The RTO Tug-of-War: How CEOs Can Fix Engagement and Build a Positive Culture

Navigating the complexities of remote work, return-to-office mandates, and workplace disengagement—strategies for leaders to cultivate trust, accountability, and a thriving organizational culture.

In the post-pandemic world, the tug-of-war between CEOs and employees over return-to-office (RTO) mandates has revealed deep-rooted issues in workplace culture, engagement, and productivity. While some leaders, like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, argue that remote work has fostered entitlement and decreased productivity, others are grappling with the more complex reality that disengagement is a much deeper issue, one that predates the pandemic.

The truth is, demanding employees return to the office full-time won’t solve the fundamental problem: low engagement. On average, worker engagement in the U.S. hovers around a troubling 30%, meaning a significant portion of the workforce is either passively disengaged, “quiet quitting,” or actively sabotaging organizational progress.

For CEOs seeking to rebuild engagement and trust, the solution lies not in mandates but in intentional cultural transformation. It’s time to address the root causes of disengagement with strategies that focus on improving accountability, building trust, and ensuring employees feel valued and empowered. This article will outline how leaders can use behavioral and operational practices to achieve a healthier, more engaged culture in their organizations.

The Root of Disengagement: A History of Low Engagement

The debate over remote work and office attendance is just the latest chapter in a much larger story. U.S. worker engagement has been dismally low for decades, with research consistently showing that about 70% of employees are disengaged in one way or another. Many leaders find themselves in a cycle of low morale, high turnover, and poor collaboration, with traditional cultural practices no longer serving the needs of a modern, diverse workforce.

Burnout, interpersonal conflict, leadership struggles, and a lack of accountability have worsened in recent years, and the pandemic has only amplified these challenges. In many cases, the “silent disengagement” of employees is less about remote work and more about a culture that has failed to meet the emotional, psychological, and professional needs of its people.

For companies trying to resolve this conflict, simply enforcing a return to the office without addressing the cultural gaps is a temporary fix at best. Leadership needs to understand that true engagement isn’t about presence—it’s about purpose, alignment, and empowerment.

The SuperLoop Praxis: A Framework for Cultural Transformation

The key to addressing disengagement lies in understanding the deeper patterns that shape individual and organizational behavior. As a practitioner of SuperLoop Praxis—a methodology combining self-awareness, neurobiology, and organizational psychology—I’ve helped companies integrate mind-body awareness with operational systems to foster lasting behavioral changes.

The SuperLoop Praxis identifies adaptive behaviors that arose during challenging times, like the pandemic, and highlights how these can evolve into maladaptive patterns—patterns that hinder both personal and organizational growth. It’s essential for leaders to shift these ingrained behaviors to create a culture of high performance, accountability, and engagement.

Let’s explore five behavioral and operational practices that can shift the culture within your organization and foster a more engaged, aligned, and productive workforce.

1. Tenacious Trust: Building a Foundation for Accountability

Trust is the cornerstone of any successful organization. In traditional power structures, hierarchies often focus on fear, control, and maintaining the status quo. However, tenacious trust flips this dynamic.

Tenacious trust focuses on accountability, reliability, and transparent communication. It’s about knowing that everyone, regardless of their role, will honor their commitments, act in good faith, and collaborate to achieve shared goals.

A practical example of tenacious trust in action can be seen at Netflix. Their “freedom and responsibility” culture grants employees autonomy while holding them accountable for results. Employees are trusted to manage their workloads effectively, such as taking unlimited vacation days as long as they meet their deliverables. This trust creates a self-regulating system of responsibility that strengthens organizational culture and drives productivity.

Actionable Insight: Leaders must set clear expectations, consistently model trust-building behaviors, and ensure open lines of communication to address challenges as they arise.

2. Courageous Communication: Fostering Transparency and Authenticity

Communication is often the lifeblood of a healthy organization. However, for communication to be truly effective, it must be courageous—honest, open, and vulnerable.

Courageous communication starts with self-reflection. Are we communicating honestly and transparently with our teams? Are we creating environments where individuals feel safe to share difficult truths, feedback, and concerns without fear of judgment or retribution?

Under Satya Nadella’s leadership at Microsoft, the company transitioned from a culture of competition to one of collaboration. Nadella emphasized courageous communication by encouraging employees to express their ideas freely, fostering an inclusive environment where diverse perspectives led to innovation and less siloing.

Actionable Insight: Leaders must model vulnerability by owning up to their mistakes, encouraging peer feedback, and engaging in open dialogues that nurture both personal and collective growth.

3. Actionable Awareness: Responding Thoughtfully, Not Reacting Impulsively

Actionable awareness is the ability to recognize and address the truth of our beliefs, behaviors, and surroundings. It allows leaders to pause and reflect before reacting, enabling them to make thoughtful, rather than impulsive, decisions.

This kind of awareness is essential for creating psychologically safe environments where conflict can be addressed constructively. Healthy conflict, when managed well, leads to better decision-making, improved collaboration, and stronger relationships.

Leaders who practice actionable awareness are better equipped to lead their teams through difficult situations, resolve issues before they escalate, and foster environments that encourage growth and innovation.

Actionable Insight: To encourage actionable awareness in your organization, prioritize self-reflection, active listening, and emotional regulation practices in your leadership development programs.

4. Authentic Accountability: Owning Responsibility and Building Credibility

Authentic accountability means taking ownership of one’s actions, being open to feedback, and creating a culture where issues are addressed head-on, not swept under the rug. It requires a shift from a blame culture to one of personal responsibility, where employees at all levels understand that accountability is not about assigning blame, but about taking responsibility for outcomes and contributing to solutions.

Companies like Microsoft and Netflix excel in this area by embracing accountability, allowing teams to engage in healthy conflict, refine processes, and continuously improve their workflows.

Actionable Insight: Cultivate authentic accountability by fostering a growth mindset and encouraging employees to take ownership of both their successes and failures. Use structured feedback and performance reviews to guide this practice.

5. Regenerative Results: Creating Consistency and Excellence

The final piece in creating a high-performing culture is achieving regenerative results. This is the ability to produce consistent, repeatable outcomes that drive excellence across the organization.

Regenerative results are the product of a culture focused on continuous improvement, where lessons learned from successes and failures are used to drive future performance. This approach enables organizations to adapt quickly, scale effectively, and maintain high levels of performance.

A prime example of regenerative results is Greyston Bakery, where a focus on nurturing relationships led to improved performance by consistently measuring and assessing key performance indicators (KPIs). The bakery’s approach emphasizes clarity, honesty, and authenticity, which ultimately strengthens the team’s ability to meet and exceed goals.

Actionable Insight: To achieve regenerative results, regularly assess your company’s success metrics, identify areas for improvement, and apply those insights to create a culture of continuous excellence.

Conclusion: Shaping the Future of Work

As the tug-of-war over remote work and office attendance continues, CEOs must recognize that disengagement is a deeper issue that cannot be solved by mandates alone. Leaders must intentionally foster trust, communication, accountability, and self-awareness at all levels of their organization. By implementing these strategies and cultivating a culture rooted in collaboration and continuous growth, companies can unlock the potential of their workforce, drive engagement, and build a thriving organizational culture.

In the end, the workplace of the future is not just about where employees work—it’s about how they work, how they’re treated, and how they’re empowered to reach their full potential. CEOs who lead with intention, clarity, and purpose will be the ones to build resilient organizations that succeed in the ever-evolving world of work.