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Blogs & insights
You can now find our library of culture tools & session playbacks inside the
Explore our latest blogs and articles using the categories below:
Simplifying Culture
Move culture from fuzzy to focused with tools to simplify.
Hear how people feel (HABIT step 1)
Learn how to evaluate your culture & win stakeholder support.
Integrate it daily (HABIT step 4)
Pinpoint moments & skills to ensure leaders & managers bring culture to life.
Culture Stories
Insights & inspiration from workplaces around the world.
Align on the future (HABIT step 2)
Pick the best direction to fuel sustainable growth for your culture & business.
Trust & evolve
(HABIT step 5)
Culture is never done! Tools to help measure & improve your culture.
Culture Habits
Small practices with BIG impact. Pick-up & use habits to nudge towards growth.
Build the behaviours (HABIT step 3)
Clearly define and turn desired behaviours into everyday reality.
Culture Skills
Resources and practices to keep your culture skills sharp!
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Culture is a team sport: how HR, Leaders and Managers create a system for growth
Image by Roddy Corona, via Canva Watch a high-performing rowing crew and, from the riverbank, it can look almost effortless. Eight people move as one. Every stroke is timed. The boat gathers speed. No single rower appears to be working independently, yet each person is making a distinct contribution. Look more closely, however, and you see the system behind the performance. There is a coach building capability and creating the conditions for success. A cox helps the crew navi
Sarah McLellan
Aug 314 min read
Culture Wins Long Before Kick-Off
Photo by Kris Han, via Canva Millions of us have spent the last few weeks watching the World Cup. Most conversations afterwards have been about tactics, substitutions and moments of brilliance. But as I watched the tournament unfold, I found myself asking a different question. Why did some teams seem to grow stronger under pressure while others gradually fell apart? Not because they lacked talented players. Not because they suddenly forgot how to play football. Something el
Sarah McLellan
Aug 314 min read
Are We Making It Human? Reflections 3 years on (inspired by Toy Story 5)
Images from Pexels, via Canva Last weekend we went to watch the latest Toy Story film. I remember the first one arriving when I was a teenager. Now I'm watching the stories all over again with my own daughter. Pixar has always mastered the art of telling stories that children and adults experience differently. The kids laugh at the toys. The parents recognise themselves somewhere between the nostalgia and the emotion. But this time I left feeling more reflective than en
Sarah McLellan
Jul 36 min read
3 Ways to Lead the Emotional Side of Change
Photo from Wix Images We often treat change as a rational process: plans, milestones, communications. But the reality is far messier — and far more human. In recent research shared by Paul Emberlin, one theme stood out clearly: leaders aren’t just managing change — they’re absorbing it. As Paul described, many feel like “emotional sponges,” carrying the weight of uncertainty, resistance, and pressure from all directions. At the same time, many organisations unintentionall
Make It Human
May 43 min read
Where do you even start with culture?
Image of Grand Prix race by Thierry Carpico from Pexels If we’re honest, this is where most people get stuck. You know culture matters. You can see the impact it has on performance, energy, and retention. You’ve likely invested time and effort into trying to improve it. And yet, when it comes to shaping it in a deliberate way, it can feel too big, too abstract, and too complex to really get your arms around. So, despite the best intentions, very little actually shifts.
Make It Human
Mar 233 min read
When Success Becomes the Ceiling: Understanding the Optimised Culture
Image of a team working by Yan Krukau from Pexels Some cultures don’t struggle. They succeed. Performance is steady. Teams collaborate smoothly. There’s capability, pride and a clear identity. People can articulate what the organisation stands for and success stories are regularly shared. If you walked in or joined a call, you’d instantly get a sense of, “we know what we’re doing here.” And yet, there’s something missing… The confidence in how we work and sharing of
Sarah McLellan
Mar 235 min read
The Hidden Cost of a “Nice” Culture
Photo by Mikhail Nilov via Pexels A leadership team invited me in because, whilst on paper, everything looked strong, they knew something wasn’t right. Engagement scores were healthy. Attrition wasn’t concerning. People described the culture as supportive, collaborative, kind. “It’s a nice place to work,” they said. And it was. There was no toxicity. No ego battles. No fear. In meetings, people built on each other’s ideas. They genuinely wanted colleagues to succeed.
Sarah McLellan
Feb 234 min read
What your fridge can teach you about culture
Photo by Lucie Liz via Pexels Open your fridge. At first glance, everything looks fine. Milk? There. Salad? There. Leftovers? Tucked neatly at the back. All good. Until you start rummaging. You lift the bag of spinach and discover it’s quietly liquefying in the salad drawer. The milk smells… suspicious. The “fresh” hummus expired three days ago. From the outside, it looked healthy. Under the surface? Something’s turning. Culture is exactly the same. Most leaders
Make It Human
Feb 233 min read
How to Restore Momentum in a Permission-Based Culture
Image from Canva The second most common culture archetype emerging from the Growth Cultures Insight Report is "Permission-Based". When workplaces get stuck in permission loops. This pattern showed up repeatedly across 4,000+ employee reviews from top-rated UK organisations — particularly in highly regulated, hierarchical and service-led environments On the surface, these organisations look healthy. They’re professional. Measured. Respectful. Clear about roles and stand
Make It Human
Feb 134 min read
How to Tackle the Overwhelm Crisis (Before It Stalls Growth)
Image from Vitaly Gariev, Pixels Overwhelm isn’t a personal resilience issue on the side of “real work”. It’s probably the biggest threat today to business performance. This emerged as one of the clearest signals in the Growth Cultures Insight Report , built from analysis of 4,000+ employee experiences across top-rated workplaces. Even in organisations doing many things right, overwork and lack of clarity repeatedly surfaced as the cracks that quietly undermine results, ene
Make It Human
Feb 23 min read
Why the Best Workplaces Don’t Treat People as Resources
Image by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash One of the clearest messages from the Growth Cultures Insight Report is this: The best workplaces don’t treat people as resources to be optimised. They intentionally design and nurture the conditions for human growth. As the world we work in and how work gets done continues to increase in complexity and ambiguity, many organisations are reaching for familiar, more ‘certain’ levers for growth. We measure what’s easy to count — utilisation
Sarah McLellan
Jan 294 min read
Hopes and fears for workplace culture in 2026
Image created using AI The start of a new year sparks reflection. A blend of anxieties, doubts and hopeful thoughts — often lacking any grounding to turn them into reality. Perhaps that’s the point of reflections… But this year, I do feel more hope than doubt. And I want to help as many leaders as possible make workplace cultures that sustain growth for people and businesses, an everyday reality. Three things give me hope: 1. There are leaders out there choosin
Sarah McLellan
Jan 14 min read
Fuzzy to Fuel: Make Culture Your Growth Engine 🚀
Image created by Make It Human Emma’s start to the week follows a similar pattern. Every Monday morning, she opens her laptop determined to “do something about culture.” As the CPO of a fast-scaling tech company, she can feel the invisible drag setting in. The organisation is growing fast — but something beneath the surface is starting to fray. The team is talented. The product is strong. But conversations feel heavier. Decisions take longer. That early buzz of energy and
Sarah McLellan
Nov 3, 20254 min read
The Culture Skills that could Change the World
Image created with AI It was another Monday morning at a fast-growing tech company. On the surface, everything looked fine: revenue was climbing, new products were shipping, offices were hives of activity. But under the surface, something else was happening: Teams were working in silos. Talented people were exhausted. Decisions were made in corners, not openly. Ideas were left unsaid because people weren’t sure if it was safe to speak up. And the leadership team k
Sarah McLellan
Oct 26, 20253 min read
Culture Stories: How Menlo Innovations Build a Joyful & Accountable Culture
Sources: Menlo Innovations website. Correct as of Oct 2025. Intentionally designing an environment where fear is pushed out In Ann Arbor, Michigan, sits a small software firm with a big idea: What if work could be joyful — not stressful, hierarchical, or fear-driven, but truly human? That’s the philosophy behind Menlo Innovations, a 50-person tech company that has spent two decades intentionally designing a culture around joy, teamwork, and learning. Founded by Richard
Make It Human
Oct 23, 20254 min read
Culture Stories: The Octopus Energy Way — Autonomy in Service of Customers
Source: Octopus Energy website , September 2025. At Make It Human, our Culture Stories series takes a closer look at organisations that have cracked the code on culture. This time, we zoomed in on Octopus Energy—a company that has not only shaken up the energy industry but also built a culture that fuels both people and performance. Founded in 2015 by Greg Jackson, Octopus now has 11,000 employees worldwide and revenues of $12bn. They’re profitable, fast-growing, and well
Make It Human
Sep 25, 20253 min read
Culture Stories: The Inside Story of Airbnb’s Growth Culture
Sources: AirBnB website, information correct as of September 2025. When you think of Airbnb, you probably think of unique places to stay. But behind the listings and the app is something that’s fuelled its journey from two airbeds in a San Francisco apartment to a $11bn+ global travel company: culture. Airbnb’s story shows us that culture isn’t just a “nice to have.” It’s the foundation for resilience, growth, and belonging — even through the toughest times. This blog kic
Make It Human
Sep 11, 20254 min read
Purpose Isn’t a Slogan. It’s a Foundation.
Image source: by TheDigitalArtist from pixabay Without purpose, we fade. With purpose, we thrive. I learned this the hard way. Years ago, I led a team through a major organisational shake-up. Structures changed. Roles shifted. The work continued — but the why disappeared. Morale dipped. People started asking: “Do we still matter?” “What difference are we really making?” We’d lost our North Star. The turnaround only came when we re-anchored in a shared purpose — on
Sarah McLellan
Aug 26, 20253 min read
Walk the Talk: How to Back Values with Real Behaviours
Every company has values. But not every company lives them. I once walked into the head office of a company proudly displaying its values in giant letters on the wall: "Integrity. Respect. Teamwork. Innovation" They were impossible to miss — etched in glass behind reception, printed on coffee mugs, even pinned to every meeting room door. But within minutes, the gap between the words and the reality was obvious. People whispered in hallways instead of speaking openly.
Sarah McLellan
Jul 30, 20255 min read
What is a Growth Culture? (And do you have one? Find out below...)
The five Elements in Growth Culture by Make It Human. Sketch by Kacy Maxwell In today’s rapidly evolving workplace, fostering a growth culture is no longer a “nice-to-have”, it’s essential. Leaders, HR professionals, and managers are realising that the future of high-performing, healthy teams lies not just in strategy or tools, but in cultivating the right mindset and environment. But what does a growth culture really mean, and how can we intentionally create one? From Grow
Make It Human
Apr 30, 20253 min read
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