culture surveyWhether intentional or not, a culture exists in organizations of all sizes that determines “how to be” at work.

Culture is uniquely composed of intentional and unintentional practices, words and actions creating patterns, expectations and behaviors both spoken and unspoken, employee norms, and leaders leading with their belief systems. Apple and IBM should not and do not have the same culture, despite being in the same industry.

I remember, as head of HR and a culture champion, I searched for culture surveys that did not put our culture in a box and realized that they did not exist. Survey companies fully integrated their belief system into their surveys, which forced me to choose between what they said our culture was and what insights we needed to best understand and align our unique culture.

Conscious Culture Group® addresses this problem through customized culture surveys. We spend time with organizational leaders on the from/to culture state. We interview top leadership team members – individually and confidentially – to determine important patterns that are then reflected back anonymously to the leadership team. We also ask employees to respond to a short, three question, customized survey which allows a quick assessment into the patterns of the employee experience and culture.

From there, we are able to design and implement a customized culture survey, picking the categories and questions designed to give valuable insight into the culture journey. Our extensive library of questions allows for a collaborative process to define the key categories and questions that inquire into the state of the culture in meaningful and impactful ways.

Typically, the customized culture survey is composed of 40- 50 questions sent electronically. Included are three open-ended questions tied to the culture and values of the company. A summary report generated by the Conscious Culture Group® provides overall scores and score breakdowns by department, level and manager. We recommend the survey to be repeated every 6 – 8 months to help determine impact and improvement needed for the next area of change. Each survey result becomes a benchmark for progress.

Topics can include:

  • Values Engagement
  • Change Collaboration
  • Communication Strategy
  • Leadership Trust
  • Manager
  • Innovation Retention
  • Leadership

…among many others.

We also understand that, for some leaders, it can be a scary experience to ask for and listen to employees sharing feedback around what is working and what can be improved. The truth is that a default culture exists, and the best path for improvement is to understand and influence it as a leader once understanding the culture as it is. Leading blind is not an effective strategy. Reaching out to employees from a place of curiosity is a powerful and influential strategy.

If you are interested in defining your conscious culture™ through a customized culture survey, we would love to partner with you. Contact Conscious Culture Group® today for more information.

What do you think? Is your culture unique? Should culture surveys be customized to fit unique cultures? Let’s have a conversation on this. Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.