Culture starts with your coffee mug

Written by Nicole Vukic, Founding Director

Culture is not built by posters in the break room or values printed on a website. It is built by actions, especially those taken by leaders. In every organisation, the tone is set from the top. Culture becomes something people live when leaders model the behaviours they expect.

The coffee mug test

During an industry event I attended several years ago, a CEO shared a story about his most influential mentor. Someone in the audience asked, “Did he put his own coffee mug in the dishwasher?”. The room laughed, but the questioner remained composed. “It’s not funny,” they said. “I mean it!”.

They were making a valid point:

No one is too important to clean up after themselves. Small acts, like putting your mug away and helping tidy up after work drinks, sends a powerful signal. They say: We are all in this together. But when these actions are not acknowledged or replicated, the message fades.

Culture needs reinforcement, not just demonstration.

Leaving loudly

At one firm I worked in, long hours were worn like badges of honour (a familiar story across the industry). A new dad confided that he wanted to spend more time with his family but felt guilty leaving while others stayed late. He would frequently sneak out via the fire stairs hoping to leave unnoticed.

The advice I gave him… Leave loudly!

By visibly prioritising balance, he gave others permission to do the same. Culture shifts when people see that it is okay to work hard and go home.

In another organisation I worked in early on in my career, I consistently started early and left on time. Eventually, it became expected of me, and respected. A senior leader even shared my approach with the executive team, reinforcing that results matter more than hours logged.

Culture does not benefit from clock-watchers, but the impact people make through the work they deliver.

Strategy is not just for the top

Strategy is what a company wants to achieve, culture is how people behave in trying to achieve it. Whilst role modelling culture is good leadership, top-down strategy can alienate the very people who are meant to deliver it. When non-managerial staff are excluded from the strategy development process, it undermines their intelligence and erodes buy-in. People need to understand how they fit into both the business and their discipline stream.

Ownership drives engagement, and engagement builds culture.

Culture is not a sales pitch

One of the biggest red flags for me is when an organisation spends a lot of time talking about how great its culture is. In my experience, the workplaces that work hardest to promote their culture are often the ones trying to compensate for cultural issues beneath the surface. Strong cultures rarely need a sales pitch. They should be intuitive and baked into the everyday experience of work. You should not need to see culture continually presented in slide decks or repeatedly reinforced through internal marketing campaigns. People experience culture through how they are treated, how decisions are made, and how leaders behave. When culture is genuinely healthy, employees become its strongest advocates.

Culture is in the details

Sometimes, culture shows up in the smallest things – like snacks. At one firm, we were expected to pay for our own fruit, leaving a 20-cent coin for each piece of fruit taken from the box. At another firm, an unlocked wine fridge and catered lunches were standard. But for me, the real insight came from a graduate who said the best part of their job was “getting leftovers from managers’ lunch meetings”.

Receiving leftovers from management meetings is not a perk. That is a signal. If you are scheduling meetings over lunch, the meeting should be catered for, not just the meetings that involve the most senior people in the business. If you are building a culture of inclusion, it starts with the basics.

Chocolate biscuits versus cream biscuits versus nothing at all – it is not about the food. It is about fairness.

Culture is not declared. It is demonstrated, and it starts at the top – with coffee mugs, how and when you leave the office, whether you stay to help clean up after work drinks. Leaders who model humility, balance, and inclusion build trust, which is the foundation of every great workplace.