Your culture is a coral reef

And your leaders are setting the temperature of the water

A team’s culture is an ecosystem.

Picture a beautiful, thriving coral reef. Innumerable species, each playing a unique role in supporting the health of the whole.

In a healthy ecosystem, there is movement and growth.

In a toxic ecosystem, you can forget about growth—everyone’s just trying to survive.

It’s all up to us leaders. We’re the ones who establish the conditions for the culture.

In every meeting we attend, in every email we send, we transmit signals of safety or threat. And our people absorb them all.

With each action, reaction and interaction, we are setting the temperature of the water.