Well hey there, welcome back to another edition of The Culture Junky weekly blog, it’s great to be here with you as we make our way through the week. We have Halloween right around the corner and before we know it we’ll jump into the holiday season.

With the end of the year in sight I want to echo one of my most important sentiments. Chances are, in the next few months you’ll be hosting a Culture event of sorts to bring everyone together for the holiday season or for the new year.

Often times that includes a night out where many bosses and managers pick up the tab on dinner or on drinks as a nice gesture. It’s a great move, and usually earns you some favor with your team.

But trust me when I say that doing that isn’t an excuse to treat people poorly the rest of the week, or the rest of the year. And if you’re someone who has a tendency to be less than pleasant, treating your team to a nice dinner or a fun night out isn’t going to win them back over.

Now, are you ready for this next part?

The same way a fun night out with your team doesn’t make up for being unpleasant the rest of the time, they not out and picking up that tab doesn’t make up for not having a strategic and intentional culture the rest of the year.

If your culture isn’t hitting the mark, then something needs to change. It won’t be solved by a seasonal culture building event or picking up the tab on dinner.

So as we head into the holiday season think about that, The Culture Junky will.