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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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Watch Back: Make Growth a HABIT and start shaping a Growth Culture where you are
Almost every leader we speak to believes culture matters. They know it holds the key to engagement, performance, innovation, retention and wellbeing. So why does it still feel so difficult to improve? That was the question at the heart of our recent Make Growth a HABIT webinar, where more than 250 leaders registered to explore a simpler, more practical way to shape culture. The challenge isn't usually a lack of motivation. It's a lack of clarity. Culture feels hug
Make It Human
Jul 32 min read
From Fuzzy to Fuel: Launching the HABIT System for shaping culture
Culture has become one of the most talked-about topics in business. And yet, for many leaders, managers and HR teams, it still feels frustratingly hard to actually shape. They know culture matters. They care deeply about creating better workplaces. But when it comes to turning good intentions into everyday reality, many get stuck. That’s exactly why we created the HABIT System. Through conversations with leaders — and analysis of 4,000+ employee experiences across som
Make It Human
May 24 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
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
The Insights Are Clear. What You Do Next Is What Matters.
Image from Wix Images Over the past few weeks, many of you have explored the Growth Cultures Insight Report and joined the conversation in our webinar. What emerged from analysing 4,000+ real employee experiences wasn’t just a list of challenges — it was a clear contrast. Across workplaces today many are experiencing: Rising workload and pressure Slower decisions and blurred ownership Creeping confusion around priorities and fairness But the best workplaces stand out be
Make It Human
Feb 61 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
From fuzzy to focused: a simple way to start shaping your culture
Image created with AI by Make It Human Most leaders know culture matters. They can feel it in how meetings run, how decisions get made, and how people show up. When culture works, energy flows. When it doesn’t, progress slows — even when the strategy is sound. And yet, culture often feels too big, too fuzzy, and too hard to influence deliberately. So it stays in the “important but unclear” category. Culture doesn’t need fixing — it needs focusing One of the biggest
Make It Human
Jan 12 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
Start the Flywheel: The Make It Human Approach to Sustainable Growth
The data-backed approach to turning culture into competitive advantage A few years ago, I worked with a fast-scaling company that...
Make It Human
Jul 4, 20253 min read
Want to fuel growth? Start with habits
When you look at the world’s most successful companies, from Google to Shopify, there’s a pattern that shows up again and again. They all shape great culture habits. Not once. Not as a campaign. But consistently, intentionally, and with purpose. Because here’s the truth: growth doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built daily, in the micro-behaviours and habits that shape how people work, learn, connect and lead. And without intentional focus and targeted nudging, we slip towar
Make It Human
Jul 3, 20253 min read
How to make investing in culture a no-brainer
Source: Wix Images Let’s be honest — getting buy-in for culture change is one of the hardest things to do in a business. Whether you’re proposing a team development day, a manager coaching programme, or a broader culture transformation, it often feels like you’re met with polite nods… and then silence. Culture might be named as a top priority, but behind the scenes, it rarely makes the cut when it comes to actual investment or action. Why? Because culture change is often se
Make It Human
Jun 19, 20254 min read
Scaling Without Culture: Why Growth Alone Won’t Save You
Scaling a business should feel exciting. But for many leaders, it feels like chaos: rapid hires, rising pressure, endless dashboards —...
Make It Human
May 21, 20252 min read
How to Get Started with Culture Change
Source: Wix Images Culture change is regularly listed as a top priority by today’s leaders—yet it's often one of the hardest to act on. While 75% of leaders say improving culture is critical, only around half of employees see real change. Why? Because we get stuck. We see the problem, but the solution feels too big, too vague, or too risky. So, how do we move from intent to action ? At Make It Human , we’ve found that the key lies in two things: pivot moments and habit shi
Make It Human
May 8, 20252 min read
3 quick ways to evaluate your culture
In today’s fast-paced world of work, culture isn’t static—it’s evolving constantly. As a leader or manager, one of the most valuable things you can do is pause, take a step back, and evaluate how your culture is shaping the way people feel, think, and act at work. But how do you do that without launching a full-scale survey or engaging a consultant? Here are three quick, practical ways to get under the skin of your culture—without needing extra tools or systems. 1. List
Make It Human
May 2, 20252 min read
The Culture Triangle: A simple framework for demystifying culture
Culture is often seen as intangible and difficult to influence. But it’s also the driving force behind every decision, behaviour, and feeling within an organisation. When understood and shaped intentionally, culture can become a powerful engine for growth. Culture isn’t a buzzword—It’s the force that shapes everything Culture isn’t just about values on a wall or an abstract idea. It’s the environment, behaviours, and habits that influence how people think, feel, and act. Lead
Make It Human
Apr 28, 20253 min read
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