Business Culture: Is It Time To Press ‘Pause’ and Take A Deeper Look In Your Organization?

It was an honor to have recently spoken at AED’s Leadership Conference in California.  One of the interesting piece of research on business culture we discussed was a joint Columbia/Duke University study of 1800 CEO’s and CFO’s.  This research found:

• 92% agreed improving business culture would improve the value of their company
• Only 15% agreed their business culture was where it needed to be
• 70% agreed leaders need to spend more time on business culture

One practical application question we challenged participants with is – ‘what are your organization culture’s strengths, weaknesses, and strategic opportunities?’

It is impossible to answer the above question without measurement.  Measurement helps us identify what is helping us generate or not generate results.  It also helps us test different variables, better respond to change, and make more informed decisions.  But, really good measurement should also:

• Focus on the ‘vital few not trivial many’ factors
  
• Generate discussion (not just get filed away)
• Include timely feedback communication  
  
• Take action (for continuous improvement)
• Drive superior results

If you don’t yet have or are looking for improved business culture assessment tools that are strategically aligned and drive practical solutions, then consider our:     

• High Performance Cultural Review Process (HPC-RP) – This unique audit tool looks for evidence (physical documentation, direct observation, and/or consistent collaborated feedback) of 85 items that directly impact an organization’s culture.  Discover where there is strong alignment or inconsistencies in processes that Inform, Teach, and Reinforce the ‘way we do things here.’  Clients can be trained to do self-administration.
• High Performance Cultural Assessment Process (HPC-AP).  This next generation assessment process builds upon lessons learned from over 200 previous cultural assessments.  HPC-AP is a ‘full physical’ compared to traditional employee surveys that take a ‘pulse’.  It uses multiple data gathering techniques to better understand what employees are ‘picking up’ that cause them to think, feel, and act the way they do in your business.  Senior management is directly involved to maximize the return on this investment measurement.

Is it time to ‘press pause’ in your organization and measure a huge competitive differentiator – business culture?  Let’s chat at [email protected].