Every organization lives by an invisible current — its culture. You can’t see it, but you feel it in every meeting, every message, and every decision. Culture determines how people behave when no one is watching, how teams respond when pressure rises, and how leaders act when the rules don’t quite fit the situation.
It’s often said: “When culture is weak, rules multiply. When culture is strong, trust simplifies.” This simple line captures a profound truth about leadership, governance, and human behavior. It describes a cycle that every organization must manage: the tension between control and trust, rules and relationships, compliance and culture.
Let’s unpack what it really means — and why this insight matters more than ever.
1. Weak culture breeds rules
When culture weakens, leaders often turn to rules to compensate. It starts innocently enough: a few new procedures, an extra approval step, another compliance check. But over time, these rules accumulate like sediment. Soon, the organization spends more time proving it’s doing the right thing than actually doing it.
Rules multiply when trust evaporates.
When people no longer share a common understanding of what “good judgment” looks like, leaders resort to external controls. Policies grow thicker, handbooks longer, meetings more bureaucratic. Every exception creates a new policy, and every mistake prompts a new checklist.
It’s not that rules are bad — they protect, guide, and align. But when they replace culture instead of reflecting it, they become signs of dysfunction. Rules become the scaffolding that holds up what trust once sustained.
A weak culture feels like walking on eggshells: everyone is cautious, no one wants to take risks, and innovation suffocates under layers of procedure. People follow the letter, not the spirit, of the law. And in the process, energy drains away.
2. Strong culture creates trust
In contrast, a strong culture operates through shared values, not endless rules. It’s what allows people to move fast without breaking things — because they know the boundaries instinctively.
When culture is strong, it simplifies decisions. You don’t need a 200-page policy manual to know how to treat a customer, collaborate with a colleague, or respond to a mistake. You rely on principles rather than prescriptions.
Trust is the natural byproduct of a healthy culture.
It flows from clarity of purpose, consistency of leadership, and authenticity of behavior. When people see their leaders walk the talk, they internalize the “why” behind the organization’s actions. They act with integrity not because someone’s watching, but because it feels right.
Trust simplifies because it empowers. When trust is high, fewer approvals are needed. Communication becomes direct. Decision-making accelerates. People dare to take initiative because they know they won’t be punished for acting in good faith.
3. Rules are a mirror of fear; trust is a mirror of maturity
At its core, this contrast between rules and trust is about psychological safety. Weak cultures often stem from fear — fear of mistakes, fear of blame, fear of losing control. Leaders in such systems unconsciously reinforce this fear by tightening rules, monitoring behavior, and centralizing decisions.
But every rule says something subtle: “We don’t trust you to do this on your own.”
Over time, that message seeps into the organizational psyche. People stop thinking for themselves. They wait for permission. They do the minimum required. The system becomes self-defeating.
Strong cultures, on the other hand, are built on maturity. They assume the best in people and correct gently when things go wrong. Mistakes become learning opportunities, not proof of incompetence. The unspoken message is: “We trust your judgment — use it wisely.”
That’s what makes culture such a powerful simplifier: it replaces countless “dos and don’ts” with a handful of guiding beliefs everyone can remember. It’s the difference between saying, “Here’s our 20-page ethics policy” and saying, “We do the right thing, even when no one’s watching.”
4. The cost of rule overload
When rules multiply, agility dies. Decision-making slows down, creativity is stifled, and employees disengage. A compliance-heavy culture signals that leadership values control over contribution. The result? Talent leaves, innovation stalls, and mediocrity takes root.
Harvard Business Review once noted that excessive bureaucracy can cost large companies billions annually in lost productivity. But the deeper loss is moral, not financial: people stop caring. They comply but don’t commit.
Weak culture forces leaders to manage through paperwork. Strong culture allows them to lead through purpose. And the distinction between those two is the difference between a company that endures and one that merely survives.
5. Trust as the simplifier
When culture is strong, trust acts like organizational oxygen — invisible, but essential. It reduces the need for explanation, surveillance, and control. Everyone knows the direction, even if they don’t know every detail of the map.
This is why great leaders invest first in culture, not in control systems. They understand that the clearest manual can’t replace shared understanding. Trust simplifies communication, because meaning is carried by the relationship, not just the words. It simplifies governance, because people self-regulate in alignment with shared values. It simplifies leadership, because influence replaces enforcement.
A strong culture doesn’t mean an absence of rules — it means that rules are minimal, purposeful, and rooted in trust.
6. Building a strong culture: Three anchors
If rules grow in the absence of culture, then the task of leadership is to cultivate culture before codifying control. That requires intentionality and consistency. Three anchors help build that foundation:
1. Model the behavior you expect.
Culture follows the example, not the memo. Leaders who embody humility, transparency, and accountability set the tone for trust. Every action either reinforces or erodes culture.
2. Communicate purpose and principles.
People can navigate complexity when they understand the “why.” A shared sense of purpose gives context to decisions and allows teams to operate with autonomy and coherence.
3. Empower with boundaries, not barriers.
Instead of adding rules, define clear principles. For example: “We make decisions in the best interest of the customer,” or “We challenge ideas, not people.” These simple, memorable boundaries guide behavior more effectively than any manual.
When culture is coherent, people don’t need to be policed — they police themselves, out of pride and belonging.
7. The paradox of leadership
Here lies the paradox: leaders who try to control everything often end up losing control. Leaders who build trust gain influence.
The shift from rule-based to trust-based leadership is not about removing accountability — it’s about internalizing it. Accountability in a strong culture is horizontal, not vertical. Colleagues hold one another to high standards because they care about the mission and each other.
As trust deepens, complexity simplifies. Decision-making flattens. Energy focuses. What once required policies now requires only shared understanding. And that’s the ultimate leadership victory — when people do the right thing because it’s who they are, not because it’s written somewhere.
8. The bottom line
Weak culture breeds bureaucracy; strong culture breeds belonging.
Weak culture multiplies rules; strong culture multiplies trust.
Weak culture manages behavior; strong culture inspires responsibility.
In a world that’s growing more complex, the organizations that thrive will be those that dare to simplify through trust — not control through fear.
When culture is strong, the rulebook gets thinner because hearts are aligned. People don’t need to be reminded of what’s right — they already know.
That’s the quiet power of culture: it turns governance into guidance, compliance into commitment, and control into confidence.
So the next time you see a company with endless rules and red tape, ask yourself: is the problem really lack of structure — or lack of trust?
Because in the end, the truth remains timeless:
When culture is weak, rules multiply.
When culture is strong, trust simplifies.
DREIESKIVA|Roald Kvam 
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