Does Your Work Environment Promote the Right Behaviors?

Employee Behaviors and Your Workplace Environment Are Linked
Does your work environment promote the right behaviors? Some experts argue that culture is shaped by the actions people take, while others suggest that individuals adapt when their environment changes.

The reality is both perspectives are true. Behavior and environment are tightly intertwined — each influences the other in ways so profound that separating them is nearly impossible. Organizational culture assessment data consistently shows that people’s actions and the conditions in which they work reinforce each other, creating patterns that define workplace culture.

Think of behavior as the “how” of what we do and the environment as the “where” and “under what conditions” those actions occur. Consider a simple illustration: most people act very differently at a casual party with friends than during a formal job interview. The setting — the context — shapes the behavior, just as behavior, over time, shapes the environment.

Recognizing this dynamic is critical for leaders who want to foster a high performance culture. By consciously designing environments that reinforce desired behaviors, you create a feedback loop where positive actions and supportive contexts strengthen each other, producing sustainable cultural change.

An Interesting Experiment on Work Environment
The opioid epidemic has spurred countless approaches to a devastating problem, but one solution caught our attention for its simplicity and ingenuity. In areas hit hardest by opioid use, retailers struggled to prevent users from injecting drugs in their restrooms—putting both themselves and others at risk.

Turkey Hill Minit Markets, a 260-store chain in Pennsylvania, took an unconventional approach: they changed the environment. The company installed blue lights in their bathrooms. Why blue? The lighting makes it extremely difficult for users to locate veins, effectively discouraging injection on site.

And the results speak for themselves. Stores with blue-lit bathrooms report far fewer discarded needles and overdoses. By altering the environment, Turkey Hill influenced behavior in a tangible, measurable way.

The lesson is clear: sometimes, subtle environmental adjustments can drive meaningful change, shaping behavior without direct confrontation. What small changes could you make in your own environment to encourage safer, more productive behaviors?

How We Define the Work Environment
Let’s begin by defining the work environment. We see it as a leader’s responsibility to shape the conditions that consistently enable people to perform at their best — while aligning with the organization’s core values, desired behaviors, and strategic goals. Ask yourself: does your work environment encourage behaviors that support, rather than hinder, strategy execution and employee engagement?

From this perspective, our research and project postmortem analyses show that high-performing cultures share three key attributes:

1. Clarity
   High-performing cultures give people unmistakable clarity on where to focus. Everyone understands the specific actions required, the results those actions should achieve, and the criteria by which success will be measured.
2. Transparency
   High-performing cultures rely on clear, credible, and fair mechanisms to keep teams and individuals informed about how they measure up—both in Doing (delivering results) and Being (achieving them the right way).
3. Meaning
   High-performing cultures inspire motivation by giving people clear, compelling reasons to stay, excel, and continually raise their own standards.

The Bottom Line
Blue-lit bathrooms might not be your key to boosting performance, but your work environment has a direct influence on employee behavior. Think of it not just as the physical space, but as the levels of clarity, transparency, and purpose that shape your culture. Adjust and refine these elements so the context in which your people work naturally reinforces the behaviors and priorities that drive your strategy.

Does your work environment promote the right behaviors?  To learn more, download The 3 Hidden Levels of a High Performance Culture