Learning and development (L&D) leaders are often frontline influencers in shaping workplace culture through programs and development initiatives designed to improve engagement, develop future leaders and strengthen belonging — all in ways that respond to the varying expectations of a multigenerational workforce.

One of the biggest challenges of this work is that culture is widely misunderstood and rarely defined in concrete, actionable terms. Organizations often use words like “healthy,” “positive,” “inclusive,” “high performing” and “collaborative” to define their desired culture, but these words mean different things to different people.

This lack of shared meaning creates a real challenge. L&D and talent leaders cannot develop employees to support a culture that has not been clearly defined, and they cannot measure progress toward an inconsistent outcome.

Culture Needs More Than Good Intentions

Because of their cross-sectional positions in both “people” and “performance,” L&D and talent leaders are uniquely positioned to help shift the conversation from a broad aspiration to a shared, teachable, measurable set of commitments that attends to the desired workplace experiences of different generations.

Instead of asking, “What does each generation want from the culture?” we may need to ask a better question: “What are employees across generations telling us about the conditions people need to thrive, grow, contribute, and sustain high performance over time?”

That distinction matters. Generational differences are real, but they are also easy to oversimplify. And oversimplifying exaggerates differences rather than unifies ideas. For example, it’s tempting to say boomers value loyalty, Gen X values autonomy, millennials value purpose and Gen Z values flexibility. There may be truth in those patterns, but when we stop there, we risk turning human beings into categories and miss the deeper message.

When younger employees ask about boundaries, flexibility, well-being or purpose, some leaders interpret those questions as entitlement or lack of commitment. But what if they are not rejecting hard work? What if they are rejecting burnout? What if they are naming workplace norms that previous generations learned to tolerate, even when those norms were not serving people or performance well?

Likewise, when more experienced employees emphasize commitment, accountability and perseverance, younger colleagues may hear rigidity or resistance to change. But what if those employees are protecting something essential about reliability, ownership and contribution?

Looking Beyond Generational Stereotypes

Every generation brings both wisdom and blind spots. The work of defining culture in a unifying way is not to decide which generation is right. It is to create a shared definition of how people agree to work together in service of the organization’s purpose, strategy and people. A practical way to do this is to define desired culture through three connected elements: core values, observable behaviors and felt experiences.

1. Values

Values define what matters most. They help people understand what the organization will prioritize, especially when decisions are hard and tradeoffs are real. But values alone are not enough. Many organizations already have values printed on walls and websites, yet employees may not experience those values in daily work. Values become meaningful only when they are translated into observable behaviors and leveraged in daily decision-making.

2. Observable Behaviors

Behaviors answer the question, “What does this value look like in action?” For example, if collaboration is a value, does that mean inviting input early? Sharing information freely? Making decision rights clear? Giving credit publicly? And what does collaboration not mean? Withholding information? Over-including people without purpose? Making decisions in isolation?

Once values are translated into desired observable behaviors, they become easier to teach, talk about, coalesce around and measure. They can be built into leadership development, manager training, onboarding, performance management and team effectiveness work. Without explicit language for behavioral commitments, values often remain nebulous and unimpactful.

3. Felt Experiences

The third element is naming optimal employee experiences. Naming desired employee experiences help us answer the question, “What do we hope people will more consistently feel, believe or perceive if we are actually living the culture we want?” This is where organizations can identify what matters most to employees across generations without reducing people to generational stereotypes.

For example, instead of asking whether Gen Z wants flexibility or whether older generations value loyalty, ask employees across the organization what experiences help them do their best work. You might hear themes such as:

• “I feel trusted to manage my work responsibly.”
• “I understand how my work connects to something meaningful.”
• “I feel safe asking for help before a problem becomes a crisis.”
• “I receive feedback that helps me grow.”
• “I observe my closest colleagues being held accountable in a fair and respectful way.”
• “I can meet the demands of my role without sacrificing my health and relationships.”

These statements are powerful because they move culture from abstract to lived experience. They also reveal where generations may have more in common than we think. Most employees, regardless of age, want clarity, respect, growth, purpose, trust, fairness and the ability to contribute meaningfully. What differs is often how strongly they expect these things, how willing they are to ask for them and what prior workplace experiences have taught them to tolerate. L&D and talent leaders can help organizations use this insight in practical ways.

5 Ways to Turn Culture Into Everyday Practice

1. Facilitate discovery across generations.

Use individual listening sessions, pulse surveys and small group inquiry to identify the experiences employees say matter most to their growth and success. Ask questions that invite stories rather than stereotypes:

• “When have you felt most energized and able to contribute here?”
• “What helps you learn and perform at your best?”
• “What makes it harder to stay engaged?”
• “What do you wish leaders understood about your experience of work?”

2. Translate themes into culture commitments.

If employees consistently name trust, flexibility, feedback and growth, do not leave those as broad ideals. Connect them to values and define the behaviors that will bring them to life. For instance, a commitment to growth might include giving timely feedback, creating stretch opportunities, normalizing mistakes as part of learning and making career pathways more transparent.

3. Embed those behaviors into talent development strategy.

If the desired culture requires psychological safety, managers need skill-building around listening, candor, feedback, emotional regulation and repair. If the desired culture requires sustainable performance, employees and leaders need shared practices around prioritization, boundaries, recovery and workload conversations. If the desired culture requires accountability, development programs need to teach people how to clarify expectations, assess capability, give feedback and follow through with consequences respectfully.

4. Make culture measurable through experience-based indicators.

Traditional engagement surveys often ask employees to evaluate broad concepts such as whether “the organization values inclusion” or whether “leaders communicate well.” More useful measures ask employees to rate their own lived experience:

• “I feel safe offering a dissenting opinion to my leader.”
• “Most weeks, I understand my team’s priorities.”
• “I receive feedback that helps me improve.”
• “I feel trusted to do my work well.”

These statements give L&D leaders clearer data about whether development efforts are changing daily behavior and improving the employee experience.

5. Create two-way learning across generations.

A healthy culture does not ask one generation to assimilate into the norms of another. It asks all generations to examine what they have learned, what they may need to unlearn and what they can teach each other. Younger employees may help organizations question unsustainable norms around overwork and constant availability. More experienced employees may help younger colleagues build resilience, perspective, and long-term commitment.

Moving Forward

The opportunity for L&D and talent leaders is not simply to respond to generational differences. It is to use those differences as valuable data. When employees across generations name what they need to grow and succeed, they are helping the organization define culture in a universal and sustainable way.