Truth & Diagnosis: What’s real vs. what’s performative and how to tell the difference

The comfort of signals that feel true

Organisations rely on signals because they offer certainty, or at least the illusion of it. Numbers feel objective. Artefacts feel tangible. Outputs feel reassuring.

Common examples include:

• Engagement survey scores that show improvement
• Brand statements that articulate strong values
• Regular internal communications activity
• High participation in initiatives or events
• Polished employer brand messaging
• Positive feedback captured in controlled environments

None of these are meaningless. But none of them are truth on their own.

Signals are indicators, not diagnoses.

They tell you what is visible, measured, or reported. They rarely tell you what is felt, lived, or experienced when no one is watching.

The cost of acting on false signals

When organisations act on signals instead of truth, the cost is not always immediate. It is cumulative.

You see it when:

• Change initiatives stall or quietly fail
• Rebrands feel disconnected from internal reality
• EVP messages attract people who do not stay
• Brand taglines prop up the ego, not stand apart
• Engagement plateaus despite ongoing effort
• Cynicism grows beneath polished language
• People disengage emotionally while remaining operationally present
  

The most damaging cost is erosion of trust.

When people sense leadership is responding to appearances rather than lived experience, they stop telling the truth. Feedback becomes filtered. Participation becomes performative. Belonging weakens.

At that point, even the signals lose their reliability.

What evidence actually reflects reality

Truth does not usually announce itself. You have to find where it shows up in patterns.

Reality is reflected in:

• What people say when there is no script
• How decisions are made under pressure
• Which behaviours are rewarded or ignored
• Who feels safe to speak and who stays silent
• How inconsistency is explained, or avoided
• What happens between strategy decks and daily work
  

Qualitative evidence matters here. Stories. Language. Tension. Repetition. Silence.

So does triangulation. When multiple sources, teams, or experiences point to the same friction, it is rarely coincidence.

Truth lives in the alignment, or misalignment, between what is said, what is done, and what is experienced.

What good diagnosis looks like before change begins

Good diagnosis slows the organisation down before it speeds it up.

It resists jumping to solutions. It prioritises understanding over reassurance. Good diagnosis asks better questions, not just more of them.

Strong diagnostic work looks like:

• Listening across levels, not just leadership
• Looking for contradictions, not consensus
• Exploring where language and behaviour diverge
• Separating sentiment from experience
• Naming discomfort without assigning blame
  
  

It also requires humility. A willingness to accept that what looks good on paper may not feel good in practice.

Diagnosis is not about finding fault. It is about unearthing the true reality.

Because meaningful change cannot be built on performance.

Belonging grows when truth is acknowledged

Belonging does not grow from assumptions or surface signals. It grows when organisations are willing to listen, question, and name what is really happening. Honest diagnosis signals that people’s lived experiences matter, that their reality is seen, and that change is grounded in understanding rather than performance.

When truth becomes part of how decisions are made, trust deepens and engagement becomes more meaningful. It creates the conditions for cultures and brands that people believe in, not because they are told to, but because they recognise themselves in the experience. That is where lasting change and genuine belonging, begins.

Need help unearthing the truth?

At Belong Creative, we support Brand Managers in diagnosing the reality of the lived experience for both customers and employees. Via interviews, focus groups and surveys we discover and report on what people really think. Only then is it possible to make better strategic decisions that position your brand for growth and performance. And that means helping people feel like they truly belong to your brand.