Company culture is like the soil that everything in your organisation grows from. Without the right conditions, nothing can grow, let alone thrive. It’s not just about having values written on your website – it’s about what happens when no one is looking.
Bianca Spruit, a leadership and management consultant at Sprout Coaching, highlights the importance of a strong, inclusive company culture for fostering innovation and retaining talent in the fintech industry.
I recently spoke to a brilliant woman in fintech. She’s highly skilled, deeply technical and absolutely loves her job. But here’s the catch – she’s autistic and has ADHD, and she’s terrified to tell her manager. She’s convinced they’d find a way to push her out if they knew.
Whether that fear is justified or not, her company’s culture hasn’t shown her it’s safe to be herself. And that fear has real consequences. She’s holding back innovative ideas because she doesn’t want to risk exposing the unique way she thinks.
Pretending to fit in – masking – takes a toll. Employees burn out, take time off, or leave entirely. The cost to the company is astronomical. Not just in recruitment and training but in reputation too. Word spreads and before you know it the company has a bad name as an employer.
The best organisations I’ve worked with don’t just talk about their values—they live them. From actively seeking out talent from underrepresented groups, using recruiters who are genuinely focussed on ED&I, tweaking job ads to be more inclusive, and tracking who’s succeeding (and who’s not) in their recruitment process. Then they adapt.
This kind of intentionality builds trust. It shows employees they belong, creating a space where new ideas flourish and people genuinely want to stay.
The magic of a coaching culture
Want to supercharge your culture? Build a coaching mindset across the business. This is the opposite of managers dishing out tasks to their team and telling them how to solve problems—it’s about asking the right questions. When someone brings a problem to their leader, instead of jumping in with a solution, they get asked:
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- What’s the risk if we don’t act?
- Who in the business has expertise we can use?
- What have you seen before that could help here?
This shifts ownership to the individual, empowering them to think critically and solve problems. It’s not just good for the business—it’s transformative for the person’s development too.
A coaching culture taps into the diversity of your team. Different perspectives, combined with better collaboration, lead to smarter decisions and more innovative outcomes. And when everyone feels valued? Retention takes care of itself.
The pitfalls of a toxic culture
I’ve also seen the flip side. One company had a CEO who seemed brilliant on the surface. But here’s the problem: when he asked for ideas, what he really meant was guess what I’m already thinking. Employees kept their heads down to avoid his wrath if their idea was different to his. Ideas dried up, and diversity of thought was non-existent because they only hired people like the CEO.
Yes, they offered financial retention incentives, but all they did was keep unhappy people trapped longer. When those people eventually left, the company had wasted time, money, and opportunities for innovation.
Empowering leaders to drive culture
A strong culture starts with leaders who don’t shy away from difficult conversations. The ones we avoid—around mental health, inclusion, or even just asking, Do you feel like you belong here?—are the ones that matter most.
Leaders don’t need all the answers. In fact, pretending they do is part of the problem. Vulnerability, honesty, and a willingness to listen are what build trust and inclusion.
Why this matters in fintech
Fintech is fast-paced, constantly evolving, and built on innovation. If your culture doesn’t support employees – if it doesn’t help them feel safe, heard, and valued – you’re not just losing them. You’re losing the ideas, creativity, and collaboration that drive success in this space.
Companies that live their values, empower their teams, and embrace coaching will always come out ahead. Culture isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s the foundation for everything else.
Final thoughts
Get your culture right, and everything else follows. It’s the secret ingredient behind retention, problem solving, inclusion, innovation, and the kind of reputation that makes people want to work with—and for—you. In fintech, where change is constant, a great culture isn’t optional. It’s everything.
The post Spotlight: Why Company Culture is Everything in Fintech appeared first on The Fintech Times.
