Five people. One chair. Twenty-five minutes.

That’s what it took to decide where a chair should go in a café I was sitting in. It’s a good reminder that being busy and being effective aren’t the same thing, and in a lot of businesses, that gap is where time, money, and momentum get lost.

Left unattended, culture shifts and over time, that shift determines whether people feel safe, engaged, and willing to engage or whether they quietly check out. Being intentional about culture doesn’t mean controlling people or forcing positivity. That's fake after all. It means paying attention, having the conversations that matter, and recognising that culture is always forming, whether you choose to shape it or not.

Every year, the internet offers up another “our culture is great here” post, where a cheap pizza lunch is presented as evidence of care for overworked employees. Without trust, these perks feel hollow and more like a band-aid, or worse… manipulative.

Excuses are rarely about the actual problem; they’re about protecting ourselves from discomfort. When something goes wrong, our brains look for the quickest way to preserve our self-image to protect the story we tell ourselves that we’re competent, capable and in control.

The Keeper Test is a brutally simple idea made famous by Netflix’s culture deck:

“If one of your employees can to you tomorrow and told you they were leaving for a similar job at another company, would you fight to keep them?”

If your gust reaction is yes, they’re a keeper. If your honest reaction is no, it’s time to start planning their exit.