Culture design: What it is and why it matters to your brand
Let’s talk about culture. And no, not the table tennis corner in your office or the fridge full of free drinks.
We are talking about the operating system of your business.
Because culture is not a buzzword, it’s the foundation of success. It’s what attracts and retains great talent, and ultimately drives growth. Ignore it, and you are leaving one of your biggest strategic advantages up to chance – because you have a culture. The only question is whether it is intentional or accidental.
Too often, businesses have a culture that’s developed organically without aligning it to their brand, or build a brand without considering how it fits with their culture. Neither works. Culture is not a side project. It’s the day-in, day-out proof of what your brand promises. It needs to be designed from the ground up — deliberately, carefully and strategically.
At Tiny Hunter, it’s something we’re deeply passionate about. Through years of working with businesses, we know this: culture is the living, breathing expression of your brand. It shows up in how meetings are run, how feedback is given, how promotions are decided, how challenges are handled, how wins are celebrated, and so much more.
Our own culture is shaped by small, consistent actions, like nominating each other for value-based wins each week, and bigger ones, like bringing our values into our client onboarding process so that alignment is clear from the start.
We’re so passionate that our CEO, Jodie de Vries, is currently taking further training to help build impactful Australian workplaces, under culture trailblazer Gustavo Razzeti, creator of the Culture Design Canvas and founder of Fearless Culture.
WHAT IS CULTURE DESIGN?
“Culture design is about intentionally crafting the environment that will help people do the best work of their lives,” says Gustavo Razzetti, CEO of Fearless Culture.
It’s not just a set of ideals. It’s the real, everyday experience of your business. Even if you’re not thinking about culture, you’re creating one. And it’s this ‘accidental culture’ that can breed confusion, frustration and misalignment in teams.
Culture design ensures that your internal environment reflects the brand promises you’re making to the outside world. It’s about aligning the way your team operates, makes decisions, and interacts with what you want your brand to stand for.
WHY BRAND AND CULTURE MUST WORK TOGETHER
Although your brand may not be your culture, they are intrinsically linked.
As our CEO, Jodie, puts it, “Great brands are built from the inside out, in the hearts and minds of people. For us, utopia is creating alignment between brand, culture and experience, where intent is fully realised and in harmony with every part of how a business operates.”
Your brand is what you promise. Your culture is how you deliver it. When the two are in tune, you have the foundation to build lasting trust with your customers and your employees. But if there’s a disconnect, people are bound to notice.
A survey from Culture Amp found that in Australia, employees report significantly lower satisfaction in key areas like equity, authenticity, growth and connection. These are crucial aspects that many businesses claim to prioritise, yet often fall short in delivering on.
That’s why at Tiny Hunter, we believe internal brand engagement is a crucial part of building a strong culture. As part of our brand work, we dig into the heart of a business by exploring core values, engaging with employees to understand their perceptions of their brand and workplace, defining traits in an ideal team member, and more. It’s this alignment between internal reality and external promise that builds trust, creates real brand resonance, and sets businesses up for lasting success.
CULTURE AS YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Culture is one of the few things your competitors cannot copy. It’s completely unique to your people and business. A strong, intentional culture attracts the right talent. It fuels better collaboration. It sparks innovation. It builds resilience when times get tough. Real culture runs deep, and when you have it, people feel it.
Today’s workplaces are more complex than ever. Businesses are managing multi-generational teams with wildly different expectations, from Gen Z’s need for purpose and flexibility, to Baby Boomers’ emphasis on recognition and job security. Without a shared culture to unite them, these differences can quickly turn into friction.
Culture design gives your teams a shared language, clear rituals and agreed ways of working, so different styles do not clash but effectively collaborate. It is about building a cohesive culture where our differences become strengths.
And at the heart of it all? Trust. A high-performing culture is a high-trust culture. When people feel safe, respected and valued, they bring their best. They stick around for longer and advocate for your brand naturally without being told to. MIT found that trusting employees are 260% more motivated to work, and 50% less likely to look for another job.
Culture is a strategic investment in the people who drive your brand forward, and in the long-term success of your business.
CULTURE STARTS WITH VALUES, BUT DOESN’T END THERE
So, where to begin? With your values. Through clearly defining the beliefs that guide everyday actions and decisions, you lay the foundation for your culture—shaping behaviours and aligning your team around a shared vision.
By bringing your values into clear focus, you give your team a framework to make decisions and connect to your brand’s purpose. And when those values are reinforced regularly, through meetings, recognition programs, and everyday interactions, they create a culture that people believe in.
In our values enrichment workshops, we get to the core of what values mean for your business on a day-to-day level, ensuring they are actionable and tailored. We help you translate values into clear behaviours that your team can live by, creating unity and ensuring new team members are onboarded faster and more effectively.
So, if you are ready to stop leaving your culture to chance, let’s talk.
Written by: Sakina Javed
Published: May 7, 2025
