Over the past few months, I’ve been interviewing senior leaders from successful organizations across North America. During our conversations, I’ve tapped into the culture impacting practices that they believe are critical to the success of their business. In all cases, it’s about consistent and ongoing attention to how the work gets done. Defining what gets done is good, but driving engagement and productivity is great! The rewards for focusing on building a strong, positive culture come not only from a better bottom line, but also from the creation of a happier workplace.
So here are the top 10 culture practices from my research. How do you stack up? Score yourself on each question using the following criteria:
3 points if the answer is YES
1 point if the answer is SORT OF
0 points if the answer is OOPS, NOT YET
Top 10 Culture Practices
- ____ We have defined our organization’s purpose (Purpose answers the question: Why do we do what we do?)
- ____ We have consciously and purposefully defined our desired culture
- ____ Our defined culture aligns and supports our strategic plan
- ____ We measure our results with a culture specific assessment tool at least every 18 months
- ____ Our performance management system includes a review of our employee’s contribution to our culture
- ____ We have culture specific initiatives built into our annual business plan
- ____ Our physical workplace environment supports our desired culture
- ____ Our recruitment process includes an assessment for culture fit
- ____ We have identified the gaps between where our culture is today and where it needs to be tomorrow
- ____ Our leaders talk about and role model our core values consistently.
Total:____________
If your total score is:
21 – 30 points: Congrats and continue to keep the focus on culture!
11- 20 points: Your culture is probably pretty good, imagine growing it to great!
0 – 10 points: There’s gold in those hills folks. It’s time to start mining the opportunities!
Culture is like a living breathing organism. It needs to be nurtured and fed all the time. That was one common message I heard over and over again. There is no end to a culture journey. It needs to adapt to changing conditions. Whether those conditions are driven by changes in the industry, or by new technologies, or the impact of a new generation–our cultures are always evolving.
If you didn’t score 30 points on this quiz, take some to time to think about where you could be making a difference. Are there certain practices you’d like to hear more about? Just hit the reply button and type the # of the culture practice you would like to hear more about from the list above.
Business woman Mary Kay Ash said “People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps”.
If you’re looking for ways to build a better business, start by looking at your culture practices.
