We’ve all heard the saying, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
Strategies may look compelling on paper. They’re well-crafted, logical, and often backed by data. And yet, so many of them quietly falter. Why? Because culture decides what lives and what dies inside an organisation.
Here’s what’s less often said: culture itself is shaped – and reshaped – by the way we talk together. Every meeting, every corridor conversation, every exchange between colleagues contributes to – or detracts from – the ‘energy field’ of an organisation. These moments create the habits of thinking and speaking that define how work really gets done. And those habits either open the door to transformation… or quietly close it.
When dialogue flows, thinking flows
In my work with leadership teams, I often see a familiar pattern. A group comes together with good intent. The agenda is full. The stakes are high. But something isn’t quite working. The energy feels flat. The conversation circles. Decisions stall. It’s not that people don’t care.
It’s that the dialogue isn’t flowing.
Fluidity in dialogue is what allows a group to move – from stuckness into momentum, from fragmented views into shared understanding. Without it, even the smartest teams get stuck in one of three patterns:
- Talking tough – where the loudest voice wins and others disengage
- Talking nice – where harmony is preserved but truth is diluted
- Not talking at all – where people withdraw, hold back, or go through the motions
None of these create the conditions for real thinking.
Fluid dialogue, by contrast, feels different. It’s more like jazz than a series of disconnected solos. Ideas build on each other. People listen and respond in real time. There’s energy, movement, even a sense of shared creation.
And crucially, this kind of dialogue doesn’t happen by accident. It’s designed.
Small shifts that change everything
I once worked with an extended leadership team of twenty senior managers. Two hours into their strategy day, the Managing Director turned to me and said, “The energy seems a bit low.”
She was right.
Despite a clear purpose and very capable individuals, the group was stuck. Too many people in one conversation. Not enough movement. Not enough depth.
So we made a simple shift. Instead of one heavy discussion, I broke the group into smaller conversations. Four groups. One shared challenge: how do we make better decisions together?
The impact was immediate. More voices were heard. Thinking deepened. Patterns emerged.
When we came back together, the conversation had changed. It had lifted. What had been static became dynamic. By the end of the session, the same group that had felt flat in the morning was energised and aligned. They moved from talking at each other to thinking with each other. That’s the power of fluidity. That’s what happens when there’s flow in dialogue.
It’s not just what we talk about – it’s how
Creating fluid dialogue rests on two simple, but powerful, levers:
- Choreography
This is about how we structure interaction. Do we keep people in one large group? Or do we move between pairs, trios, and small groups? Do we sit rigidly around a table? Or do we change the physical set-up to shift the energy? Even small changes in how people engage can unlock fresh thinking.
- Content
This is about what we place at the ‘centre’ of the conversation. Is the agenda crowded with updates? Or is there a clear, compelling question that invites people to think together? When a meaningful challenge sits at the centre, people don’t take sides. They become curious. They explore. They build.
The micro-moments that make or break flow
At an even more granular level, fluidity lives in each contribution. Every comment either adds to the flow or takes away from it.
Additive contributions extend thinking, connect ideas and invite others in. They sound like:
- “Yes, and…”
- “Building on that…”
- “What if we also considered…”
Subtractive contributions shut things down, fragment the conversation and stall momentum. They sound like:
- “That won’t work.”
- “We’ve tried that before.”
- (Or the subtle eye roll, the sigh, the silence…)
Over time, these micro-moments, both verbal and non-verbal accumulate. And they shape culture – that invisible ‘sauce’ that makes or breaks an organisation.
Why this matters for you
If you want to influence culture, start with dialogue. While culture can feel intangible and hard to shift, the way people talk together is something we can work with directly. Ask yourself:
- Do people hold back their real views?
- Does debate get stuck in opposing positions?
- Are ideas left hanging, without being built on?
- Is there too little challenge – or too much unproductive friction?
These are not just communication issues. They are cultural signals. As I wrote in my book, How to Have Meaningful Conversations, ‘big doors swing on little hinges.’ The quality of each interaction between people is the ‘hinge’ on which the ‘big doors’ of culture swing open or slam shut.
When dialogue is defensive or superficial, culture resists change. When dialogue is open, reflective, and generative, culture becomes fertile ground for new ideas to take root.
A simple practice to try
Next time you’re in a meeting about strategy or change, pause and reflect:
- How are we talking together right now?
- Are we building on each other’s thinking – or bypassing it?
- What would make this conversation more dynamic?
Even a brief moment of awareness can shift the tone of a conversation. Research by Professor Mike West has shown that teams who take a time to reflect on their dialogue experience a lift in performance compared with teams who don’t. Investing a mere ten minutes in moving from the ‘dance floor’ to the ‘balcony’ (to borrow Ron Heifitz’s metaphor) pays dividends because it improves dialogue and strengthens a team.
In closing
And when the conversation shifts, something deeper begins to move. Because fluidity is not just about having better conversations. It’s about creating movement. Movement in how people think.
Movement in how they relate. Movement in how decisions get made.
Because when dialogue flows, energy flows. And when energy flows, teams move forward – together. So, if you’re looking to shape culture, don’t start with the strategy. Start with the conversation. That’s where change really begins.
