Forging Uncommon Culture defines the essential behaviours that make your organization unique—and the ‘common’ but risky behaviours people fall back on when tested.
Traditional workshops focus on vision, mission, and values to clarify a culture. But clarity alone breeds fear—forcing people to confront changes they can no longer ignore. By contrasting the comfortable choices fear allows with the hard choices growth demands, we help your team make decisions that prioritize your organization—even under pressure.
Leaders stretched too thin to guide every choice, turn to us to build cultures that help people make the right choices on their own. Forging your culture into tool for better decisions—begins with the decision to book a call to learn more:
Adding Clarity Shouldn’t Remove Cohesion.
When organizations build culture, they often begin with vision and mission statements. Why? Because clarity seems like the answer.
But clarity doesn’t simply reveal culture—it removes excuses. It forces change, often without giving people the tools to manage it. This leaves them overwhelmed and conflicted, turning culture into a burden instead of a unifying foundation.
It’s time to rethink your approach if:
Your Mission Puts People Under A Microscope:
Vision and mission statements set clear expectations but highlight gaps between what people do now and what’s needed, often causing defensiveness.
You need tools that simplify challenges into small steps, tailored to each person’s emotional needs. These tools help people move past insecurity and work together. Without them, defensiveness grows, accountability fails, and progress stops before it begins.
Core Values Fail To Create Value:
Core values fail because they focus on ideals, not the actions needed to live them. Confusion results as people interpret values through their own lens instead of aligning on a shared meaning.
You need a framework that contrasts your culture’s expectations against common, unremarkable behaviour, showing what makes your culture unique and actionable. Without this, people default to what’s easiest, collaboration breaks down, and team trust fades.
Clear Lines Become Invisible Walls:
When teams don’t see how their work supports a shared purpose, they focus on their own needs, creating bottlenecks. Silos form when clarity highlights competing priorities without showing how to resolve them.
You need a well-defined shared struggle that unifies everyone’s efforts, keeping tasks flowing and priorities tied to group success. Without one, inefficiencies grow, engagement drops, and progress stalls.
Deliverables Drive Decisions:
Leaders know culture matters, but supporting it is often pushed aside for urgent tasks. Why? Because culture feels abstract when compared to concrete, manageable daily tasks.
You need a culture where accountability, responsibility, and vulnerability become repeatable skills. When culture is this tangible, promoting it becomes as actionable as the simplest daily task. Without this, culture remains an ideal, deadlines rule, and teams become disengaged and misaligned.
We believe…
A great culture rules without rules;
That people shouldn’t feel forced to fit in—they should be celebrated for standing out;
That transparency is a disinfectant, eliminating secrets, blame, and insecurity.
Most of all, we believe a ‘good’ culture isn’t a place where everyone gets along. It’s a place where how to contribute is so clear—and matters so much—it pushes people to achieve more than they ever thought possible.
We believe all this so much—we created Forging Uncommon Culture.
Great cultures are distinct enough to be felt, strong enough to handle any challenge, and clear enough to guide everyone’s choices—allowing leaders to focus on championing vision and looking toward the future.
Traditional culture-building stops at vision, mission, and values. It leaves leaders to manage the fallout when newfound clarity uncovers long-hidden truths. Unshakable cultures build foundations so strong and distinct they challenge people to face growth in ways they’d never choose—yet will look back on as the best choice they ever made.
Our cause is to serve causes. Because every cause deserves a culture that stays strong no matter what, setting clear expectations that help everyone involved reach their full potential.
The Forging Uncommon Culture Difference.
Here’s how we make culture simple, clear, and actionable—turning abstract ideas into practical, impactful results.
Crystallizing Culture:
Big emotions can block focus and alignment. Crystallization transforms unresolved feelings into clear, deliberate actions that unite teams around shared goals.
Vision and mission statements clarify beliefs but don’t address the emotional strain of upholding them. Crystallization breaks this strain into manageable steps—like sets and reps in a workout—teaching people to regulate emotions, not repress them. Like a crystal spreading and hardening under pressure, this turns stress into the culture’s source of strength.
Calibrate Emotions
Organize random thoughts and feelings into focused, consistent, deliberate actions.
Thrive Under Pressure
Emotional regulation turns pressure into cultural strength.
Connect Goals To Choices
Replace conflict with connection by spreading shared goals and understanding.
Contrast of Positives:
Culture sets a group apart from all others. Your culture exists within society, causing the lines to blur. Without contrast, what society deems “good” makes your culture struggle to stand out. This weakens the shared identity that unites and focuses teams.
We sharpen cultural identity—defining what it deems essential and contrasting it with what society deems “good.” This contrast reveals the pros and cons of all choices, improving decisions. It also removes the fear of giving feedback, as poor choices become undeniable—even if society says they’re “okay.”
Define What Makes You Different
Know what makes your culture stand out.
Create Continuity
Keep your unique culture intact—even through stressful growth and change.
Align Expectations
Help teams prioritize the organization’s needs with every challenge faced.
The Worthy Villain:
Most of our time is spent at work, yet work isn’t our primary group—it’s where we go to earn resources for the people we truly prioritize. This creates a tension: your brain sees even your closest coworker as a rival—competing for the same scarce resources. It’s not personal—it’s evolution.
A Worthy Villain redirects rivalry, personifying the internal and external forces working against your cause, giving teams a bigger foe to face together. This creates the shared focus needed to unite coworkers, making trust and collaboration feel logical—even inevitable.
Eliminate Finger-Pointing
Overcome petty differences with a worthy challenge all can rally around.
Create Real Purpose
Align diverse talent with a meaningful shared direction.
Build Trust Tactically
Strengthen collaboration with each challenge faced and overcome.
Shared Identity:
Cultures built on vision, mission, and values rely on vague definitions of accountability to function. Holding people accountable creates blame. Helping them to account creates growth and alignment.
An account is a story. When people lack a shared identity—there’s many sides to every story. Aligning teams with a singular identity increases everyone’s ability to account for what happens—taking vision & mission off the page, and into daily practice.
Turn Buzzwords Into Tools
No more abstract concepts—only actionable, repeatable frameworks.
Make Every Word Strategic
Empower everyone to meaningfully contribute to everyone else’s success.
Escape Subconscious Sabotage
Finally move beyond blame & defensiveness—and the limits they impose.
Forging Uncommon Culture: The Essential Investment.
Companies routinely spend $25,000 or more for leadership retreats to determine vision, mission and values, hoping clarity will keep teams aligned. But let’s check the numbers:
0%
Percentage of companies with stated missions and/or core values on their websites or annual reports. (MIT Sloan).
0%
Percentage of employees who can recall their company’s mission or values when asked (Gallup).
0%
Percentage of employees reporting spikes in conflict & stress when clarified values reveal misalignment. (Harvard).
Together, these numbers reveal a simple truth: leaders know ambiguity is expensive, which is why they justify high fees for the clarity they hope will fix it. But if few can even recall their company’s mission and values—and they cause so many to experience stress without support—what’s the true ROI?
You have an opportunity. To break from convention by building a culture that does more than look good on paper. A real solution. A culture that stays strong under pressure and empowers your people to set new standards for success.
We not only deliver more clarity than conventional approaches—we give your team the tools to handle the stress it brings, and we do it for a fraction of what conventional providers charge. Even if our fees matched theirs, our program pays for itself and generates positive ROI with a single re-engaged employee—growing exponentially with each additional person re-engaged. Here’s how:
Engagement is ones’ emotional connection to work. Gallup reports a disengaged employee costs an extra 34% of their salary in waste. With 77% of employees disengaged and an average national salary of $63,000, that’s $16,493 lost per disengaged employee—more than we charge for the full Forging Uncommon Culture solution.
Plus, while clarity is essential, as shown, it triggers negative emotions by revealing uncomfortable truths. Most programs stop at clarity, leaving teams to struggle with the stress it brings. We go further. Our tools channel stress into growth—turning what others see as a threat into an asset.
We don’t just clarify culture. We create emotional engagement, so every dollar returns as growth, not waste.
Our process sets you up for a quick first win post-retreat by giving simple steps for having “tough” conversations about the necessary changes revealed. This early momentum proves that growth happens fast, easing fears and keeping everyone engaged.
When results come early, teams focus on building culture—not avoiding conflict. This speed reduces costs by preventing months of misunderstandings or hidden issues, ensuring faster ROI.
In the session, we make it easier to get everyone on the same page by using the Worthy Villain to align the team around what’s needed to stay on track. Instead of wasting time on disagreements, leaders and teams quickly unite around a shared goal.
Our tech-driven approach speeds things up by letting participants submit answers privately using their phones—avoiding the mess and bias of sticky notes and flip charts, which are proven to harm results.
This also allows remote participation, so everyone can contribute—no matter where they are.
Still have questions? Discover how our other services integrate seamlessly with Forging Uncommon Culture by clicking below, or explore our FAQs. Struggling to get your teams aligned? Ready for a culture that does some of the heavy lifting for you? Book a call to discuss it today:
Forging Uncommon Culture is designed to address both broad and specific challenges teams face. Whether your organization struggles with alignment, engagement, or cohesion, our approach adapts to your goals by defining behaviours that fit your culture, not generic ideals.
We don’t stop at clarifying expectations—we provide actionable tools your team can use daily. Plus, our tech-driven methods ensure every participant’s voice is heard, no matter where they are
Our process makes adoption simple by focusing on quick, early wins. Teams leave with clear steps for tough conversations, easing the transition back to work. The Worthy Villain framework keeps everyone aligned on a shared goal, minimizing resistance. And because our tech allows confidential participation, people engage more openly, reducing the effort needed to build momentum. Optional post-retreat support ensures your team stays on track with minimal disruption
You’ll see results immediately. The first win comes quickly as teams apply what they’ve learned to real challenges, proving that growth happens fast. This early success builds confidence and engagement, reducing costly misunderstandings and misalignment.
Since disengagement costs run at least $16,493 per employee annually, even re-engaging one team member can deliver ROI greater than the cost of the program. Our process ensures faster returns by turning stress into growth, saving both time and money.
Resistance is natural when clarity forces tough truths, but we manage this by fostering emotional safety. The Worthy Villain shifts the focus away from personal conflict toward a shared challenge, making change feel less threatening.
Those facing major change or who are especially concerned about buying-in are encouraged to also consider our training and coaching services. Not only will they ensure adoption—bundling reduces our already competitive fees even further.
