Why Culture Eats CX Strategy for Breakfast

We’ve all heard the old saying that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It’s repeated so often in leadership circles that it risks becoming background noise. But in customer experience, it isn’t just a catchy phrase; it’s a hard commercial reality.

You can spend months crafting a CX strategy, building colourful PowerPoint decks, and running town halls unveiling your new “customer promise.” But if your colleagues don’t believe it, live it, and feel empowered to deliver it, your strategy is nothing more than laminated fluff. Customers will sniff it out in seconds.

At RetailCX, we’ve observed it repeatedly: organisations obsess over customer journey mapping, NPS dashboards, and shiny training initiatives, but they neglect the behaviours, beliefs, and values that truly shape the customer experience.

Put simply: if you don’t get the culture right, your strategy won’t stick.

Strategy doesn’t serve customers; people do

Reflect on your last memorable customer experience. Perhaps it was a hotel receptionist who went the extra mile to make you feel welcome. Or a supermarket cashier who noticed your struggling toddler and called a colleague to help pack your bags.

Now think about your last poor experience. A call centre agent who followed a script but showed no empathy. A retail manager who refused a return because it was “against policy,” even though you had a valid receipt.

The difference wasn’t the company’s strategy; it was the behaviour of the people you dealt with. And those behaviours flow directly from culture.

A tale of two retailers

A few years ago, I worked with two retailers in the same sector. On paper, their strategies were strikingly similar: digital transformation, seamless omnichannel, “customer-first” slogans. However, their results could not have been more different.

• Retailer A had invested millions in customer experience technology. They had an app, in-store tablets, and a customer insight team producing polished reports. Yet customer complaints were increasing, staff were disengaged, and sales remained static. Why? Because the culture was toxic. Leaders focused solely on KPIs, middle managers engaged in blame, and colleagues were afraid to take initiative. The result: customers felt they were a nuisance.
• Retailer B had considerably less technology but a completely different culture. Leaders were present on the shop floor, engaging with customers and thanking colleagues. Mistakes were viewed as opportunities to learn rather than punishable offences. Teams were trusted to resolve problems. The outcome: colleagues went the extra mile, customers noticed, and the business expanded.

Both had a strategy. Only one had a culture that made it real.

Why leaders can’t delegate culture

It’s tempting for senior leaders to believe “culture” belongs to HR, or that it emerges naturally. It doesn’t. Culture is shaped, consciously or unconsciously, by what leaders say, what they do, and what they tolerate.

If a leader praises a colleague for solving a customer issue creatively, that behaviour spreads. If a leader publicly shames a manager for missing a sales target, that also spreads. Culture isn’t built in strategy documents; it’s built through a thousand daily moments of leadership.

The hidden saboteurs of CX

Here are three cultural “red flags” we frequently observe when working with retailers and service businesses:

1. Fear of blame: Colleagues hesitate to make decisions because they’re afraid of making mistakes. Customers see this as delays, indifference, or being passed from one person to another.
2. Obsession with metrics: Leaders focus on the NPS or mystery shop score but overlook that numbers don’t modify behaviour. People do.
3. Lip service to values: Posters talk about “putting the customer first,” but colleagues see leaders cutting corners or ignoring feedback. Nothing kills trust faster.

If any of these feel familiar, it’s time to take a hard look at your culture.

Practical steps for leaders

So, what can leaders do to build a culture that fosters excellent customer experience? Here are some proven steps:

• Be present where your customers are. Spend time on the shop floor, in the call centre, or shadowing a delivery team. Colleagues will notice, and so will customers.
• Celebrate small wins. Don’t wait for quarterly results. Recognise the colleague who solved a tricky customer issue today. It reinforces the right behaviours.
• Model the correct attitude towards complaints. View complaints as chances to learn, not mistakes to conceal. Show colleagues it’s safe to deliver bad news.
• Align recognition and reward with behaviours, not just outcomes. If the colleague who hits targets but treats customers badly gets promoted, the culture will deteriorate.
• Share stories, not just numbers. Bring customer letters, feedback, and anecdotes into leadership meetings. Stories stay with people longer than charts.

A restaurant lesson

One of the most memorable lessons about culture I ever encountered came from a restaurant chain. Their CX strategy mentioned “delighting customers.” But the true culture was revealed during a busy Saturday evening when a customer spilt red wine over her dress.

In one place, the server froze, apologised awkwardly, and vanished. In another, the manager quietly slipped next door, bought a scarf from a boutique, and offered it with a smile.

Both restaurants followed the same strategy. Only one fostered a culture that encouraged colleagues to act with compassion. Which do you believe gained lifelong loyalty?

The bottom line

Customers don’t directly experience your strategy. Instead, they perceive your culture through the behaviours of the staff who serve them.

If you want a CX strategy that doesn’t just collect dust in a drawer, start with culture. Leaders set the tone: what they say, what they do, what they reward, and what they tolerate.

So, ask yourself: is your culture enabling great service, or quietly sabotaging it? Because if culture eats strategy for breakfast, your customers are the ones who taste the result at lunchtime.

At RetailCX, we specialise in helping organisations harness the power of leadership and employee engagement to enhance customer experiences. Contact us to learn how we can support your journey toward a more innovative and customer-centric future.