Workplace Culture is More Tangible Than You Think

Written by Lis Russo, Culture Strategy Leader & Innovation Consultant at Gensler

The Importance of Workplace Culture

Human potential is expansive, yet it remains a largely untapped resource in most organizations. Unfortunately, many leaders simply don’t know how to activate this resource effectively, leaving incredible possibilities on the table. But the secret is simple: to tap into employees’ limitless potential, create a constructive work culture.

A thriving work culture creates a platform for people to step into the best versions of themselves. Not only does it enable employees to do their best work, be highly engaged, and maximize value—it also improves talent retention, fosters innovation, and (this’ll make your boss’ ears perk up) increases revenue. On the flip side, most of us can attest to how damaging toxic work cultures can be; not only are they miserable to work in, but they also destroy engagement, collaboration, and efficiency.

Simply put, a great company culture isn’t just good for people—it’s good for business.

The Organizational Components of Culture

So, what creates culture? It’s a lot more than plastering values on a wall or throwing waffle parties. A lot of leaders view culture as a nebulous force, but it’s actually a lot more structured and tangible than you might think.

Culture is an emergent property of an interconnected system of organizational components.

Gensler’s Work Culture Indicator framework outlines the six organizational components that shape work culture:

• Representations – Communications, brand expression, narratives, symbols, artifacts, and company lore that shape perception

• Structures – Governance, leadership, hierarchies, and spheres of influence

• Norms – Behavioral expectations, rituals, and unspoken rules for how employees interact

• Regulators – Metrics, targets, incentives, and performance evaluation methods

• Resources – Capital investment, tools and technology, and the physical work environment

• Workflows – Processes, typical practices, and execution methods

The nature of these organizational components is what creates a company’s culture.

If a company’s organizational components are aligned with their mission and values, we consider the culture synergized, as the output becomes even greater than the sum of its parts. However, many organizations have a dissonant culture, where their organizational components are at odds with their espoused values.

Now that we understand what shapes culture, the next question is: how do we create a specific kind of culture?

Through our Culture Strategy and Innovation Consulting work at Gensler, we've seen a lot of large organizations struggle with being innovative. So, with this in mind, we took a deep dive into what it takes to create a Culture of Innovation.

Creating a Culture of Innovation

Through a 4-year research study, we unearthed the specific conditions that enable a culture of creativity and innovation.

Conditions for Creativity & Innovation:

1. Authenticity – Employees must feel safe to show up as their real selves without fear of judgment. Psychological safety is critical; people need to be comfortable sharing raw thoughts, half-formed ideas, and even failures. The opposite of authenticity is a culture of conformity, where shame and fear of judgment suppress original thinking.

2. Autonomy – Teams need the freedom to explore solutions without micromanagement. Smaller teams that have the agency to develop ideas often innovate more effectively. Innovation thrives when employees have a clear goal and the flexibility to determine how to reach it. The opposite of autonomy is rigid control; when employees are overly managed, they become passive, and new opportunities wither away.

3. Curiosity – Supporting curiosity means encouraging employees to question assumptions, explore tangents, and seek new insights. The best ideas often emerge from unexpected connections. Curiosity and empathy go hand in hand, and understanding users' needs requires deep questioning and exploration. The opposite of curiosity is prioritizing only utility, where every action must serve an immediate purpose, stifling exploration and creativity.

4. Imagination – Employees must have space to brainstorm ideas that aren’t constrained by current limitations. This means creating an environment where people can ask the big 'what ifs'—what if we could design something entirely new? What if the constraints didn’t exist? What if we could build the impossible? This kind of expansive thinking opens the door for breakthrough ideas. Organizations tend to stifle imagination by needing certainty in all things, and this kills creativity.

5. Thrill – Risk-taking must be encouraged. Innovation requires pushing beyond the status quo and embracing uncertainty. The thrill of chasing big ideas and stepping into the unknown fuels momentum. A large part of the thrill condition also involves having fun (yes, really)—play encourages exploration, which strengthens neural networks that lead to more creative thinking. When companies avoid risks, focus solely on stability, and have no fun together, they stagnate.

6. Hope – Employees must believe that something new is possible. Hope fuels resilience and perseverance, which are critical traits for bringing innovative ideas to life. The opposite of hope is defeatism, where employees assume that new ideas won’t be supported or that change isn’t possible, leading to disengagement and no innovation in sight.

The Culture of Innovation Diagnostic

To turn these findings into a tangible tool, we created the Culture of Innovation Diagnostic—a survey that crosses the organizational components of culture with the conditions for innovation to uncover areas in which an organization may be unknowingly inhibiting innovation.

This framework helps organizations assess whether they are creating an environment that enables innovation by asking questions like:

• How do your REPRESENTATIONS enable THRILL? Do people share stories about failures and lessons learned, or is talking about failure taboo? Are success stories the only stories shared throughout the organization?

• How do your STRUCTURES enable AUTONOMY? Is decision-making distributed, or rigidly hierarchical?

You can't improve what you don’t measure. Running the Culture of Innovation Diagnostic is the first step to uncovering how well your organization supports innovation, enabling leaders to identify key areas that are ripe for transformation.

The Current State of Innovation

When doing culture and innovation work with companies, they always ask: how do we compare to other organizations? So, we ran the Culture of Innovation Diagnostic with nearly 3,000 professionals across industries and uncovered three major insights:

1. There are Disconnects Between Senior Leadership and Staff about Supporting Innovation 

Leaders often believe they’re fostering innovation, but the majority of employees experience something very different. Our data shows that non-managerial staff are less likely to report having time to develop ideas, experience distributed decision-making, or feel empowered to take risks.

When asked how much they agree with the statement: "Our company incentivizes risk-taking," the responses revealed a stark contrast between leadership and staff. 65% of executive leadership agreed, while only 47% of directors/managers, 37% of professional/technical staff, and just 32% of support staff felt the same. Yikes.

Risk-taking is essential for innovation. Yet, when leadership says, “fail fast” but doesn’t back it up with action, employees become risk-averse to avoid negative consequences. Innovation flounders when fear of failure drives decision-making, and the disconnect between leadership and employees only reinforces this hesitation.

2. Cultures of Innovation are Associated with High Engagement and Commitment

The most highly engaged and highly committed employees experience more conditions for innovation.We conducted a quartile analysis to compare how the most and least engaged and committed employees experience key conditions for innovation. The results reveal a stark contrast in how these groups perceive their work environments.

First, we looked at what the most versus least engaged employees said—

The most engaged employees work in organizations that take action.

• "New ideas are often implemented." – Among the most engaged employees, 92% agree, while only 30% of the least engaged agree.

• "My company actively invests capital in new ideas, strategies, or products." – 92% of the most engaged agree, compared to only 35% of the least engaged.

  
  
  
  

The most engaged employees also have organizations that enable experimentation:

• "I am empowered to experiment with new ideas." – 92% of the most engaged employees agree, while only 36% of the least engaged do.

• "I can spend part of my work time exploring new ideas and initiatives." – 91% of the most engaged agree, but only 35% of the least engaged do.

Next, we examined the most versus least committed employees in an organization—

The most committed employees work in organizations that celebrate their authenticity and recognize achievements:

• "My achievements are acknowledged and celebrated." – 95% of the most committed employees agree, while only 49% of the least committed do.

• "I am able to express my individuality through personal style." – 93% of the most committed agree, compared to 54% of the least committed.

The most committed employees also work in organizations that provide resources beyond core job responsibilities (also a trend we saw among the most engaged employees):

• "We have access to resources to explore new concepts." – 92% of the most committed employees agree, while only 48% of the least committed do.

• "We have the resources to enable fun experiences." – 92% of the most committed agree, compared to only 49% of the least committed.

3. Direct Investment in Innovation Drives Desired Results

Companies that provide dedicated resources for innovation have better outcomes, from their culture to their innovation output. Comparing organizations that self-identified as innovative versus non-innovative, we found:

• 84% of innovative companies provide access to resources to explore new concepts (compared to 35% in non-innovative companies).

• 75% of innovative companies provide tools and resources to enable fun experiences (compared to 31% in non-innovative companies).

• 84% of innovative companies have specific roles or teams that focus on new ideas (compared to 48% in non-innovative companies).

Additionally, companies with a Chief Innovation Officer (CINO) tend to have stronger cultures of innovation. While a CINO alone isn’t a silver bullet, what this finding tells us is that having dedicated leadership and resources significantly increases the likelihood of fostering innovation.

Building an Intentional Culture of Innovation

So, what do we do about all this? The key to fostering a strong culture and innovation in an organization is intention. By assessing the alignment between organizational components and innovation conditions, companies can uncover opportunities to shape a thriving, innovative work culture.

If you’re ready to improve your workplace culture, employee effectiveness, or innovation capability, we have the expertise to help make it happen. Let’s talk.

Feel free to connect with Lis Russo on LinkedIn or shoot over an email at lis_russo@gensler.com.

About the Author, Lis Russo:

Lis Russo is the Culture Strategy Leader at Gensler, a global design and architecture firm, where she co-founded the Culture Strategy practice in New York City. She leads initiatives to build engaging cultures, enable innovation, support office transformation, and grow leadership capability.

With a background in workplace strategy and change management, Lis evolved her focus toward employee experience, innovation, and culture transformation—driven by her passion for design, sociology, psychology, and user research.

At Gensler, Lis facilitates culture workshops, leadership training, and innovation capability building efforts. Beyond Gensler, Lis partners with organizations such as Edelman, Barclays, and Elevance Health, as well as a variety of Fortune 100 companies, to improve organizational culture, innovation capability, employee experience, and strategic foresight.

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