Last month I was speaking with a senior leader at a major financial institution in South Africa. He’s part of the team driving a company-wide culture shift.
He felt chronically frustrated:
“We’ve done values workshops, brought in coaches, upgraded performance reviews… We see glimpses of change, but they fizzle. Why does it still feel like we’re wading through mud?”
I suggested something most leaders overlook:
Maybe the problem isn’t your people.
It’s the environment you’re asking them to grow in.
Why Most Behaviour Change Doesn’t Stick
In a previous piece, I wrote about the power of starting with mindset, not behaviour.
(You can read it here → Why Brilliant Leaders Still Struggle with Team Dysfunction)
Because at the root of every repeated behaviour is a belief.
And at the heart of every team dynamic is a mindset.
So yes, if you want lasting culture change, you start by shaping the mindsets of your people…
But here’s where so many leaders get stuck…
The Myth of the Isolated Mindset
In today’s over-individualised world, we tend to treat mindset as a solo pursuit.
If someone doesn’t show up with the right mindset, the default assumption is:
“They need to get their head right.”
But mindset doesn’t live in someone’s head. Not entirely.
Mindset lives in context.
It’s shaped by cues, such as policies, processes, power dynamics, and what the organisation unconsciously rewards.
Think of a fish: the way it swims is shaped by currents, rocks, predators, and the underwater landscape.
Its behaviour is inseparable from its environment.
Now swap the fish for a team member.
And the ocean is your organisational environment.
The Cues That Change Everything
This is the part most leaders miss.
You can teach mindset.
You can coach it, encourage it, reward it.
But if the environment whispers a different message, nothing sticks.
Let’s look at some of those whispers:
- Performance evaluations
Are people rewarded for learning and progress, or just flawless execution?
- Policies and rules
Do they promote control or growth?
- Leadership messaging
Are effort and iteration celebrated—or only polished results?
- Team norms
Who gets airtime? Who challenges ideas? What happens when someone fails?
Again, these cues don’t shout. They whisper. But your team hears them loud and clear.
The Hidden Layer: Environmental Mindset Cues
In a previous post, I introduced the three nested conversations that shape culture:
- Internal Dialogue – the mindset of each individual
- External Conversation – team interactions and dynamics
- Unspoken Conversation – the default culture that emerges
But there’s a fourth layer most leaders overlook:
Environmental Mindset Cues – the subtle but powerful signals that either support or sabotage growth.
These cues create the current your people swim in… gently but constantly nudging their mindsets, which in turn influence how they feel and act.
Your Next Layer of Leverage
If you want fast and lasting transformation, this is where the leverage lies:
- Train the mindset (inner circle)
- Coach the team dynamics (middle circle)
- Then, realign the environment to reinforce the new story
Because while changing people is hard…
changing signals, norms, and structures is a strategic unlock.
You can’t ask people to think differently, then measure them with outdated metrics.
If you want a growth culture, grow the water they swim in.
Your Role as a Leader: Shape the Water
Don’t just try to change people.
Change the signals that shape their default settings.
Because here’s the truth:
People don’t resist change.
They resist environments that make change feel unsafe.
So yes, start with mindset. But don’t stop there.
Upgrade the environment to match.
That’s how you create a culture of high performance that sustains itself.
