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Issue 39
Do You Have A Culture-Climate Gap?
Chris Hagood
May 29, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
In partnership with
Table of Contents
Opening Salvo
The term “culture” gets used so casually in workplaces that we forget it has a twin hiding in plain sight, climate.
Culture is the deep wiring of an organization. It’s what people believe is rewarded, tolerated, or punished over time. Climate is what people experience on a Tuesday. It’s what they say when they leave a meeting, not what the slide deck says.
Here’s the catch: when culture and climate aren’t aligned, trust fractures.
You can launch values campaigns, DEI town halls, or “open-door” messaging, but if your daily climate contradicts your stated culture, people will always believe what they live, not what they’re told.
That’s not just confusing, it’s corrosive. Climate sends the real signals about psychological safety, leadership credibility, and what behavior gets modeled at the top. Ignore it, and you’re not just missing engagement goals, you’re normalizing misalignment.
Practical Personas (with a tinge of hyperbole)
The Culture Champion: They know the values. They repeat them often. But they rarely check to see if those values are reflected in day-to-day experience.
The Climate Skeptic: They lead well on paper but dismiss discomfort when it surfaces. “That’s not the intent” becomes a shield instead of an opening.
The Aligned Leader: They understand that culture and climate are always in conversation. They ask how their team is experiencing the workplace, not just whether people know the mission statement.
Here’s What to Consider:
Do you hear “we value inclusion,” but also “don’t bring that up in this meeting”?
Do your skip-levels reveal a different reality than your pulse surveys?
Do your high performers create good metrics and bad morale?
If so, you have a culture–climate gap. And you don’t fix that with messaging, you fix it with leadership behavior.
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Did You See This?
Balancing the Books and the Bench: HR's Dual Challenge in 2025
As economic pressures mount, HR departments find themselves at a crossroads (per usual), balancing budget constraints with the imperative to attract and retain top talent.
The 2025 Identity of HR survey highlights this tension, revealing that 37% of HR professionals cite budgetary constraints as a key challenge, while 36% point to hiring difficulties. These figures mark a significant increase from the previous year's report, where only 21% and 22% identified these issues, respectively.
Key insights from the article:
Budgetary restraints have led to salary cuts, headcount reductions, hiring freezes, and overall fewer resources.
Hiring challenges encompass issues like I-9 documentation, onboarding, and recruiting.
Liv Anderman, VP of Marketing and Research at AI hiring platform Findem, notes that macro-economic volatility has led companies to scrutinize their spending, including on headcount.
Audrey Gorman, Director of Business Development and Marketing at International Staff Augmentation, emphasizes the need for business owners to be "smart and savvy and resourceful" during such times.
An Employ Inc. survey indicates that 82% of respondents anticipate a "white-collar recession," highlighting the differing impacts on various workforce segments.
HR leaders can consider the following strategies:
Optimize Resource Allocation: Prioritize critical roles and projects to ensure efficient use of limited budgets.
Leverage Technology: Implement AI-driven tools to streamline recruitment and onboarding processes, reducing time and costs.
Explore Global Talent Pools: Consider international staffing solutions to access a broader range of skills and potentially lower labor costs.
Enhance Employee Retention: Invest in employee engagement and development programs to reduce turnover and maintain institutional knowledge.
Measure ROI: Establish clear metrics to assess the effectiveness of HR initiatives, ensuring accountability and informed decision-making.
By adopting these approaches, HR departments can better manage budgetary constraints while continuing to attract and retain the talent necessary for organizational success.
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Talent Management 101 (TM101)
Organizational Culture vs. Workplace Climate
Culture and climate are often used interchangeably, but they function very differently and leaders need to manage both.
Culture is long-term and systemic. It’s formed through patterns, policies, stories, and unwritten rules.
Climate is short-term and situational. It’s shaped by the current tone of leadership, workload, communication, and interpersonal trust.
Why It Matters:
Misaligned culture and climate can erode trust, increase attrition, and deepen organizational cynicism.
When leaders claim one thing but reward another, employees disengage, even if no one resigns right away.
Teams that experience psychological inconsistency often resort to self-protection instead of collaboration.
How to Close the Gap:
Audit your leadership behaviors: Are managers reinforcing the stated values, or working around them?
Check for climate indicators: Look at response patterns in engagement surveys, exit interviews, and informal feedback loops.
Coach through contradictions: Equip your managers to resolve the gap between what’s said and what’s done.
Culture may be slow to shift, but climate is your fastest diagnostic. If it feels off, believe it and act accordingly.
The Plug
This newsletter is brought to you by AstutEdge, a consultancy dedicated to developing and deploying a people-first talent management culture. We solve both obvious and hidden challenges by optimizing performance, engagement, and development across the entire HR, People, and Talent spectrum.
How We Help:
Optimize Team Performance: Implementing tailored strategies that improve efficiency, engagement, and collaboration.
Develop Leadership: Nurture leaders who inspire and drive organizational success through targeted development.
Enhance Employee Experience: Boosting morale and retention with data-driven engagement programs.
Improve Organizational Culture: Providing insights and solutions to create a positive, high-performing work environment.
Increase Business Growth: Aligning talent management practices with business goals to drive innovation and growth.
Strengthen Collaboration: Facilitating team cohesion through CliftonStrengths-based coaching and development.
This plug is shameless and should be shared widely. If your organization or a partner organization could benefit from talent management support, we’d love to help!
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