Workplace culture is shaped by small daily messages, not big events, consultant says

TORONTO · Workplace culture is not formed by strategic plans or annual retreats but in the small, everyday digital messages employees receive from their managers, a Toronto leadership consultant says. Jason Murray, founder of BES Executive Search, says brief, context-free messages like "Do you have a moment to speak?" can trigger unnecessary anxiety as employees try to interpret the sender's tone and intention. He advises leaders to be more intentional with their language in emails and instant messages, as these interactions have an outsized impact on how staff experience their work environment. This is increasingly critical as more workplace communication happens through screens without the benefit of vocal cues. "It's actually a mistake for employers and leaders to think that they can rely on strategic plans or websites or annual retreats or anything of that nature to see culture form because employees experience culture in smaller everyday moments," said Murray. He noted that without hearing tone and emotion, employees are left to interpret the words in front of them. To improve this experience, he suggests adding context to simple requests, such as specifying the topic of a proposed conversation.

Instead of asking "Do you have a moment to speak?" Murray recommends phrasing like "Do you have a moment to speak about the project that we're working on together?" That small addition means people know what to expect instead of "filling in the storyboard for themselves," he said. Leaders should also reconsider language that creates unnecessary urgency, as words such as "ASAP," "now" and "priority" can immediately put employees on alert. "Too often we think everything is critical, everything is red alert, everything is an emergency," said Murray. He advises managers to consider whether a request actually warrants that urgency before hitting send. While being more thoughtful about every email or Slack message might sound time-consuming, he says slowing down is acceptable and that intentional communication becomes more efficient with practice.

This intentional communication can also become part of a leader's professional identity. Murray tries to bring personality to his writing, using his messages to add levity to an employee's day. He says some employees have even told him they look forward to receiving his emails because they feel like they'll get something from them. Even his email sign-off is deliberate, as he ends each message with "Create a great day." "It's the last way that I'm communicating, which means that it's going to have people feeling a particular way at the end of the email," he said. Culture may be discussed at annual retreats, but employees experience it every day, sometimes in something as small as the words at the bottom of an email. The need for clear, human communication is showed by concerns that artificial intelligence is changing how people write and interact.

AI's impact on human communication

Artificial intelligence is making it increasingly important for leaders to protect and develop distinctly human capabilities like creativity, curiosity and collaborative thinking, according to HP's 2026 Work Relationship Index. The challenge is that creativity can weaken when people rely too heavily on familiar perspectives or limited forms of interaction. Consultants from leadership advisory firm Egon Zehnder advise leaders to deliberately seek diverse perspectives and in-person collaboration while creating psychological safety so people feel comfortable challenging ideas. Surrounding yourself with people who think differently and engaging with them face-to-face can generate stronger ideas by exposing you to perspectives and non-verbal cues that may be missed virtually. Some professionals report that consuming large amounts of AI-generated content is changing the way they communicate, with some increasingly adopting "prompt speak" and other writing patterns common to large language models. "I will catch myself when I'm writing where I'm like, 'Oh my God, I shouldn't have even written that. I should have just let AI do it because it sounds the same,'" said Will Barnett, head of recruiting for a California startup, in a Wall Street Journal article. "It's trained me to be more like it, instead of the reverse."

With files from The Globe and Mail