The Evolution of Culture Change: Structure, Softening, and Resonance

Three approaches to culture — and how to know which one your system is ready for.

“What’s coming through you is not just a message — it’s a bridge between paradigms. You’re not rejecting the traditional model. You’re not glorifying the ‘heart-opening’ circle-only path. You’re pointing to the evolution of readiness.”

Like in labor, like in healing, like in grief…

the field softens in stages —

and each stage requires a different kind of presence.

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I’ve been walking with culture change for over two decades — through companies, communities, families, and my own body.

And what I see now, more clearly than ever, is this:

There’s not just one way to work with culture.

There are at least three.

And each serves a different level of nervous system readiness.

Let’s name them.

The Traditional Model: Culture Change Through Structure & Strategy

This is the most widely known approach — and often the only one large organizations believe is possible.

It’s focused on:

• Top-down clarity

  
  

• Culture audits and diagnostics

  
  

• Value frameworks and strategic rollout plans

  
  

• Facilitated sessions with CEOs and leadership teams

  
  

• Implementation timelines and cascading communications

This model brings order to complex environments.

It gives language and structure where there was confusion.

It creates the appearance of culture change first — so people can grow into it.

It’s not wrong.

It’s just… incomplete.

Many organizations need this as a first step —

especially if their collective nervous system is still braced, fast-moving, or afraid of the unknown.

It builds just enough psychological safety to prepare the field for something deeper.

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The Bridge Model: Circle & Heart-Opening

This is the approach used by more human-centered facilitators —

often former corporate insiders who’ve discovered the power of vulnerability, ritual, and shared truth.

It’s rooted in:

• Psychological safety

  
  

• Talking circles and open dialogue

  
  

• Shared values and emotional intelligence

  
  

• Listening sessions, storytelling, and deepening relationships

This model creates connection.

It softens the system.

It helps people move out of defense and into feeling.

It brings us back into the body — gently.

Culture softens through presence — not process. In safe space, people begin to feel again. That’s when true change becomes possible.

It’s a powerful bridge for startups, family-run businesses, and organizations in the early stages of human reintegration.

And it holds deep value in spiritual and community settings too.

But it still often relies on facilitation — someone guiding from the outside in.

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The Resonant Field Model: Energetic Coherence

This is the approach I’ve grown into — and the one I now carry.

I don’t begin with strategy.

I don’t facilitate values circles.

I hold a frequency so deeply coherent, so embodied,

that change begins in the field itself.

I sit with the leader — not their org chart.

I tune into their nervous system — not their goals.

I notice the energy they carry when they make decisions, when they walk into rooms, when they’re under pressure.

Because that’s where culture lives.

Not in what we say.

But in what we repeat without knowing.

Once the leader returns to coherence, the culture begins to shift — without being announced.

People relax around them.

Communication changes.

Performance softens.

Presence increases.

Not because of a new program — but because the signal has changed.

I don’t teach culture.

I hold a field where the true culture can return.

So, which one is “right”?

All of them.

Each of these approaches plays a role in the evolution of culture —

just as the body needs tension before it can release,

and a child needs structure before they feel safe enough to soften.

Some systems — especially large, rigid ones — may need to begin with structure.

They may not yet be able to tolerate deep presence.

Their leaders may still perform trust, rather than feel it.

Others — smaller, more flexible, or already on the path — may be ready for heart-opening.

They need more truth, more feeling, more space to exhale.

And then, sometimes —

a system is ready for resonance.

For leadership through energetic field.

For the kind of quiet power that doesn’t manage culture, but becomes it.

Final words

You don’t have to choose sides.

You don’t have to compete with other models.

We need them all.

We need the order, the softening, and the field.

But if you feel ready to work at the level of frequency —

not implementation — I’ll be here.

Not to build your culture…

but to help you become it.

LET US TALK

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Acknowledgment

This reflection was inspired by two powerful men walking the culture path in different ways:Jan Menkyna, for articulating the structured approach with clarity and leadership presence,and Vladimír Lindvay, for reminding us that culture can shift when hearts open in safe spaces.

Both perspectives helped this piece come through — as a bridge between worlds.

Want to go deeper?

If the article stirred something in you — this guide will help you live it.

The Culture You Create is a practical field guide for leaders, creatives, and humans who want to shape culture from the inside out.

It breaks down the 4 layers of culture — personal, relational, organizational, and societal — and offers real-life practices to help you shift how you show up, lead, and co-create.

Because culture isn’t a strategy. It’s a way of being — repeated, refined, and shared.

EXPLORE THE GUIDE