We recently ran a poll on LinkedIn to uncover what people thought was harder to fix within an organisation. A weak culture? Or a weak brand?
Coming in strong, with 95% of the vote, was a weak culture.
For many people, a weak culture immediately brings to mind the headline-grabbing examples. Toxic workplaces that burn through staff with little regard for their wellbeing. Organisations where internal politics matter more than doing good work. Businesses perceived to put profit ahead of people.
At least, that’s how it appears from the outside.
In reality, a weak culture is often far less obvious, and far more common. It exists in the quieter moments. The ones that rarely make headlines but shape the way an organisation operates every day. And it’s often here that culture begins to influence brand.
Brand isn’t just your logo, website or latest marketing campaign. It’s the experience people have with your organisation, whether they’re a customer, a prospective employee, a partner or someone hearing about your business for the first time. Marketing plays an important role in shaping that perception, but it can only amplify what already exists. If your people aren’t aligned internally, it’s difficult to create consistency externally.
Customers receive different experiences depending on who they interact with. Marketing communicates one story while day-to-day interactions tell another. Employees struggle to describe what makes the organisation different, making it harder to attract and retain the right people. Over time, even a well-defined Employer Value Proposition begins to lose credibility because the lived experience doesn’t reflect what’s been promised.
That’s why a weak culture can eventually become a weak brand. Not because the branding itself is wrong, but because the organisation behind it isn’t consistently delivering on the story it’s trying to tell.
So what does that quieter version of a weak culture actually look like?
It often starts with a lack of alignment.
People aren’t clear on where the organisation is heading, so decisions are made based on individual priorities rather than a shared direction. Teams begin chasing different outcomes, making collaboration harder and creating competing definitions of success. Marketing might be focused on growth, operations on efficiency, while customer service is measured on speed. None of those priorities are inherently wrong, but without alignment they’re unlikely to produce a consistent experience.
Communication begins to suffer too. When people don’t understand why decisions are being made, or where the organisation is heading, assumptions quickly fill the gaps. Before long, different teams are interpreting the same strategy in different ways. That inconsistency finds its way into customer interactions, recruitment conversations and the everyday decisions that collectively shape your reputation.
Purpose also starts to lose its meaning.
Most people want to understand how their work contributes to something bigger than simply completing a list of tasks. They want to know that what they’re doing matters and that their contribution is recognised. When that connection disappears, engagement often follows. People become less confident advocating for the organisation because they’re no longer certain what it stands for, or where it’s heading.
This is also where the Employer Value Proposition (EVP) becomes more than a recruitment tool.
An EVP is a promise about what it’s like to work within an organisation. If you promote collaboration, people should experience collaboration. If you talk about career development, there should be genuine opportunities to grow. If you position your organisation as innovative, flexible or people-first, those qualities need to be reflected in the decisions leaders make every day.
Otherwise, the EVP becomes another piece of marketing rather than a genuine reflection of the employee experience.
This is what we mean when we talk about alignment before action.
Before refreshing your brand, launching a campaign or investing in growth, it’s worth asking whether the organisation is aligned behind what it’s trying to achieve. Does everyone understand the vision? Can people confidently explain where the organisation is heading? Do employees experience the same brand that customers are being promised?
When those foundations are in place, marketing becomes more effective because it’s reinforcing something that’s already true. Employees become advocates because they believe in the organisation they’re representing. Customers experience greater consistency because every interaction supports the same story.
Culture doesn’t replace brand, and brand doesn’t replace marketing. They rely on one another. Alignment is what brings them together.
You may also be interested in reading:
Culture washing: Moving beyond the illusion.
Brand awareness shouldn’t be mistaken for brand success.
How do you keep your best employees from walkoing out the door?
