Notes from the field

AI without a plan is just expensive improvisation

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash Alexis Halkovic, PhD, CultureCamp AI Co-CEO I recently interviewed Melissa Reeve about her upcoming book, Hyperadaptive: Rewiring the Enterprise to Become AI Native, and I came away with a lot to think about. Her take on how organizations can strategically implement AI is optimistic, human-centered, and grounded in something I believe in deeply: the idea that organizations must become genuine learning organizations to survive what's coming. That's a huge...

What Remains When Everything Changes: Understanding Culture

The author presenting at the Women in AI Meetup in Boulder, CO I had the great good fortune to speak to the Women in AI Meetup this week at the incredibly beautiful co-work space, Kiln, in Boulder about CultureCamp AI and the importance of understanding culture in the context of the workplace. It’s a crucial lens for understanding the underlying dynamics that affect team behavior. It can be both enduring and changeable, and it provides invaluable information for getting below the surface of...

"We don't talk about culture" and other truths about how businesses see themselves

Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash Alexis Halkovic, PhD, Founder and Co-CEO This morning, I had a conversation with a business coach today about culture. She has worked with companies on their culture for years and years. But, she said, we don't talk about culture. We talk about revenue. We talk about expense. We talk about the things that are most salient for those particular businesses. The two of us shared that one truth that all coaches know. The client wants to work on the thing they...

Sovereignty – what does this mean in coaching?

by Alexis Halkovic, PhD, CultureCamp AI Co-CEO Photo by David Matos on Unsplash The topic of cognitive and intellectual sovereignty has been important in recent months as AI tools are deployed in increasingly varied contexts. I just asked my students about their AI use, hoping to gain insight into how they are working and how to best support their learning. I was surprised that almost all of them said they oppose AI in higher education settings. Many spoke about energy consumption and...

When Conflict Reveals Culture

Photo by Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash by Alexis Halkovic, PhD, Co-CEO TL;DR Leaders must actively create mechanisms for their teams to escalate grievances, even when they prioritize harmony. When conflict surfaces, culture can be seen. In teams that prize harmony, leaders can unintentionally avoid conflict in the name of inclusion. When leaders replace direct engagement with group debate, power fills the vacuum, trust breaks down, and ethical concerns get treated as opinions. People who...

How a Coach Builds Culture: From High School Track to Organizational Change

by Alexis Halkovic, PhD, Co-CEO Photo by Rosario Fernandes on Unsplash TL;DR: Most teams don’t fail because of talent or effort, they struggle because of a culture that’s being shaped unintentionally. Coaches don’t just support teams; they actively design the conditions for belonging, accountability, and performance . This reflection explores how early experiences with coaching shaped my understanding of culture, and why coaching becomes essential rather than optional when teams are...

Harnessing Employee Satisfaction Surveys Effectively with Workplace Feedback Tools

When it comes to building a thriving team culture, understanding how your people feel is absolutely crucial. You might already know that gathering feedback is a powerful way to do this, but how do you make sure you’re actually harnessing that feedback effectively? That’s where workplace feedback tools come into play. They’re not just about collecting data; they’re about turning insights into action that drives real change. Let’s dive into how you can use these tools to their fullest...

Ethical Ways of Being with AI in the Coaching Space

Photo by 8machine _ on Unsplash TL;DR AI is reshaping coaching, education, and knowledge itself—often in disturbing ways. Instead of walking away, I’m choosing to engage, learn, and help build a form of intelligence that centers humanity rather than corporate power. If we care about intellectual sovereignty, we must be part of shaping what AI becomes. Power/Knowledge/Intelligence and Ethical Practice in the Coaching Space I had the wonderful opportunity this week to share space with two...

Merging Companies, Merging Cultures: Lessons from the Avast–NortonLifeLock Merger

Photo by Max Harlynking on Unsplash What happens when two definitions of freedom meet inside one organization? TL;DR: When companies merge, so do their cultures. The NortonLifeLock–Avast merger (now Gen Digital ) wasn’t just about cybersecurity — it was about integrating two ideas of freedom : one rooted in exploration, the other in protection. At CultureCamp AI , we see these moments as invitations to work with polarity — Freedom and Protection — not as a clash, but as creative tension...

Turning Organizational Culture into Organizational Understanding

Photo by Cherrydeck on Unsplash TL:DR You can’t “manage” culture into alignment — you have to understand it. Edgar Schein saw culture as something you could diagnose and shape. Linda Smircich saw it as the ongoing meaning-making that is the organization itself. The smartest leaders use both lenses when guiding teams through change. When two companies merge, the real challenge isn’t systems — it’s sensemaking. As a coach, I’m always looking for ways to help leaders make sense of the...

What Culture Means to Me

I originally started working on a tool to assess and guide culture as early as 2009. The "culture" in my company that I had co-founded...

Optimize Company Culture & Team Dynamics with CultureCamp

In today's fast-paced business world, optimizing company culture and team dynamics is crucial for success. Understanding your company's culture is a critical step in fostering a productive and harmonious work environment. At CultureCamp, we've identified four key culture archetypes—Command, Competence, Collaborate, Cultivate —to help you decipher and optimize your company's cultural makeup. 1. Command (Bear): Structured and Clear Bear-dominant cultures thrive on structure and clarity....

Start the conversation

Tell us where you fit and what you want to explore.

I'm a ...
Interests