How to run a culture workshop with the Culture Design Canvas

A good culture workshop can change how a team works together, for about a week. Then the sticky notes come down, the doc gets buried, and everyone drifts back to how things were. This guide walks you through how to run a culture workshop that actually sticks, using the Culture Design Canvas by Gustavo Razzetti as your map, and building in the one thing most sessions forget: follow-through.

Before the culture workshop: prep and who to invite

The outcome is decided before anyone sits down. Get the room and the homework right and the session runs itself.

• Keep it small enough for honesty, 6 to 12 people. Too big and no one says the real thing.
• Invite a mix, not just leadership. Someone who joined last month sees things the veterans stopped noticing.
• Send the Culture Design Canvas ahead of time so nobody walks in cold, and ask each person to bring one thing that works and one that doesn't.
• Pick a neutral facilitator, ideally not the most senior person in the room, so rank doesn't silence the group.

Map the current culture honestly, then design the one you want

This is the heart of the session. First, fill the canvas for the culture as it is today, the real behaviors, the rituals people actually keep, what genuinely gets rewarded. Resist the urge to write the aspirational version, that comes next. Only once the honest map is on the wall do you fill a second canvas for the culture you want. Two or three of the ten blocks will jump out as the biggest gaps, and those are what you work on.

Then narrow. Agree on two or three changes, no more, and give each one a named owner and a first concrete step. A change without an owner is a wish. Before you close, write down how you'll know each change is working a month from now.

Measure your culture free →