Millions flow into programs. Slides pile up. Numbers are polished, processes relabeled, ESG reports smoothed out. On paper, it looks impressive. In reality: cosmetics.

I remember an older employee on the line, who said to me with a mischievous grin: “Looks flawless, shiny and dazzling, doesn’t it?” That sentence struck me. It reminded me of the old management jargon of the 20th century: “prettying up the lady.” Back then, it meant: beautify the balance sheet, dress up the numbers, add a bit of gloss for investors. Today, it’s called: “optimizing” KPIs, relabeling processes, polishing the ESG report. Cosmetics, not substance.

But cosmetics do not carry you through crises & they do not foster innovation.
True transformation begins when values and mindset form the foundation. Only when leadership shows humility, people are respected, and culture is consciously shaped do structures with real substance emerge.

In this blog post, I will show you an approach to consciously anchor certain values in your organization and share a real case from my own experience.

The Starting Point

I began as an interim manager at a client where one of the big consulting firms was already in full rollout mode. It wasn’t my first cooperation with such a firm. First, I had to fight my way through countless polished slides. Vision here, mission there, great images everywhere. Don’t get me wrong: I support conveying knowledge with aesthetics. But these 478 slides could easily have been condensed to 12—or 20 at most—without losing substance.

When I reached the last slide, I thought: “Reads nicely, but hasn’t anyone noticed the craters where implementation will stumble?” I voiced my concerns about cultural integration and the tools being used—only to face the next hurdle.

On the shop floor, in conversations I repeatedly heard: “The consultants are just making us pretty for the next investor.”The consequence? Trust in management had already been destroyed. The mistrust went so far that former colleagues, now promoted to leadership positions, were also viewed as enemy figures. This behavior was evident across all seven sites I supported.

Even young employees, who had never dealt with consultants before, lumped me in with them—as an interim manager. Their stance: defensive, skeptical, internally resigned.

First: Become Part of the Team

And yet, I achieved what the big-house consultants and other interim colleagues could not: I was seen as part of the team. How? Quite simply: because someone in a white shirt was really there on-site, and a moment later that shirt was covered in dust and oil—because I went into the line, to the workstations, intervened immediately on safety issues, and reorganized things.

When objections came like “I can do that, so your shirt doesn’t get dirty,” my answer worked wonders:
“I can wash the shirt, but this is about you, your workplace, and your safety.”

That sentence changed everything—because I truly meant it.

Trust cannot be beautified by numbers. And that’s why transformation without values is just cosmetics.

Respect Is More Than a Word – Shaping Culture in Practice

In many companies, “Respect” is emphasized—yet often remains abstract. “Respect everyone” sounds self-evident. But what does respect mean to you? Surely something different than it means to me—or to those around you. For some, it means listening; for others, honesty; for still others, keeping distance.

That’s why we introduce the value “Respect everyone” with a clear, practical approach.

The Workshop – Making Communication Visible

We bring together employees from different departments—even teams that struggle or compete with each other in daily life.

Communication Workshop [1 hour]

• Introduction to communication, reality layers (iceberg model), and why communication fails when we stay only on the surface.

Exercise: “What does respect mean to me?” [1 week]

• All participants receive blank cards. Over the week, they write: “How does respect show up for me?” or “When do I feel respected?”
• Additionally, the team agrees on a safe word (in our case: applesauce). Anyone may say it at any time if they feel disrespected.
• The twist: the person decides whether they want to talk about it or not.

The goal: to raise awareness of how often we feel disrespected—or unintentionally disrespect others.

After One Week – Reflection and Pattern Recognition

As a leader, you collect the cards, rewrite them in your own handwriting, and ensure anonymity. If something tempts you to confront person X—don’t. If they had wanted to open up, they would have.

In the second workshop, we discuss:

• How was the week?
• Were there situations where I didn’t feel respected?
• Did I (unintentionally) hurt someone? And could we talk about it?
• Did we address things—or avoid them and swallow the frustration?

The realization: conflict itself is not the problem—we just handle it poorly, or we swallow it instead of resolving it.

Doing & Saying – The Iceberg of Respect

After the discussion, move to the flipchart. Draw an iceberg, split vertically: Doing vs. Saying. Together, the team assigns the responses.

In my example: Respect is signaled mainly through actions (Doing)—much less through words (Saying).

Patterns become visible. The aha moment comes: we expect respectful language from others but are much stronger at showing respect through actions—not words. In conflict situations, the teams lacked the ability to use language to resolve tensions.

Respect as a Cultural Rule

The exercise does not end in the workshop—it is a starting point to form cultural rules together. It’s not only about defining what respect should be, but also uncovering what hides behind behaviors.

Example: “Keeping distance” might look like respect, but it also signals that culture has suffered—trust, closeness, and dialogue are missing, and everything feels like “too much.”

Conclusion

Transformation has many faces. Sometimes it shines like freshly polished paint—gleaming, flawless, dazzling. Yet beneath the surface, the foundation—culture—crumbles.

The good news: culture can be shaped. With clear values, tangible exercises, and consistent facilitation. I have seen entire teams regain trust through a simple, honest tool.

People who had already quit internally suddenly found energy again. That is the difference: with cosmetics, you cover up. With values, you transform.

One employee once said to me:
“I was ready to leave. I had my resignation letter in my pocket. But now—after this exercise and conversation—I know I want to stay.”

Would you like to spread and experience this feeling in your company, too? Then let’s talk about how to create substance instead of cosmetics.