For a long time, I thought “culture” was something big businesses talked about because they had HR departments and glossy induction manuals.

Small businesses? We were too busy actually doing the work to worry about things like mission statements and value alignment.

But after 15+ years of running teams, I learned this the hard way: if you don’t intentionally create your culture, it creates itself and you may not like the result you get.

At Port Macquarie Performing Arts, our culture started with one simple line: Nurture students of all ages and abilities.

That was it. Not fancy. Not focus-group tested. Just… true.

And here’s the part most people miss: I didn’t create that mission alone. My team built it with me. When your team helps shape your culture, they actually care about it, protect it and stay because of it.

Culture Turns the Lights On in Your Decision-Making

Before we articulated our mission and values, every tricky situation felt personal.

A behavioural issue? Personal.
A parent pushing boundaries? Personal.
A decision about whether to stay involved with a community event? Personal.

Once we clarified who we were and how we operated, decisions stopped being emotional gymnastics.

When we sat a group of nine- and ten-year-olds down to talk about kindness (and if you’ve ever dealt with that age group, you know… it’s a whole thing), we weren’t just saying “because Miss Stacey said so.” We could point to the values on the wall:

This space is nurturing.
This space is respectful.
This space is safe for everyone.

Their behaviour either aligned… or it didn’t. It wasn’t a punishment conversation anymore, it was alignment.

And the same went for parents. When a family’s behaviour didn’t match our values, the decision to part ways was suddenly clear. Not emotional. Not reactive. Just aligned.

Culture doesn’t remove the hard stuff but it absolutely removes the guesswork.

Culture Also Impacts Whether People Stay

One of the reasons our staff retention stayed high for so many years had nothing to do with pay rates or rosters. It was culture.

People will stay in an environment where they understand the mission and feel part of it, and they’ll leave environments where they feel disconnected, unseen, or constantly second-guessed.

The biggest shift for me was realising that culture creates the conditions for someone to take ownership and grow beyond “just a job.” But none of that happens if everything is still living inside your head.

Culture Becomes Your Competitive Edge (Quietly, Consistently)

Every dance studio in our region taught pliés and pirouettes. Technique wasn’t the differentiator. Culture was.

Families knew what we stood for.
→ They felt it when they walked in the door.
→ They heard it in how we spoke to the kids.
→ They saw it in how the team interacted with each other.

Anywhere we could put our values — on walls, in newsletters, in staff conversations, even in the signature of my emails — we did. Not because it was branding… but because it was true. And that truth became a magnet.

What your competitors can’t copy is the internal structure that holds your business together and that’s where culture becomes your real advantage.

If Things Feel Heavy, Start Here

If your business feels messier or harder than it should, it might not be a systems or staffing issue. It might simply be a clarity issue.

When you know what you stand for — and when your team knows it too — you stop leading in circles, over-explaining and firefighting and start leading.

And that shift is where the competitive edge begins.