Skip to content

Building Intentional Culture: Lessons from a Pastor Turned Culture Expert

William Vanderbloemen's journey from pastor to founding a successful executive search firm offers fascinating insights into building intentional workplace culture. In this wide-ranging conversation on the Culture Architects Show, Vanderbloemen shares how his unique background shaped his approach to helping organizations develop strong cultures that attract and retain the right talent.

An Unlikely Path to Culture Building

Vanderbloemen's story begins in an unexpected place - as a "chronic entrepreneur" turned Presbyterian pastor. After 15 years in ministry, including serving at the historic First Presbyterian Church in Houston, life changes led him to transition into corporate HR at a Fortune 200 company. It was there that he identified a crucial gap in how churches handled leadership transitions compared to corporations.

This realization led him to found the Vanderbloemen Search Group in 2008 - with perfect timing for the financial crisis. Despite the challenging economic environment, the firm has gone on to serve over 3,000 organizations and expanded well beyond just churches to include schools, nonprofits, and value-driven businesses seeking culture-focused leadership searches.

Discovering Cultural Values Through Archaeology

One of Vanderbloemen's most compelling insights is his approach to identifying organizational values. Rather than creating aspirational values from scratch, he advocates for what he calls "cultural archaeology" - carefully uncovering the values that already exist when an organization is operating at its best.

He shares how his firm discovered their own values through this process:

  1. The team spent several days sharing stories of their best work moments
  2. They analyzed these stories to identify common patterns and behaviors
  3. Initial findings were left to "marinate" for 6-8 months
  4. The patterns were eventually distilled into nine core values that truly reflected their culture

"We didn't name the values or draw them up - we discovered that they were there," Vanderbloemen explains. "It was a bit of an archaeological dig."

Culture as Behavior, Not Aspiration

A key distinction in Vanderbloemen's approach is focusing on actual behaviors rather than aspirational ideals. He argues that cultural values must reflect "what you are when you're at your best" rather than what you wish you were.

This connects to his experience in executive search, where he views cultural fit as similar to tissue matching in organ transplants: "You can put a healthy body with a healthy heart, but if they don't match, it's just a bad ending for everybody."

Institutionalizing Culture Through Ritual

The conversation reveals several practical approaches to embedding culture:

  • Monthly focus on specific values with related activities and discussions
  • Culture-focused onboarding using a "HubSpot-style funnel" approach over 90 days
  • Regular sharing of articles and resources related to values
  • Making cultural fit a key factor in hiring and performance reviews
  • Creating dedicated culture teams and budgets

Evolution vs. Permanence

An interesting tension emerges in the discussion around whether cultural values should be permanent or evolve over time. While Vanderbloemen's firm has maintained their original nine values for over a decade, he acknowledges that how they're lived out has changed as the organization has grown from a startup to a more established company.

This raises important questions about balancing consistency with adaptation - maintaining core principles while allowing their expression to evolve with changing circumstances.

Key Takeaways for Leaders

  1. Start with Discovery: Instead of imposing values, uncover what's already working in your organization's best moments.
  2. Focus on Behaviors: Culture isn't about aspirational statements - it's about consistent behaviors and practices.
  3. Hire for Cultural Match: Technical skills can be taught, but cultural fit is essential for long-term success.
  4. Systematize Culture: Create intentional systems and processes to reinforce and transmit cultural values.
  5. Allow for Evolution: While core values may remain constant, how they're expressed can adapt as organizations grow and change.

Additional Resources

For readers interested in diving deeper into organizational culture, here are some valuable resources mentioned in the conversation:

How CultureWise Can Help

If you're inspired by these insights and looking to strengthen your organization's culture, CultureWise offers a systematic approach to making culture a competitive advantage. Our proven methodology helps companies:

  • Define and articulate their fundamental behaviors
  • Create sustainable rituals for teaching and reinforcing culture
  • Implement the "Fundamentals System" for lasting cultural change
  • Develop leaders who can effectively drive cultural transformation
  • Measure and track cultural progress

Most importantly, we provide the tools and support needed to turn culture from an abstract concept into concrete daily practices that drive results.

Ready to take your organizational culture to the next level? Contact CultureWise to learn how we can help you build and sustain a high-performing culture that drives success.

The conversation underscores that building strong organizational culture isn't about having perfect values statements - it's about intentionally discovering, articulating, and systematizing the behaviors that drive success. As Vanderbloemen puts it, "Culture builds retention. Retention is declining with every new generation that hits the workforce, and it costs so much money to replace people."

In an era of increasing workforce mobility and changing expectations, this focus on intentional culture-building becomes more critical than ever. Whether you're just starting your culture journey or looking to strengthen an existing culture, the key is to approach it systematically and intentionally.

Want to learn more about building a systematic approach to culture? Download our free CultureWise Guide to Driving Results Through Culture.
, ,