The top tribes your workplace needs in 2025
Cultivating a vibrant workplace culture is not just an effort in supporting team wellbeing and recruitment – it’s a strategic move towards accelerating growth and maximising team productivity.
An effective culture must allow individuals to thrive in a way that suits their natural behaviours. By creating a robust people strategy, you can transform the dynamic of your team and ensure that everyone is working towards your vision, mission, and goals.
Deloitte’s ‘Global Human Capital Trends’ 2024 report examines how having a nuanced corporate culture that serves different people in the workplace can boost business productivity, revealing that organisations that have embraced microcultures are 1.8 times more likely to achieve positive human outcomes and 1.6 times more likely to achieve desired business outcomes.
Commonly, professional teams are seen to be divided by demographics or generations, but motivational behaviours are what influence the way people work and adapt to their environments – these are your workplace ‘tribes’, who each need a different microculture in order to thrive.
Understanding the workplace tribes present in your team, and where you have behavioural gaps to fill, can help you harness the full potential of your people. With 30 years of brand communication expertise, O.agency’s Kari Owers examines some of the common tribes we are seeing within organisations, defined by a mix of behavioural motivations and cultural influences.
The Activist
Who are they?
Activists are passionate about social, environmental, and ethical issues. They are drawn to businesses that are value and purpose driven, often advocating for DEI and ESG standards that they would be proud to see their company follow.
What are their greatest strengths?
They bring a strong sense of ethics, passion for positive change, and commitment to CSR.
Where do they need support?
They need resources and backing for their initiatives, opportunities to voice their concerns, and management support for the causes they champion.
How is best to engage and motivate them?
By giving them time to be involved in social and sustainability projects, The Activist will thrive in their wider role. Recognition of their efforts in CSR and providing a platform for them to make meaningful change will help you and them.
The Independent
Who are they?
Independents might work as freelancers, but within an organisation they value autonomy and flexibility, often managing multiple roles or projects simultaneously.
What are their greatest strengths?
With a high degree of self-motivation and strong sense of initiative, their independence and adaptability make them reliable project managers.
Where do they need support?
They require clear communication, access to resources, and flexibility to create and follow their own plans.
How is best to engage and motivate them?
Keeping them engaged by offering flexible work arrangements, respecting their independence, and providing project-based recognition will enable them to do their best work.
The Collaborator
Who are they?
Collaborators are team-oriented employees who value affiliation and collective success over individual achievements.
What are their greatest strengths?
They excel in teamwork, communication, and fostering a collaborative work environment.
Where do they need support?
They need opportunities for team projects, open communication channels, and a culture that promotes collaboration.
How is best to engage and motivate them?
Motivate your Collaborators through celebration of team successes. By creating opportunities for collaboration and nurturing a vibrant working environment, Collaborators will thrive in conjunction with the wider team.
The Innovator
Who are they?
Innovators are forward thinkers who look to future trends and opportunities to create change and push the boundaries of conventional thinking.
What are their greatest strengths?
Innovators are brave enough to try fresh ideas and to become early adopters of new technologies, giving them and the wider team an edge over the competition.
Where do they need support?
They need freedom to experiment, access to cutting-edge tools and resources, and encouragement for creative thinking.
How is best to engage and motivate them?
Engage them by fostering a culture of innovation that creates space for new initiatives and ideas.
The Traditionalist
Who are they?
Traditionalists find stability in clear processes and team structure within the workplace.
What are their greatest strengths?
They are highly reliable, bringing experience and a deep understanding of established processes and practices, which serves them particularly well in managing teams.
Where do they need support?
They need clear guidelines, stability in their roles, and respect for their experience and expertise.
How is best to engage and motivate them?
Motivate Traditionalists by offering a clear progression path and providing opportunities for mentorship and training roles.
Some of these tribes you might recognise within your team and others you might realise are missing from your company culture – with more in-depth analysis of your team, you can get the balance of tribes right to help your business goals.
Employers who invest in understanding the different tribes within their workforce are better equipped to foster a positive and productive work environment. This understanding can help transform your people brand as an employer, leading to higher employee satisfaction, which also results in lower turnover rates and improved productivity.
At O we have refined the process of crafting a robust people strategy, by undertaking behavioural mapping of your team and analysis of your current employer brand. These activities provide the insights needed to create a people brand campaign hat can attract the right people to your business and win cultural buy-in from your existing team.
To take the first steps in identifying tribes within your business, go to https://o.agency/people-brand/
