Engagement is a four-letter word

"Engagement" has more letters than four. Water is often wet.

A good indicator of how to dig into what "workplace culture" you have is to check why people leave or are forced to leave due to "poor fit". Exactly how did they not fit? Now you have a few answers. Probably more realistic than actually trying to define the culture itself.

Usually "they didn't act like us" translates to "we live in a bubble with our own rules and they didn't toe the line". This can also be an indicator of a sick culture. Toeing the line isn't necessarily good or bad [1] but it could be either.

Another reason is that someone leaves because your Monday and Fridays are bad. No weekly plan/debrief? And your Weekends are intrusive: why am I receiving this email on Sunday morning[2]? Don't these people have lives outside work?

Perhaps your evenings are bad: everyone is staying back late so the boss "sees them working hard". Fake/bad workplace.

Just make those issues not happen. Congratulations! You've gotten rid of the precursors of a lot of toxic workplaces.

From the article: "Stop being a leader or a manager," Babbitt said. "Start being a mentor."

Any leader or manager that isn't also a mentor is definitely not a leader or manager. Especially a manager - you'd better be mentoring because that's the core of "getting others to do the task efficiently" which is a core requirement for management.

[1] Rules and social norms need to exist. Make sure they are good ones. And not just authoritarian mind-control games.

[2] Yes some people are on-call. Good. Likewise, "important" customer requires some answer before Monday. Yep. It happens. Great exceptions. There are many others. Those exceptions shouldn't mean everyone everywhere is "always on" and that it is "just reality". No. It's people not allocating time properly. Make sure you're available on Sundays because that is part of the assignment. Make sure its known. Not an "unwritten rule". Not an unlisted "expectation" - make sure it s a listed aspect of the role and not a well-hidden minor clause like "some overtime as needed" which turns into "every weekend you're working". You could call that kind of expectation "on-call".

is it though?...