Teona Kupatadze,
Senior Management Consultant
"Life is a barren desert, try to bypass it" - this phrase by Parsman of Spars [1] speaks about one way to respond to the difficulties and challenges of life. It means that an unknown environment, full of obstacles, evokes feelings of uncertainty and/or fear in a person. In some cases, the response to such a situation is avoidance and focusing on more familiar, safe solutions.
When we transfer this idea to the organizational level, the first parallel that comes to mind is organizational culture. Our practice shows that many companies perceive internal culture as something complex and unexplored, and choose the path of avoidance. Instead of managing the complex and unknown aspects, key figures in the organization focus on more familiar tasks – improving systems and processes, hoping that this will lead the company to success.
However, just as it is impossible to bypass a desert if you are standing at its edge, it is impossible to hide from the challenges of organizational culture or replace them with something else. If you want to build a healthy and effective organization, you must not avoid challenges, but manage them and turn the desert into fertile soil.
"Unexplored" Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is not just a set of instructions, a detailed development plan, or a diagram. It is what people feel and experience every day, and then carry over into their behavior.
In the modern world, culture is created not only by the top leaders of the company but also by each team member. In the book Organizational Culture and Leadership (Schein, E. H., 2010, Organizational Culture and Leadership), Edgar Schein emphasizes that organizational culture has both a strategic and an evolutionary nature.
The strategic aspect indicates that leaders play a key role in shaping culture.
The evolutionary aspect highlights that employees and their everyday behavior actively influence the development and formation of the company's internal environment.
The question is, how to deal with the unknown?
The main tool for this is active communication. Not just the transmission of information but its perception: studying the needs and interests of the team. Researching the internal environment of the company becomes especially important, as each organization is unique.
There are many methods for internal analysis, but I will highlight two key ones:
1. Employee Experience Research
This method allows companies not only to receive feedback from employees but also to see what motivates them, how emotionally engaged they are, and whether the real working environment matches the declared values.
Such research helps management analyze the employee's journey within the company — from the first day to the moment of departure — and identify problem areas that contribute to the formation of an unhealthy organizational culture.
2. Organization’s Pulse Survey
Small, regular surveys allow managers to keep their finger on the pulse of the company and assess critical aspects:
- Do the declared values match the real culture, and does this lead to increased efficiency?
- Do employees feel their voices are heard and that they can influence the everyday life of the company?
- Has a working environment been created where people are willing to put in effort and achieve goals?
- Do employees have opportunities for development and growth?
The Sense of Belonging
One of the most powerful forces inside an organization is the sense of belonging.
When a person feels not just like an employee but as part of a team and co-author of the culture, their engagement, trust, and motivation significantly increase. Such employees not only create a favorable environment but also become the driving force of the company.
In the book The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups (Coyle, D., 2018), Daniel Coyle explains that the most successful companies intentionally create a safe, open, and motivating environment where employees feel valued.
It is important to understand that a sense of belonging does not emerge on its own. It is not built on declared values – it is formed through daily actions:
- How leaders communicate with employees
- How open the organization is to feedback
- Whether people feel safe in the work environment
At the same time, belonging is not a static state – it is a process that requires continuous work.
Coyle highlights three key elements that help develop a sense of belonging:
- Building connections – employees feel they are part of a real team.
- Sharing vulnerability – trust arises when people are not afraid to openly talk about problems and difficulties.
- A shared vision of goals – employees understand that their daily work contributes to the company’s mission.
When the Desert Becomes Fertile Soil
Belonging is not about high salaries and bonuses. It is formed through:
- Embedding values into daily practices
- Making decisions based on data
- Building trust
- People-oriented leadership
When company leaders start working with organizational culture, analyze its unexplored aspects, build connections, and create a shared vision, the organization becomes a place where people feel valued and are ready to invest in the common goal.
And that is the real path from the desert to fertile land.
[1] Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, (1939) „The Right Hand of the Grand Master“
