Culture isn’t what’s written on the wall—it’s what happens in the hall. Every organization has a culture, whether it was intentionally designed or allowed to evolve on its own. The challenge for leaders is understanding what kind of culture they truly have—not just what they hope they have.

One of the best ways to uncover the real culture in your company is to ask the right questions. These questions help reveal the shared values, behaviors, and assumptions that shape how people work and make decisions every day.

Here are six questions you can ask to discover what kind of culture exists in your organization:

1. How are decisions really made?

This question exposes whether decisions are top-down, collaborative, or driven by data and process. It helps you see if people feel empowered to contribute or if they simply wait for direction. In a Lean culture, decision-making is transparent and involves those closest to the work.

2. What happens when someone makes a mistake?

Culture shows itself most clearly when things go wrong. Do people hide errors out of fear, or are mistakes treated as opportunities to learn and improve? A culture of continuous improvement is built on psychological safety—where people can speak up and experiment without blame.

3. What gets rewarded around here?

Look at what behaviors earn recognition or advancement. Is it firefighting or preventing problems? Following rules or improving them? The behaviors that are rewarded tell you far more about your real culture than any mission statement ever will.

4. How do leaders spend their time?

People notice what leaders focus on. If leaders spend most of their time in meetings and reports, that sends one message. If they spend time on the floor, listening, coaching, and removing barriers, it sends another. Leadership actions define the culture more than leadership words.

5. How do teams communicate and collaborate?

Is information openly shared, or tightly controlled? Do teams work in silos or across functions? Collaboration and open communication are hallmarks of a Lean culture, where learning and improvement depend on the free flow of ideas and information.

6. How do employees describe the company to a friend?

This is one of the most revealing questions of all. How people talk about their workplace outside of work reflects how they truly feel. Pride, frustration, or indifference—these sentiments tell the real story of your culture.

Turning Insights into Action

Once you’ve asked these questions, listen closely to the answers—both what’s said and what’s not. Patterns will emerge that point to the underlying beliefs driving your organization’s behavior. Use these insights to start a dialogue about what kind of culture you want to create and what needs to change to get there.

Culture can’t be dictated, but it can be shaped—through consistent leadership actions, aligned systems, and shared purpose. Asking these six questions is a powerful first step in that journey.