The November/December issue of Associations Now Magazine has an awesome story about Fitness Australia and the way they have built a successful organization around an intentional culture. I was proud to be a part of that work, helping them with their performance review system and a different process for hiring, but the article explains the bigger picture and the other elements that contribute to the culture (like their internal meeting structure and the use of social tools like Yammer). Read the whole article. There’s also a shorter, online companion piece that digs into more detail around the performance review overhaul we did.

It’s a great illustration that (a) a strong and positive culture can have a huge impact on performance, and (b) creating that culture is not some mysterious, five-year process. You just decide to do it, and make changes in some of the specifics of the way you do things. So what are you waiting for?