)

Because culture is not accidental. It is designed. Protected. Practiced. And when we get it right, people - and mission - thrive.