In episode 423, host Mike Petrusky welcomes Natalie Johnson, Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer at Vidl Work and co-author of “Leading the Culture Journey: Elevating Everyday Actions to Create Extraordinary Workplaces.” Drawing on her experience helping organizations build intentional workplace cultures, Natalie explores how culture is shaped through everyday interactions and relationships, not just leadership decisions. Together, Mike and Natalie discuss the role every employee plays in creating a better workplace, the difference between accidental and intentional culture, why relationships are an organization’s most valuable asset, and how workplace leaders can use technology without sacrificing human connection. They also share practical advice for facility management, corporate real estate, and workplace leaders looking to strengthen collaboration, innovation, and engagement across their organizations.
Agenda
- Why workplace culture is created through relationships, not policies alone
- How accidental culture and intentional culture differ
- How every employee has agency and influence, regardless of title
- What facility and workplace leaders can do to improve culture
What you need to know: Workplace takeaways
Takeaway 1: Workplace culture lives in everyday relationships
While many organizations describe people as their most valuable asset, she argues that the relationships between people create the real foundation for performance, innovation, and engagement.
Culture is not something abstract that exists separately from daily work. It is created through conversations, decisions, reactions, and interactions that happen every day. Whether employees feel heard, respected, included, and connected directly shapes the experience of work.
For workplace leaders, that means creating great experiences is about far more than policies or facilities. It requires building conditions that help people connect and collaborate effectively.
Takeaway 2: Accidental culture develops when nobody talks about it
Organizations often focus heavily on operations, deadlines, projects, and performance metrics while assuming culture will take care of itself. Over time, unspoken behaviors become normalized. Employees stop challenging ideas in meetings, only a handful of voices dominate discussions, or people begin feeling guilty about taking sick days. Eventually these patterns become part of the workplace culture even though nobody intentionally created them.
Natalie describes these patterns as examples of accidental culture. They emerge naturally when teams move too quickly to reflect on how they are working together.
Her solution: “We help companies and teams to identify where their accidental culture exists and teach them how to be more intentional in developing better conditions at work,” she says.
Takeaway 3: Everyone has agency to influence workplace culture
Drawing on her own experience in facility operations, she shares how she became frustrated by changes in leadership and eventually left an organization she once loved. Looking back, she realized she spent more time blaming leaders than recognizing her own opportunity to influence the situation.
Rather than discussing concerns openly, she disengaged. The experience ultimately taught her that culture is co-created by everyone, not simply imposed from the top down.
For workplace leaders, the lesson is powerful. Employees at every level influence culture through the questions they ask, the conversations they initiate, and the behaviors they reinforce.
“I had influence, I had agency,” Natalie reflects. “I was not playing into that role at all.”
Takeaway 4: Innovation requires connection, not just speed
Natalie points out that today’s workplaces operate at a relentless pace. Teams move quickly from meeting to meeting and task to task, often prioritizing efficiency above all else. While speed can improve productivity, innovation requires something different: curiosity, discussion, and the willingness to consider perspectives beyond your own.
Meaningful innovation often takes more time because it requires people to slow down, seek understanding, and build on one another’s ideas.
For workplace and facility leaders, creating opportunities for collaboration may be just as important as deploying new technology or improving operational processes.
“Innovation does not always equate to efficiency. It takes more time. It takes an intentional connection and seeking to understand other people.”
Takeaway 5: Technology should strengthen human connection, not replace it
Natalie cautions that organizations can unintentionally allow technology to replace meaningful human interaction.
When employees rely exclusively on messaging platforms, virtual meetings, and digital workflows, opportunities for relationship-building can diminish. That loss of connection can ultimately undermine innovation and engagement.
Rather than viewing technology solely as a productivity tool, Natalie encourages leaders to use it intentionally. Tools that improve focus, reduce distractions, and create more space for meaningful conversations can strengthen workplace culture rather than weaken it.
Her goal is not to reject technology but to ensure it supports human relationships.
“Use your technology to help you be more focused, more present, when it’s really necessary and needed at work and even at home.”
Takeaway 6: Work can feel better, and everyone has a role to play
Regardless of title, seniority, or job function, every employee contributes to the environment around them. Small actions, conversations, and choices shape how work feels for everyone else.
That perspective is especially relevant for workplace, facility management, and corporate real estate leaders who influence the spaces, experiences, and conditions where people work every day.
“No matter who you are, formal leader or not, no matter who you are, work can feel better and you have a role to play in it.”
Workplace management insights
- Relationships between employees may be an organization’s most important asset.
- Culture is created through everyday interactions, not just leadership initiatives.
- Accidental culture emerges when workplace behaviors go unexamined.
- Every employee has influence and agency regardless of title or role.
- Innovation requires connection, collaboration, and intentional dialogue.
- Facility and workplace leaders play an important role in shaping workplace culture.
- Technology should support focus and human connection rather than replace it.
- Small everyday actions can have a significant impact on employee experience.
Explore the full library of Workplace Innovator podcast episodes for an in-depth look at workplace insights and watch the full video here.
