People want to work for companies with great cultures. That’s why every state in the U.S.  publishes an annual “best places to work” list. Companies on those lists don’t just attract more interest, they see 15 times higher offer acceptance rates and outperform others in the market by 19 percentage points. Great cultures inspire commitment and fuel better business outcomes by attracting top talent and keeping them engaged. It’s one of the clearest advantages an organization can have. 

Organizational culture is the shared values, norms, and behaviors that shape how work gets done. It provides an unwritten guide for the kind of behavior that is and is not acceptable in a workplace. In cultures that emphasize winning and the bottom line, people may be motivated to obtain results through any available means. In cultures that prioritize connection or service, the same individuals might adopt different behaviors to reach the same goal, emphasizing collaboration, developing junior team members, or focusing on purpose alongside profit. 

Culture begins with leadership. A company's overall culture, and the subcultures within teams, reflect the values and behaviors modeled by its leaders. Culture impacts organizational performance and employee engagement by aligning individual and organizational goals. A leader's ability to align culture and strategy can influence communication, collaboration, and trust within and between teams, which ultimately affects performance and the bottom line. 

Whether intentional or not, every team has a culture. Employees bring their own values, working styles, and expectations into the workplace. Leaders do the same. These underlying motivations and preferences are reflected in their leadership style and become defined markers of team and organizational culture. Consider the following examples: 

• Apple values aesthetic excellence, visible in its product design, user interfaces, and marketing. 
• Bombas, Toms, and Warby Parker demonstrate altruism by donating an item for every purchase.
• State government organizations reflect a culture of security, attracting people who prioritize risk aversion and long-term stability. 
• Disney fosters affiliation, creating emotional connection and loyalty that transcends price. 

Leaders shape culture through what they reward, what they tolerate, and how they behave. A leader who values recognition will highlight achievements publicly, attracting those who enjoy such recognition while deterring those who prefer quiet acknowledgment. Leaders with a strong sense of tradition may foster a culture of stability and ritual, which can support consistency but potentially stifle innovation and change. These dynamics signal to candidates and employees whether they might thrive in that environment – or not.

How to Build an Intentional Culture

So, how can leaders build a workplace culture that attracts and keeps the best people? The great news is, they don’t have to figure this out on their own through trial and error, nor do they need some sort of special intuition to have this level of self- and other awareness. Valid personality assessments provide leaders with deep insights into themselves and their teams, serving as the foundation for building an exceptional culture and organization. 

Leaders who successfully build intentional cultures start with strategic self-awareness. They understand how their personality shapes the environment around them, including their strengths, the derailing behaviors that can degrade trust, and the values that influence their leadership style. They also seek to understand those same dynamics in others to build stronger, more aligned teams. At Hogan Assessments, we help leaders and companies around the world build this kind of awareness using three core personality assessments. 

Each assessment offers a unique perspective:

• The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) helps leaders understand who they are when they are at their best, such as whether they lead with assertiveness, precision, or collaboration. 
• The Hogan Development Survey (HDS) identifies behaviors that can emerge under pressure and potentially derail performance. 
• The Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI) measures core values, goals, and drivers that lead to career satisfaction. 

These insights go beyond surface-level observations. They uncover enduring and meaningful aspects of personality that influence how leaders communicate, what they prioritize, and how they build and lead their teams.

Leaders use these data points to solidify shared values, shape how their teams work together, and adapt their approach to meet individual team members’ needs. This intentionality fosters clearer expectations, minimizes tension, and strengthens alignment around how goals should be achieved. Taking the time to gain strategic self-awareness and understand what drives your team is not extra work–it is the work. This clarity in culture and fit is the base of a high performing team and is the DNA of an exceptional organization. 

How Great Leaders Use Culture to Build High-Performing Teams

Once leaders understand themselves and the culture they want to create, they can begin building high-performing teams. In today’s fast-moving and competitive environment, culture is not just a nice-to-have, it’s a core driver of team cohesion and long-term success. Throughout my career, I’ve consulted with leaders across industries and in both public and private companies to help them apply personality data in practical, high impact ways. The leaders who successfully shape cultures that drive exceptional organizations focus on three key areas: 

New Leader Assimilation: New leaders bring both the excitement of new possibilities but also the fear of change. According to the Corporate Executive Board (CEB), 50% to 70% of new executives fail within their first 18 months.  Success requires intentional integration into the team. They cannot assume their acclimation will happen naturally, or that the cultural norms they established elsewhere will work in their new environment. A New Leader Assimilation session provides a structured opportunity for the team to share expectations, anxieties, and working preferences while giving the leader a clearer view into team dynamics. Issues and questions are addressed upfront that otherwise might take months to unfold and can deter team effectiveness during a critical transition period. 

Assessment-Based Coaching: Strategic self-awareness is essential for leaders, but insight alone is not enough. Meaningful change requires behavior modification, which is challenging. In fact, 88% of people abandon New Year's resolutions by the end of January. Despite this reality, organizations often expect leaders to improve on their own without structured support. Coaching, especially when grounded in personality data, helps leaders target the behaviors that matter most, turning insight into lasting impact. The result is stronger alignment, higher engagement, and more consistent business outcomes. 

Team Effectiveness Interventions: Culture may start with the leader, but it lives within the team. Just as leaders benefit from strategic self-awareness, teams perform best when they understand how they operate together. Strategic team awareness helps surface hidden dynamics, reduce friction, and build alignment around how work gets done. By combining personality data with a validated team assessment, like Hogan’s Team Effectiveness Diagnostic, leaders and teams can identify and develop the factors that distinguish high-performing teams, including trust, team norms, mission alignment, results focus, and strategic adaptability. 

Together, these strategies work in concert to help leaders create cultural conditions that unlock team potential.

When leaders build cultures with intention, the results ripple across every level of the organization. Strategic self-awareness, gained through valid personality data, gives leaders clarity to lead with purpose, and the tools to create teams and organizations that thrive.