The Culture Vital Sign

The short 10-second takeaway
You don’t need another engagement survey to know if your team culture is in trouble. You just need to listen - I mean REALLY listen - for the absence of laughter, energy, and honest conversations. Culture isn’t declared. It’s felt.

Last week, during a session with a fast-scaling Tech-team, a VP asked: "What’s one fast way to tell if our culture is healthy?" One team member said: “Listen for laughter. And pay attention to who’s not speaking.” I was surprised to hear the absolute truth coming from this person’s mouth, same was the VP - but this team member was perfectly right.

Because culture isn’t about slogans on a wall. It’s about what happens when no one’s watching. And most importantly: it’s about emotional signals your team is already broadcasting.

The silent signals that reveal team health

Here are the culture “vital signs” I track when I work with leadership teams:

1. Laughter
   It’s more than a mood, it’s a sign of psychological safety, social glue, and stress release. When it disappears, it’s often because people are burned out, fearful, or checked out.

2. Energy in the room
   Is the team leaning in or just surviving? Low-energy cultures don’t necessarily mean laziness, they often signal emotional exhaustion or unclear direction.

3. Honest pushback
   If everyone agrees too quickly, you’re in trouble. Cultures where disagreement is avoided usually suffer from fear-based compliance, not high-performing collaboration.

4. Unsolicited ownership
   Are people proactively stepping up or just doing what they’re told? Ownership without prompting is a sign of trust, clarity, and alignment.

5. Small talk
   Yes, watercooler talk matters. When connection vanishes, so does discretionary effort. The quiet space before meetings is often more telling than the meeting itself.

Culture isn’t built in workshops. It’s revealed in patterns.

As a leader, your job isn’t to force culture, it’s to read the signals and shape the environment accordingly.

If you notice the laughter has stopped…
If people sound robotic, tired, or “too professional”…
If meetings feel like reporting rituals, not conversations…

Don’t wait for an HR pulse check. Instead, ask yourself:

• What emotional climate am I setting?

• Where do I unintentionally shut down real talk?

• What invisible pressures might be driving this behavior?

Small shifts. Big impact.

Here’s what I advise my clients to try first:

✅ Build in buffer time
Don’t start every meeting at the top of the hour. Give 2–3 minutes for human reconnection. Culture lives in the in-between moments.

✅ Model micro-honesty
Admit a recent mistake. Name the elephant in the room. You don’t need a TED Talk, just a bit more realness.

✅ Celebrate lightness
Humor in a meeting? Great. A teammate sharing weekend chaos? Even better. These aren’t distractions, they’re signs your team feels safe to show up as humans.

If your team has gone quiet, if the energy is flat, or if you’re not sure what’s being left unsaid - this isn’t a performance problem.

It’s a culture alert.

Make sure you as a leader spot these vital signs early and install systems that bring rhythm, clarity, and connection back to work.

👉 Curious where your team stands? Let’s take a look together.