For some organizations, company culture is an elusive quality that hangs in the air, doing little more than getting a mention here and there at company meetings, on “About Us” web pages, and in job descriptions seen by candidates.
But for really successful companies, company culture is recognized as an important underpinning of performance that must be nurtured, improved upon, and continually measured. The business of measuring company culture can be a challenging task, which is why we think the infographic below, , is so valuable. The infographic breaks down culture into its major components, and then it provides suggestions for the appropriate metrics to track, as well as the behaviors, activities and attitudes to assess.
Measuring company culture, as we can easily infer from the infographic, is not a one-and-done activity. Instead, it is a discipline that starts with establishing a plan, determining KPIs, and developing a method of identifying, collecting and analyzing data. Snapshots of data may be quite interesting, but do not lend themselves to gaining a real understanding of the culture. At any point in time, various data points related to culture could appear to be fantastic, awful or anywhere in between. While there is some importance that can be attached to that, what is far more important is whether that data point improves, gets worse or flatlines over time.
For example, if absenteeism is high when you begin tracking it, and it remains high after you’ve made a real effort to improve the culture, it’s a clear indication that your strategy and/or tactics need to be changed. However, if absenteeism begins to fall after new programs are initiated, then your strategy and tactics have been validated.
Employee surveys are a useful way to measure culture, especially in evaluating areas like work-life balance. But as before, steady measurement over time is what brings enlightenment. For example, a single survey about work-life balance might yield disappointing results, but who knows? Perhaps when the survey went out, a lot of employees were just having a bad day. Tracking responses quarterly or annually enables you to establish meaningful responses that tell you whether you are on the right or wrong track. Another issue with surveys to keep in mind: Asking for employee input but never acting on it might well reduce engagement by making employees cynical, having a potentially ruinous effect on culture.
To learn more about how to measure culture and empower your organization to improve it, please continue reading now.