A healthy culture can encourage company growth and provides resilience against the normal ups and downs of business life.
If a healthy culture is important how do you measure it?
Studies have found that behaviour based on a clearly defined purpose, mission and values creates a performance-based culture. So, an organisation needs to be deliberate and diligent about making sure the purpose, mission and values are reflected in the team’s attitudes and interactions.
In conducting an audit make sure the purpose, mission and values are reflected in the actions, words, policies and procedures conducted in the organisation. It is also important to remember, not so much on whether a divergence from culture occurs, but how the organisation responds once that happens.
Conducting a culture audit of an organisation is like a doctor monitoring a patient to see if there are any illnesses. It‘s a health check for a robust organisational culture and involves asking questions and making observations.
Key steps in making a culture audit.
Review documents such as policy and procedures manuals, staff induction programs, staff performance review documentation and any other formal documents relating to culture. These include turnover rates by department, results of exit interviews and employee complaints. Information from social media or customer feedback may also be relevant.
Looking at the ‘tone at the top’ is a good thing to do.
Tone at the top is a term that is used to define management's leadership and commitment towards openness, honesty, integrity, and ethical behaviour.
The tone at the top is often considered to permeate an entire organization, and good tone at the top is considered a prerequisite for solid corporate governance and culture.
A good organisational tone is set through policies, codes of ethics, a commitment to hiring competent employees, and the development of reward structures that promote good internal controls, effective governance and of course values that are defined and adhered too.
Interview them individually or in groups. Chose people from a cross-section of staff so that you get the opinions of people across disciplines and levels. Find out what they think of the organization and their place in it, also what they think of other people and groups in the organisation. Ask what they like and don’t like about the organization and how they would improve it. Ask what is special or different about the organization, how people fit into the organisation and why certain people don’t fit. Ask about the way things are done at work and what the organization stands for, what its goals are and how they fit into those two things. Ask about organisation policies and procedures and how they affect the work they do. What about rewards and recognition – are they happy with those.
Get them to tell a story about the organisation or the people in it.
Look at the space and furniture provided for differing levels of employee. Is there a common lunchroom? Are there many meeting rooms? Do employees look to be valued? Look at what people have on their desks and what is posted on notice boards. What is the tone? How are employees treated? Is there visible evidence that employees have been recognised? Do employees look to get on well. Is there a common room where they can socialize? Do many to outside for a smoke break?
Also as part of a check of the environment have a look at internal emails. Is there an intranet? How is that used? What is its theme? What is its tone?
A survey sent to all employees that allows anonymity is one of the most effective and efficient ways to measure organizational culture. Use the information collected in interviews and the tour to set appropriate questions. If you don’t want to design your own survey you can find examples at the following links:
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