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 towards toxicity...
At Make It Human, we help leaders design the habits that create real growth cultures. And the best news? It’s more practical (and accessible) than you think.
This is what we discussed in our recent Coffee & Culture session. Here are the key takeaways in case you missed it...
🌀 Rewire the Habit Loop
As James Clear explains in Atomic Habits, most of what we do each day is automatic. We follow invisible loops: cue → craving → response → reward.
It’s how you end up checking emails first thing. Or why team meetings always start late. These habits feel normal. But this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re helpful.
In growth cultures, leaders disrupt the autopilot. They examine the habits that are helping and challenge the ones that are holding them back.
✅ Try this: As a team, identify one “default behaviour” that might be stalling growth (e.g., long, unproductive meetings), and use the habit loop to rewire it:
Cue: What triggers it?
Craving: What do people think they’ll gain?
Response: What’s the actual action?
Reward: What’s the outcome—and is it positive?
Design a better version. Then repeat it. That’s how new cultural norms are born.
🚀 Here’s how the best do it, and how you can too:
1. Prioritise Recharge, Not Just Hustle
Companies like LinkedIn and PwC shape healthier workplaces by building in summer switch-offs and company-wide breaks.
✅ Try this: Introduce one team-wide early finish per month.
2. Build Accountability with Purpose Moments
Best Buy use “purpose moments” to help people connect their daily work to a bigger mission.
✅ Try this: Start team meetings with one person sharing how their work made a difference this week.
3. Make Feedback a Habit, Not a Formality
Adobe replaced annual reviews with regular check-ins—and trust soared.
✅ Try this: Schedule fortnightly 15-minute reflection chats.
4. Empower Smart Decisions
The Ritz-Carlton empowers staff to solve problems on the spot with a $2,000 per guest budget.
✅ Try this: Give your team small “decision credits” they can use without sign-off.
5. Make Growth Everyday, Not Just in Training Rooms
Google’s peer coaching and Pixar’s “Braintrust” feedback loops embed learning into the day-to-day.
✅ Try this: Pair colleagues for monthly feedback swaps.
These aren’t big-budget interventions. They’re intentional habits. Small, consistent behaviours that add up to a powerful, human growth culture.
So, where to start?
✅ Take our free Growth Culture Scorecard to get under the skin of your culture today
✅ Join the MIH Club and explore our tools and templates in the MIH Members Area
✅ Build your culture skills and start shaping growth habits that stick
If you're not proactively shaping your culture every day, it's shaping you.
Join the Make It Human Club to watch back the recording and access real life examples of culture habits fuelling growth in some of the world's most successful organisations.
