Every organization has a culture whether it has worked hard to establish one or not. Just like brands, cultures exist whether we are deliberate about defining, nurturing, and managing culture or not. In fact, organizations often have multiple cultures just as they may have multiple brands. The process, far simplified, for managing both is the same:
- Determine what you want it to be; we generally recommend coming up with a list of desired attributes. In the case of culture, these attributes might be things like: innovative, service-oriented, employee-focused, etc.
- Determine the perspectives of key target audiences. They’re the ones who define your brand, or culture, not you. Here, what we’d recommend is providing your list of desired attributes to your audience and asking them to rate the extent to which they believe each attribute is true on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest.
- Identify gaps between your desired and actual state based on target audience input.
- Take steps to close the gaps.
While quantitative employee engagement/satisfaction assessments can be a good way to establish a benchmark and track and trend employee engagement data related to elements of a corporate culture over time, I also like to use some simple qualitative assessments that can quickly provide some useful insights.
Checking Your Culture
Qualitative assessments can be a very efficient way to monitor your culture. These assessments can serve as “pulse points” to keep an eye on your culture in an ongoing manner.
For instance:
- Hang around the parking lot at an organization whose official “end time” for the workday is 5:00 and see how many employees exit immediately at, or even before 5:00 p.m. Further, watch if and whether they interact with each other as they leave the building and the non-verbal cues they may be sending—e.g. frowning, looking down, etc. This can give a very good sense of how engaged/interactive employees are and how much they enjoy/like their jobs. Leaving at or before the official end time sends a clear single of disengagement.
- Similarly, hang out in the breakroom and observe interactions between employees and, even more telling, between employees and supervisors/managers/leaders. Environments where leaders never interface socially with employees in casual settings signal a culture that is very top-down; environments where leaders are virtually indistinguishable from line staff members and who interact and engage with them socially in positive ways send an entirely different message.
These types of qualitative signals are exactly that—qualitative—and shouldn’t be relied upon without other inputs that could be attained through assessments like focus groups, depth interviews, surveys, etc. However, they are a good way to quickly “get a sense” of the culture in any organization.
Mid- and Post-Pandemic Culture Shifts
Keep in mind that, just like brands, cultures change over time. Your culture is being continually impacted by changes that are both internal and external. Internal changes may be such things as employees joining and leaving the organization, new managers or new leadership, etc. External changes could be such things as shifts in technology, change in demand for your products and services which impact the bottom line, and pandemics!
Your desired culture may also shift. That’s not only okay, sometimes it’s a must-have to ensure optimum productivity and to achieve your business strategies. We’re all being presented with a great example of this right now as some employees are returning to the workplace, while others may continue to work remotely. That hybrid environment requires a different kind of culture than what your organization may previously have had.
This represents an opportunity for your organization to become more deliberate about defining and nurturing your desired culture. What better time to start discussions and achieve consensus on what you want your corporate culture to be? If the task seems too daunting, or you simply don’t have the bandwidth to take this on yourself right now, we can help.
About Us
Strategic Communications, LLC, works with B2B clients to help them achieve their goals through effective content marketing and management with both internal and external audiences. We work with clients to plan, create and publish high-quality, unique content. Whether on- or offline, or both, we’ll help you achieve desired results.
(Strategic Communications is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise through the Wisconsin Department of Administration.)
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Tags: corporate culture, culture assessment, culture eats strategy for lunch, Employee Communication, employee culture, managing corporate culture, managing culture, measuring corporate culture, signs of a strong corporate culture, signs of a weak corporate culture