Good workplace culture is built by people moving in the same direction, like a folk circle dance, even if they don’t get all the steps right.
I recently attended a Greek wedding, my first wedding since the Great Isolation which began in March 2020. The wedding offered traditional cuisine, and Greek specialties down to gin produced in Greece. When the Greek music came on, I partook in the tradition of folk circle dancing, whereby one springs to the dance floor and and grabs the hand of the last person in line, adding to the chain of dancers. You don’t have to get all the steps right; all you have to do is keep moving in the same direction.
As I participated in this Greek ceremony, it occurred to me that all culture, including workplace culture, cannot be created or celebrated alone. Culture by definition requires a group dynamic. We don’t need to get the steps down perfectly; in a good workplace culture, just as in Greek dancing, we all have to move in the same direction to celebrate it.