Early April 2025, Zhimble partners were participating at the SHE Conference in Oslo. At this pivotal moment in history, the SHE Conference is a very relevant and strong advocate for Social Human Equity in the world and invites everyone to make a difference. Human Equity is THE foundation for healthy organization cultures, exactly what Zhimble enables leaders to create in their organizations. Therefore, a wonderful opportunity to join forces for Good.
SHE Conference: A Place to Join Forces for Good
Since the first edition in 2016, the annual SHE Conference in Oslo is one of Europe’s leading events focused on diversity, equality, innovation, and sustainable leadership. It brings together voices from across business, government, and civil society to explore how inclusive practices can shape more resilient and forward-looking organizations. With a strong focus on gender balance, social responsibility, and the role of purpose-driven leadership, the conference acts as a catalyst for conversations that connect individual growth with systemic progress.
In the current global landscape—marked by rapid change, social fragmentation, and renewed calls for equity—the relevance of such a platform lies in its unifying intention. Rather than offering fixed answers, Astrid Rønning Skaugseth and her team aim to create a shared space for reflection on how values-based leadership can meet complex challenges with creativity and compassion. In doing so, they support a broader shift toward ecosystems where collaboration, diversity, and long-term vision are not ideals but essential components of a thriving future.
From Dysfunction to Inspiration: The Core Question
At this year’s edition of the SHE Conference in Oslo, Zhimble facilitated a workshop together with HomeEquity Bank on human values and cultural transformation, that quietly but powerfully left its mark. In an atmosphere of openness and deep listening, Zhimble Founding partner Paul van de Griendt guided participants through a journey of reflection on the way we work together in our organizations. Key question was how we can change dysfunctional situations and create inspiring workplaces based on inclusion, equity and collaboration.
The Iceberg Within: What Drives Our Behavior?
Paul began with a short, yet powerful introduction exercise, which immediately brought connectedness in the group. After an introduction on how people dynamics and organization culture work, he introduced the question: What drives our behaviour? to open the dialogue. We dove into the follow-up questions: “How do we shape and grow our personal iceberg through life’s events?” and “How does our iceberg change?”. Someone suggested with a touch of humour, that we need an icebreaker to change our icebergs. Truth being told, some situations in life may actually feel like an icebreaker hitting our icebergs to us but fortunately not every trigger feels like an icebreaker.
Collectively in the workshop we realized that in the end, we need to change our iceberg ourselves. Often supported or catalysed by situations and people. If we do not change ourselves, we are left to try to change other people, which we probably all have tried…
Culture Check-In: Values We Hold vs. What We Experience
The workshop continued reflecting on the values we personally hold, on the culture we create in our organizations, and on the culture that we desire. People in the room and online were invited to answer three questions using online voting technology. Over 450 answers were collected, which you can see below. Note: the larger words in the wordclouds below were chosen more often than the smaller words.
Question 1: Which values do you hold in your life?
Without exception, these are all amazing words. This wordcloud holds the potential for a wonderful world.
Question 2: which values and patterns of behaviour do you experience in the organization that you work in?
This wordcloud describes the actual culture of the organizations that the participants work in. Overall this is a healthy cloud, these are mostly positive and inspiring words. A closer look reveals also some words that might be experienced as less positive. Although we do not know what is meant with every word, it feels safe to say that words such as slow moving, lazyness, rigid, reactive, not being heard, unfairness, blame, brain fog, siloes, lack of empathy and micro-management do not contribute to a positive working culture. So somehow, we do not seem to be able to fully experience the values that we personally hold, at work.
Question 3: Which values and patterns do you feel the organization you work in needs to flourish?
This wordcloud describes the desired culture that the participants feel their organization needs to achieve its full potential. Now, here we are back to positive words again. Again, somehow, we seem to loose a bit of our positive personal values when we start to work together, to things that we do not consider helpful such as politics, blame and siloes. Although our brain immediately comes up with many reasons outside of ourselves for this, it seems too easy to blame circumstances or other people for the dysfunctional aspects of the culture that we work in. Somehow we are shaping the culture together, including the things we do not like.
The Unasked Question: How Do We Show Up?
There is a fourth question that was not asked, which is: “How do we show up on a daily basis?” Think for a minute, what would our colleagues, or our partner/family say about the values and behaviours they observe in us, on a good day? And on a bad day?
Should the three questions be asked to people in a single organization then we could create a summary of the current culture, (the From) and the desired culture, (the To). We could then derive culture transformation goals and come up with a concrete actions to move towards the desired culture.
What 450 People Taught Us About Workplace Culture
In parallel with Zhimble’s approach in culture transformation programs, Paul invited people to look inward first, creating a space where personal insight becomes the foundation for collective growth. Rather than prescribing solutions, the workshop offered questions—honest, disarming, and catalytic. Rather than trying to change the rest of the world, the workshop invited us to find the solutions within ourselves.
The workshop and the positive feedback showed people’s deep yearning for a more human centric approach rather than an abstract and mechanical one. And for an open and collaborative dialogue without judgement rather than a conversation based on fixed opinions and closed mindsets. At the bottom of this article is the recording of the complete workshop.
This was illustrated through a recent culture transformation program led by Zhimble at a production facility in the North of The Netherlands. People were struggling with a rapidly changing performance-driven environment and were not responding timely and adequately with required changes and improvements. Internally the struggle was around aligning people and teams towards the same goals and to face external challenges.
Quietly Reshaping Culture from the Inside Out
Reinoud Slot, Founding partner at Zhimble shares:
“Although the program has been running for over 3 years, in a recent offsite, the human centric approach led to greater understanding and trust between the management team members. Relationships were expanded to an even deeper level than before. No doubt the team will take this new State of Being into the next all-day event for all leaders in the organization.”
Before the offsite, this group had already explored the shift from reactive responses—often rooted in fear, control, or lack of awareness—toward creative, conscious responses based on presence, kindness, and compassion. This dual movement—toward internal integration and external alignment—not a quick fix, but a living practice. It became clear that this balancing act does not start with systems or strategies, but within each of us. As we learn to recognize and integrate these energies and patterns in ourselves—with awareness and care—we naturally begin to lead and shape cultures that are more whole, more human, and more capable of meeting complexity with grace. The lesson: when we look inward and develop creative responses to people and situations, it ripples outward—quietly reshaping culture from the inside out.
Here is the recording of the complete workshop at the SHE Conference.
