Every organisation says it values people. But culture is revealed not in what leaders say – it’s revealed in who gets watered, and who gets pruned.

This brings me back to the gardening metaphor for culture. Some plants mature slowly. Some are fast bloomers. Some are sturdy. Some need careful nurturing. Some need trimming. Others are quietly left to wither. Organisations work in exactly the same way.

And “watering” rarely follows performance alone. It follows comfort, familiarity, alignment and proximity to power. People who mirror the dominant voice tend to get more sunlight and more second chances. Those who challenge, question or introduce complexity are more likely to be pruned, often subtly with their wings clipped.  They may be described as “difficult”, “not a culture fit”, or “not quite right for this phase”.

Pruning isn’t always a bad thing. Some behaviour genuinely damages the system, and some growth is unsustainable. But problems arise when pruning is driven by ego rather than stewardship. When the loudest voices get amplified and the agreeable ones get rewarded, the steady, thoughtful contributors – especially those doing containment and integration work – often get overlooked.  

One of the most damaging patterns I’ve observed is when organisations water brilliance while pruning containment and integration. People who deliver results but destabilise relationships are often protected. People who slow things down by asking hard questions run the risk of being sidelined. The system unintentionally teaches everyone the same lesson: performance matters more than behaviour.

When that happens, the garden starts to look impressive on the surface – glossy, busy and attention grabbing. But beneath that the soil quality slowly declines and the foundation quietly weakens. This is where organisations get confused, and chaos is mistaken for productivity. They assume that what’s thriving must be healthy. They assume that those who remain are “the best people”, without noticing who quietly left and why.

And people learn quickly. They learn what gets rewarded, who gets ignored, when to speak and when to stay quiet. This is how culture trains people, usually far more effectively than culture workshops or values charters ever will.  

Eventually, the garden begins to choke on its own growth. Growth becomes uneven. Diversity thins out – not just demographic diversity, but diversity of thought. The organisation grows more reactive and less resilient. Leaders and management often only notice the problem once the garden starts failing – when trust erodes, when turnover rises, or when creativity dries up. By then, the damage has already been done.

Healthy cultures prune behaviour, not identity. They water curiosity and stay open to alternate views. They notice who’s growing quietly – not only who’s blooming loudly.

Good leaders understand that culture isn’t about keeping everyone happy. It’s about tending the system fairly, consciously, and consistently.

The question is simple: are you growing what you actually need – or just what makes you feel comfortable?