More than 60 business leaders from across Greater Lincolnshire came together at Lincoln City Football Club for the latest Business Lincolnshire Scale Up Alumni Event, exploring one of the most powerful and often underestimated drivers of business growth: organisational culture.
The event brought together ambitious companies already on their growth journey to learn, share experiences and explore how leaders can intentionally design cultures that support performance, innovation and sustainable scaling.
The day opened with remarks from Liam Kelly, Executive Councillor for Growth & Veterans Affairs, with Ingrid Sheard also joining the event to see first-hand how local businesses are working together to strengthen the region’s economy.
Why culture matters for scaling businesses
The session was facilitated by our fully funded high growth coaches Leon Mundey and Stuart Ross, who guided leaders through the role culture plays in enabling businesses to scale successfully.
As the discussion highlighted, culture is not simply the values written on a wall. Instead, it is reflected in everyday behaviours, particularly the behaviours leaders reward and the behaviours they tolerate.
When organisations deliberately shape their culture, they create environments that energise teams, align people around shared goals and allow businesses to grow without losing focus or momentum.
Designing culture with purpose
During the workshop, attendees worked through the Culture Design Canvas, a structured framework used to map both current and future organisational culture.
The framework encourages businesses to explore critical elements such as purpose, values, behaviours, decision-making and team rituals to understand how culture shapes the way organisations operate.
Leaders were encouraged to ask key questions including:
- Why does our organisation exist beyond making money?
- What behaviours do we reward and which do we challenge?
- How do we create psychological safety so teams feel able to speak up?
- How are decisions made and authority distributed?
These conversations helped businesses identify which aspects of their current culture are supporting growth and which may need to evolve.
Turning culture into action
Beyond defining culture, the session also focused on how organisations embed it into everyday practice.
Using the Culture Implementation Checklist, attendees explored how culture must be reinforced through leadership behaviour, decision-making structures and internal systems to prevent ‘cultural drift’ as businesses scale.
The checklist highlighted several practical actions organisations can take to embed culture into everyday operations. These include clearly communicating organisational purpose and values, embedding values into recruitment and performance reviews, creating regular communication and feedback rhythms, and ensuring leaders consistently role-model the behaviours they expect.
By embedding these elements into systems and processes, organisations can ensure their culture grows alongside the business.
Supporting high-growth businesses across Greater Lincolnshire
The Scale Up Alumni programme forms part of the wider support available to ambitious businesses across Greater Lincolnshire.
For companies looking to accelerate their growth journey, the High Growth Accelerator offers tailored support designed to help businesses scale successfully, from strengthening leadership capability to developing strategy and building high-performing teams.
As highlighted throughout the event, sustainable growth isn’t just about having the right strategy. It’s about creating the kind of culture that enables people to perform at their best.
Looking to scale and grow?
Find out more about the support available through the High Growth Accelerator