There’s a story shared in the Thoughtsmiths Transforming Insight Leader-Coach Training programme that captures the essence of how a shift in company culture takes root. Not just through formal strategies or top-down efforts, but through a shift in how people think, listen and speak to one another. Strategic efforts might spark the shift. But it’s everyday conversations that embed it more permanently.

 

Here’s the story: during a leader-coaching programme rollout, Anne, one of the Thoughtsmiths facilitators, was approached by two young managers during a break. They had an unexpected insight: “We now know what happened to our manager. She must’ve attended this coach training course!”

 

Why? Because something had changed in how she was showing up.

 

Before, when they brought problems to her, she’d give them answers. She would fix, instruct, direct. But recently, when they came to her with challenges, she started asking questions, thoughtful, open-ended questions that made them pause and think.

 

At first, they were confused and somewhat annoyed. They expected solutions. But over time, they realised they were developing something far more powerful: ownership. They found themselves anticipating the questions. Thinking ahead. Solving problems independently.

 

“Now we just figure things out by asking the same sort of questions she asks.”

What created the shift wasn’t just a performance policy or a standalone intervention. It was the way their manager began to apply what she had learned. She changed how he engaged. She held space differently. And that consistent change started to ripple outward. 

 

That’s the real nature of company culture: not a campaign, but a pattern.

Company Culture Is Not a Programme, It’s a Pattern

Many organisations invest in formal culture programmes, values rollouts or strategic campaigns. These can play an important role; they often provide structure, language and momentum. But real culture is lived, not launched. It’s shaped in the daily, often unconscious patterns of interaction. It shows up in how people think under pressure, how leaders respond to setbacks, and how conversations unfold in moments that matter.  But in truth, culture lives in the daily, often unconscious, patterns of interaction. It’s how people think under pressure. It’s the stories they tell when their manager leaves the room. It’s what they do when no one’s watching. 

 

The Thoughtsmiths Transforming Insight Leader-Coach Training explores this through the iceberg model: the visible actions and behaviours are only the surface. Beneath that lie beliefs, assumptions, fears, and habits, the true drivers of behaviour.

You don’t shift company culture by changing posters. You shift it by changing the thinking that drives behaviour.

And that starts with the quality of conversation.

Culture Change Through Conversation

In many organisations, conversations tend to fall into familiar patterns: either Tell/Solution (where leaders instruct, fix, and direct) or Ask/Problem (where people circle around complaints, issues, and limitations). Both reinforce reactive loops, and neither creates change.

 

Many workplace conversations can be mapped on two axes: Tell/Ask and Solution/Problem, as demonstrated by David Rock. Most conversations get stuck in old loops. Fixing, directing, or circling problems. Helpful in the moment, but not enough to create change. While these approaches have their place, over-reliance on them can trap teams in reactive cycles that rarely lead to substantial change.

 

Many workplace conversations can be mapped along two axes: Tell/Ask and Problem/Solution. The quadrant below, based on the work of David Rock, helps visualise how different conversational styles influence how people think and behave at work.

 

The Ask/Solution space opens something up. It’s where insight has room to land.

Thoughtsmiths suggests that a Leader-Coach approach lies mainly in the Ask/Solution space. This introduces a powerful alternative – where insightful thinking is born.

 

It’s where a leader says,

“What outcome do you want to see?”

“What might change if you got that right?”

“What do you think is getting in the way here?”

“What could create the shift?”

 

These are the questions that disrupt default patterns and invite people to think, not perform. And when people think differently, they act differently.

 

This is how culture change begins: one thinking conversation at a time.

From Blame to Ownership

We’ve seen many teams operate in what Thoughtsmiths refers to (thanks to Stephan Karpman) as the “drama loop”, a pattern of blame, rescue, and frustration. In this loop, problems escalate, leaders solve them, and the cycle continues. But what this creates is dependence, disengagement, and surface-level results.

 

Drama patterns don’t disappear with policies. They shift when conversations do.

 

Instead of answering every question, the leader creates space for insight. Instead of rescuing, they challenge. Instead of directing, they invite reflection.

 

The shift isn’t always easy, but it’s transformational. It turns managers into thinking partners. It turns teams into engaged, self-leading units. It replaces fear with learning.

 

And once that loop breaks, new cultural patterns take hold.

Insightful Thinking as the Lever for Culture Change

A core principle of the Thoughtsmiths methodology, drawing on Nancy Kline’s work, is that insight precedes action.

 

When people come to their own realisations, those moments of clarity we often refer to as “aha moments”, their brains release a surge of neurochemicals such as dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin. They do more than feel good. They wire the brain for action. The idea becomes meaningful because it was discovered, not delivered. When insight emerges, it connects to something internal. The motivation to act doesn’t need to be imposed — it’s already there, because the idea came from within. 

 

So, meaningful shifts in company culture are more likely when people experience insight for themselves. Programmes like Transforming Insight help lay the foundation by providing tools, shared language and conditions for this kind of reflection. But lasting change happens when those ideas are lived out, in everyday behaviour, team dynamics and the conversations people choose to have. 

 

The best leaders don’t have all the answers. But they create the space where others can do their best thinking.

The Role of Psychological Safety in Company Culture

Insightful thinking isn’t possible without psychological safety. The brain has two primary modes, a distinction explored in the Transforming Insight framework. In a “Reactive Away” state (fight, flight or freeze), the brain prioritises protection and shuts down higher-order thinking. In a “Receptive Toward” state, it becomes more open to curiosity, exploration and collaboration. For leaders aiming to shift culture, learning to recognise and influence these states is essential. Research from Amy Edmondson highlights that psychological safety is essential for learning, innovation and high-quality thinking in teams.

 

In many teams, there’s a quiet undercurrent of caution — a fear of getting it wrong, of speaking too soon, of not being heard.

 

To change this, leaders must become aware of how they either trigger shutdown or create safety.

• Do you pause when someone hesitates?
• Do you listen without interrupting?
• Do you reward insight, or just outcomes?

The neuroscience is clear: brains only think well when they feel safe. And safe environments are the foundation of a company culture poised for high-quality thinking.

Embedding Reflection in Teams

Once leaders learn to hold powerful thinking conversations, the next step is helping teams do the same. This means embedding regular time and structure for reflection, learning, and dialogue.

 

Not offsites or long workshops. Just small rhythms that reinforce thinking:

• Starting meetings with a learning from the week
• Ending projects with “What insight did we gain?”
• Creating space for people to think aloud without being corrected

These reflective micro-moments reinforce a culture of insight, rather than output alone. They remind people that thinking matters, and that their voice, in addition to their work, has value.

 

This shift doesn’t just improve engagement. It improves performance, alignment, and resilience.

Leaders as Pattern-Breakers

One of the most powerful roles a leader can play is being a pattern-breaker.

It starts with noticing the pattern, then choosing a different response.

 

It means choosing to stay curious instead of reactive. To ask instead of tell. To pause instead of rush.

 

And it means doing this over and over again, until the old pattern loses its grip and new habits become embedded.

 

Leaders don’t need to drive culture change alone, but they do need to go first. Their behaviour creates the permission and the blueprint for others to follow.

Transforming Company Culture, One Conversation at a Time

In the story Anne shared, the manager had attended a leadership programme, but what stood out wasn’t the content or the frameworks. It was the shift in how she showed up. There was no dramatic rebrand or formal values launch at that moment. What stood out was how she began to live the work. She shifted her approach to leadership. She asked more questions. She created space for thinking. And over time, that steady change began to influence everything around her. 

 

She stopped solving and started listening.
She stopped giving answers and started asking questions.
She shifted from being a rescuer to being a thinking partner.

 

That small, consistent change created a ripple effect. Her team stepped up. They thought for themselves. They changed, and so did the culture around them.

This is the heart of the Thoughtsmiths’ philosophy:
Company culture changes not with slogans, but with conversations.
Not with pressure, but with presence.
Not with directives, but with insight.

 

And that change can begin anywhere. With anyone. In your next conversation, choose to have it differently.