Culture isn’t what you say it is. It’s what people experience.
Walk into almost any organisation and you’ll find the words.
Values on the wall. A mission statement. A carefully crafted employer brand. A culture deck. A leadership manifesto.
But ask employees what the culture actually feels like and you might hear something very different.
That’s exactly what Dan Bryant explores in the latest episode of Reel Impact with Mike Carhart-Harris, Senior Communications Manager at Magna Housing.
Their conversation asks an uncomfortable question:
Is your culture the one you describe, or the one your people experience?
Culture isn’t a communications campaign
It’s tempting to think culture can be created with the right messaging. A launch campaign. A refreshed set of values. A series of internal communications.
Mike challenges that idea head on.
Communication plays a vital role in explaining culture, reinforcing it and helping people understand it. But communication cannot create a culture that doesn’t already exist.
As Mike puts it, you can’t invent culture on a blank piece of paper and expect people to believe it.
Instead, organisations need to understand where they are today before deciding where they want to go.
Trust is built through behaviour
One of the strongest themes throughout the conversation is trust.
For Mike, trust is the currency of reputation. It is earned through transparency, consistency and accessibility.
When leaders say one thing but behave differently, people notice.
That gap between words and actions is where trust begins to erode.
It’s also why culture isn’t something owned by communications, HR or leadership alone. Every interaction, every decision and every behaviour either reinforces the culture or undermines it.
Why storytelling matters
Storytelling has become something of a buzzword in business, but this episode reminds us why stories matter in the first place.
Throughout his career in journalism, local government, the RNLI and housing, Mike has seen how powerful stories help people understand purpose, create connection and build belonging.
Whether you’re communicating with employees, customers or stakeholders, facts alone rarely inspire action.
Stories help people understand not only what an organisation does, but why it exists and where they fit within it.
When organisations lose sight of that shared story, people often lose sight of their own place within it.
The challenge of modern workplaces
The conversation also explores how workplace culture is evolving.
Hybrid working, remote teams and increasingly diverse organisations have created new opportunities, but they’ve also introduced new challenges.
Micro-cultures naturally emerge within teams. Sometimes they’re positive, creating strong bonds and shared identity. Other times they create silos that pull organisations away from their wider purpose.
The challenge for leaders isn’t to eliminate those differences.
It’s to create enough shared understanding that people feel connected to something bigger than their immediate team.
What leaders can do next
The episode finishes with practical advice for anyone responsible for shaping culture.
Mike’s recommendations are refreshingly simple:
- Listen before you speak.
- Understand your culture before trying to change it.
- Demonstrate your values through actions, not slogans.
Perhaps his most thought-provoking point is that culture is revealed by what leaders are willing to sacrifice.
Whether that’s status, control, opportunities or visibility, the choices leaders make send a far stronger signal than any communications campaign ever could.
Watch the full epiode
If you’ve ever questioned whether workplace culture can really be engineered, or wondered why so many organisations struggle to bridge the gap between aspiration and reality, this episode offers a thoughtful and practical perspective.
Watch and listen to Culture vs. Behaviour on Reel Impact with Dan Bryant.
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