A Company Culture Health Check
How are you building sustained commitment to your corporate culture?
It’s time for a culture health check!
“Building a strong positive culture takes time and many efforts, both large and small. The greatest asset and greatest Achilles’ heel of any company is its culture. It is the beating heart of any organization. Leaders must listen to it and note the irregular rhythms. (CityBusiness)”
A strong, positive workplace culture takes deliberate work and commitment. Regular check-ups and temperature checks to identify and pre-treat irregular rhythms before they become chronic organizational illnesses.
In this time, right now, it is important to check in on your culture. Parts of the world are experiencing unprecedented weather patterns impacting basic living conditions. International events can be a great source of stress and anxiety for many; and grief and depression for others in our increasing global businesses and diverse staff. Closer to home, people are navigating their own, individual journey through the choppy waters that are the global pandemic. As business leaders, we strive to manage a team, run a business, and provide for customers while all of this is happening to them and to us.
Yet, this is not the time to lose sight of your corporate culture. In fact, now is the time to “listen to it and note the irregular rhythms.”
Here is a four step process to process a health check on your culture.
Gather Diagnostics Information
First, evaluate your culture in relation to what you want it to be. Part of diagnosing is evaluating where you are compared to where you need to be in order to be successful and sustainable in a changing environment. Be specific and clear about what culture you want so that you can spot the irregularities.
- Does your vision still describe the future ideals of the organization?
- Are your organization’s purpose(s), goals, and values truly reflective of how your organization should show up in the world?
- Are your core values the right ones to guide your organization’s actions, from the CEO down to every employee in every role
Next, engage the conversation across the organization. Talk culture at every level, across the organization through interviews, focus groups, and even surveys to understand what the members of the organization think of the culture, what they believe makes a good culture for your organization, and how they may see that show up every day. Are there sub-cultures or micro-cultures that are distracting from the kind of culture you want?
Finally, observe the behaviors, rituals, and actions across the organization. Observing behavior, decision-making, and habits creates the opportunity to identify where actions don’t align with words.
With all the information in hand, consider how far away your organization is from the culture you want and what factors may be exerting influence on your culture.
Build a Treatment Plan
Building the right treatment plan means knowing where to triage. Perform an analysis to determine which policies, practices, and programs are aligned with the new cultural expectations and those that are least aligned. Check your
- Recruiting, selection, and hiring practices
- Onboarding practices
- Performance Management policies and practice
- Compensation & Benefit policies
- Training and Development programs
- Reward and Recognition programs
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practices and programs
Depending on the diagnostic outcomes, it may be necessary to build treatment plans around sales and go-to-market tactics.
Identify dependencies that also need attention to properly adjust all these areas. The right order of treatment is critical to both demonstrating commitment and achieving a positive outcome. Most important to the treatment plan, decide how to allocate resources appropriately, especially when considering the team and the budget.
Gather the Team
It is important to build a team that has the expertise in all the areas covered in the treatment plan and tap change agents from within your organization. Determine which experts you already have and which you may have to acquire.
- Utilize senior leadership to sponsor the endeavor.
- Get a project manager and maybe even a change manager, to help organize and keep the team plan.
- Ensure your HR and Finance leaders are engaged in the process.
- Do not underestimate the impact of middle managers, bring them onto the team early as they can help manage change up, down, and across, affecting a great deal of your workforce.
- Consider whether you need to hire an expert long-term, full-time, or if a part-time consultant can bridge the organization.
- Engage those in the organization that may not be experts but are highly influential and passionate. Use them as change agents to engage their peers throughout the change process. Experts partnered with those that can influence your culture can improve the pace and speed of change.
Invest for Long Term Health
Culture doesn’t change overnight and often all items on the treatment plan can’t be handled at once or may need small adjustments over a period of time. Even after the “treatment plan” has been executed, a sustained commitment to culture has to be maintained as painstakingly as the commitment to financial growth.
- Stay tuned in! Build in a continuous feedback model and keep those eyes and ears open.
- Make culture visible by identifying and rewarding the “bright spots.” Continue to recognize and celebrate those that are making a difference in upholding and improving the culture.
- Continue to evaluate policies, processes, practices, and programs. As the organization continues to change and grow, these will also require adjustments along the way.
No matter the situation or circumstances, prevention is the best medicine so take the time, make the effort, and execute regular cultural health checks. Early detection increases the possibility of healthy outcomes that are less costly, so keep listening and “note the irregular rhythms.”
CityBusiness Guest Perspective. (n.d.). The leader’s guide to shaping a strong corporate culture. New Orleans CityBusiness (LA).
About The Author
Originally published at https://www.wyld.work on February 2, 2022.
