Who Sees Your Culture Most Clearly?

If you had to guess...who in your organization has the clearest view of your culture?

You might instinctively think of senior leadership or middle managers. But take a step back and consider: who’s actually witnessing how things really function, day to day?

Culture isn’t just what’s written on your website or printed in a mission statement. It’s the patterns, the stories, the unspoken norms that shape how people show up and work together.

And there’s one group that often spots the gaps and contradictions before anyone else does. I call them the “culture unicorns” because they hold such a rare, valuable perspective...

It's your new hires.

New employees have just gone through the interview process, which, let’s be honest, only scratches the surface of an organization’s true culture. Once they’re through onboarding, they start to see things clearly. Here’s why:

They’re coming from a different workplace culture, so they’re naturally still in comparison mode. It’s easier to notice distinct behaviors when you’ve got something to contrast it with.

They’re not fully immersed in the system yet. Culture becomes invisible over time; what’s weird or wonderful starts to feel normal.

They’re not yet tied up in pre-existing structures or power dynamics. Most new hires are still wide-eyed and sponge-like, eager to learn and paying attention so they don't make a misstep.

So what do we lose when we don’t ask them what they’re seeing?

Their unfiltered insight — what feels refreshing and special, and what’s clearly out of sync. And they lose, too...that opportunity to feel included. It’s isolating to be the observer in a system everyone else seems to understand intuitively.

Insight:

If we embed too deeply into a workplace culture without ever coming up for air to examine what we do and why, we miss things. Culture blind spots are real. Just because something feels “normal” doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

New hires are an untapped resource for honest culture assessment. Ask them what they see. You’ll probably learn something important, and at the very least, they’ll feel seen and valued.

Takeaway:

What if part of onboarding wasn’t just about getting new hires up to speed? What if we made a point to learn from them? What if everyone they met asked:

What did your last org do well, culturally? What do you notice here that sparks curiosity, concern, or even question? I bet you'll be amazed at what you hear.

With purpose,

Lucy Lantis