A saying that has always stayed with me: If you take a single drop from the North Sea and analyse it, you will know the composition of the entire sea.

That idea is surprisingly applicable to organisations.
Take this ‘drop’, for example: someone moves on to a new role.
The way in which this is or isn’t, and consistently or inconsistently, shared (internally) says a lot about leadership and culture within that organisation. Because one promotion also means a few non-promotions…

I once witnessed someone who had behaved badly and was subsequently ‘promoted away’ to a managerial role in another department.
A remarkable move in itself, but what made it truly telling was what happened next: nothing.
Unlike other promotions, this move wasn’t communicated anywhere. No message on the intranet, no announcement, nothing.
And yet everyone knew. And everyone thought the same thing: this isn’t right. Is this behaviour being rewarded here, or is the problem simply being shifted elsewhere? No one said it out loud, but it was in the air. That, precisely, says it all.
Moments like this are picked up on instantly by others. They see how management handles it, what is apparently acceptable, what is avoided, and what leadership does or does not stand for. Something can then develop that goes unspoken: distance, cynicism.

The same applies to what happens next: does someone receive guidance in a new role, or is it assumed that ‘things should be clear at this level’ and do you see someone struggling to find their feet?

That is noticed too, certainly by those who do not progress.

They are keeping a close eye on things. Not to compare, but to make sense of what they see.

It is precisely in these seemingly small moments that an organisation reveals how people are really treated and what its leadership stands for. And the conversation does take place after all, but out of sight, with all the consequences that entails.