Culture is the story, climate is the day job
As I have been developing my coaching practice, I have found myself returning to the same questions, regardless of sector or setting.
In working as a portfolio leader across the public and charity sectors, and through coaching and mentoring, clear patterns emerge in how organisational culture is understood and discussed. Leaders speak about it often. They worry about it. They invest time in defining it. Yet many are unsure how to influence it in ways that feel grounded in everyday reality.
These observations have prompted me to pause and reflect. Not on what culture should be, but on how it is experienced.
In doing so, I noticed that I had slipped into a familiar pattern myself. I had become absorbed in the language and narrative of culture. The aspiration. The intention. The story we tell about who we want to be. All of that has value. But it can also distract attention from something closer to the surface.
When culture and climate are confused
Organisational culture is often described as the shared values, beliefs and assumptions that shape how things are done. It develops over time and is influenced by history, leadership behaviour and context. It is deep rooted and not always easy to see.
Organisational climate is different. It is about lived experience. It reflects what work feels like on an ordinary day. How decisions land. What happens when pressure builds. What behaviour feels fair and reasonable, and what does not.
CIPD research draws a clear distinction between culture as an underlying belief system and climate as the shared meaning people attach to everyday policies, practices and leadership behaviour. Climate is more visible, and more responsive to change. That distinction matters because when messaging and lived experience drift apart, lived reality carries more weight.
Why culture work often falls short
Many organisations commit considerable effort to culture work. Values are refreshed. Messages refined. Expectations stated clearly.
At the same time, people may experience perceived rising workloads, limited capacity, unclear priorities and inconsistent responses when things do not go to plan. When what is said and what is experienced begin to drift apart, people do not usually assume the culture needs further explanation. They look instead to what happens.
Over time, this gap can create fatigue. Not because leaders do not care, but because intention alone does not shape experience.
Accountability shapes climate
One of the strongest influences on organisational climate is how accountability is understood and applied. People learn quickly what is expected of them in their role, and what they are held accountable for. Where expectations are clear, fair and aligned with responsibility and resources, the climate tends to feel steady.
Where expectations are unclear, shifting or unevenly applied, the climate becomes cautious.
This is not about avoiding accountability. Healthy organisational climate depends on people being accountable for what is clear, agreed and within their control, rather than absorbing responsibility for flaws in the system or expectations that were never properly named.
These details rarely feature in culture statements, but they are felt every day.
Policies as lived experience
Another signal of organisational climate sits in how HR policies are experienced in practice.
Policies are usually designed to provide clarity, consistency and protection. Yet they can feel remote or punitive if they are applied inconsistently, or only surface when something goes wrong.
When policies are experienced as something done to people rather than there to support them, trust weakens, whatever the stated culture may be. This is not a policy problem. It is a leadership one.
Shifting attention
I have long believed that managers and leaders at all levels shape organisational climate more than they realise. What has changed is my attention to how much practice this takes, particularly as workplace behaviours and expectations continue to shift.
Culture shifts slowly. Climate is shaped daily. In ordinary decisions. In what is prioritised. In what is tolerated. In how pressure is handled. In how excellence is celebrated.
This view aligns with the CIPD evidence base and sits comfortably alongside the Chartered Management Institute’s (CMI) emphasis on leadership responsibility and consistency. The language may differ, but the message is similar. Leadership behaviour shapes experience.
Questions worth sitting with
Rather than asking how to change culture, managers might pause with a different set of questions.
What does it feel like to work here on an ordinary day?
What are people really held accountable for?
What becomes most visible when pressure shows up?
Which behaviours feel fair and reasonable to challenge?
What might managers need to do differently, day to day?
Climate is shaped through everyday practice, and culture tends to follow.
Sources for further reading
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Organisational climate and culture factsheet. Gifford, J. and Wietrak, E. Organisational culture and climate: an evidence review. Schneider, B., Ehrhart, M. and Macey, W. Organisational climate and culture.
About the author: Evonne Boyd is a portfolio leader across the public and charity sectors, a coach and mentor, and an emerging freelance journalist. She is a Chartered Manager (FCMI) and Founder Director of Mara Adhbhar CIC.
