Culture Audit: What You Think You're Building vs. What Your People Are Actually Living!

Mayank Sharma
Aug 17
3 min read

“Our culture is strong.”

“We value feedback.” “We have an open-door policy.” “We’re one team.”

You’ve probably said these things. Most leaders have.

The intentions are real. The communication is confident. The values are clear.

But here’s the reality we uncover again and again through our work across organizations in the UAE and GCC:

There’s a gap between what leaders think they’re building—and what employees are actually living.

Two Realities, One Organization

We created this visual to simplify something deeply complex.

Imagine two circles:

One represents The Leader’s Bubble: the world of vision decks, culture statements, and top-down communication.

The other represents The Employee’s Reality: what it actually feels like to show up, speak up, and try to grow within the organization.

Where they overlap? That’s where trust lives. And trust is the only place where culture works.

The Disconnect Could Be Bigger Than You Think

Let’s be honest—most leaders operate with optimism. You’re focused on growth, direction, brand, and strategy. You want to believe that the values you communicate are trickling down.

But according to Gallup’s 2024 Global Workplace Study:

Only 23% of employees globally feel strongly connected to their organization's culture. Yet 71% of senior leaders believe they’ve built a strong, values-driven culture.
That’s a 48% trust gap—and it costs more than just engagement.

It shows up as:

Rising attrition
Declining discretionary effort
Poor collaboration across departments
Distrust in performance reviews
Good people silently checking out

Why the Gap Exists

This disconnect isn’t because leaders don’t care. It’s because most don’t know what’s really happening.

Here’s why:

Middle Management Muddle: Your messaging gets filtered, softened, or distorted as it moves down the hierarchy.
Silent Disengagement: Employees stop offering feedback. Not because they’re happy—but because they don’t believe it changes anything.
Surface-Level Communication: Townhalls and newsletters aren’t enough. Culture is felt in micro-moments, not announcements.
Misinterpreted Values: Words like “ownership,” “transparency,” and “collaboration” are interpreted differently across nationalities, departments, and roles—especially in multicultural setups.
Leadership Blind Spots: When feedback only travels upward through curated channels, what reaches you is a sanitized version of reality.

Enter the Culture Audit

A Culture Audit is not another survey. It’s not a feel-good team-building initiative. And it’s definitely not an HR tick-box.

It’s a strategic diagnostic tool designed to map the gap between culture as intended and culture as experienced.

At element MEA, our culture audits uncover:

What employees truly believe leadership stands for
Whether values are being role-modeled or just recited
How trust, fairness, and recognition are perceived across levels
The real power dynamics and communication bottlenecks
Hidden cultural silos are weakening collaboration
Why top performers stay quiet—or leave silently
What teams whisper, avoid, or joke about (those are your red flags)

And most importantly, we help rebuild alignment—so that what leaders say, what managers do, and what employees feel can exist in the same circle.

Why Business Leaders Should Care (Beyond HR)

Because culture isn’t a “people thing.” It’s a profit thing.

Organizations with highly aligned cultures see: 4x higher revenue growth (Bain & Co., 2023) 30% higher employee retention (PwC Middle East, 2022) 21% greater profitability (Gallup, 2024)

Culture is how strategy comes to life. Or doesn’t.

Still Not Convinced? Ask Yourself:

Do people speak honestly with leadership—or play it safe?
Are your middle managers building trust—or blocking it?
Are your values felt across the company—or just in leadership decks?
Are your top performers energized—or quietly looking elsewhere?
Are your culture rituals meaningful—or mechanical?

If you hesitate on even one of these, it’s time to investigate—not assume.

The Culture Audit Isn’t a Luxury. It’s a Leadership Tool.

And it's not about blame. It's about awareness.

Because what you don’t know is hurting your business. And once you see the gaps—you can close them. With the right insights, you’ll stop relying on gut feel and start leading with clarity, confidence, and credibility.

Final Thought

Culture isn’t what you wrote in your values handbook. It’s what people feel during one-on-ones. It’s what gets rewarded, ignored, or tolerated. It’s what employees say after the Zoom call ends. It’s what’s whispered in hallways—not what’s shouted in townhalls.

Let’s make sure you’re not leading in the dark.

Message us to learn how our Culture Audit works and how it can give you the sharpest leadership edge you didn’t know you were missing.

We’ll help you uncover what your people are really experiencing—and how to realign it with your leadership vision.