Culture Assessment

This question helps to determine whether employees feel they are part of an individual culture or collective culture. If your company has an individualistic culture, there is less of a team environment. Goals are unique to each employee, and there may be high competition between employees. In a collective culture or employees are working together in teams towards a common goal. When cultures are highly collective, they are led entirely by teams which comes with a possible lack of clear direction and vision. When cultures are entirely individualistic, they become task-oriented and lack the input of others. When a culture is low on collectivism and individualism, there is a culture of micro-management, making it difficult for leaders and employees to get things done. Several cultures however have done quite well under a micro-managed culture - especially start-ups that require high specification for their workforce at the beginning. Many software giants were built out of a strong few providing specifications to a team of employees. A good example is Amazon - There was nothing “wrong” with this style at the beginning- and employees did not feel badly about it either. Instead, they needed to get it done, and get it done fast. The only ones who knew exactly what to do were the leaders. And, when there is high individualism and collectivism, there is a greater likelihood of the outcomes being achieved because leaders, teams and individual contributors collectively achieve goals.  The best way for a growth company to achieve a great culture is to balance the direction of the leader with that of individuals and teams.

Managers can improve participation, engagement, and performance by creating a culture of coaching and organization development.  Employees should know what is being asked of them, their individual goals, team goals, and whether or not their performance is on-track. It builds trust and empowerment in the employees.

What is your organization's communication style? This question helps to understand if there's an open culture where managers are approachable and available to their employees closed, where it is difficult to communicate requirements, or random, where some information may be shared while other critical information may be withheld. Communication style, emotional regulation, and empathy impacts employee turnover and how connected employees feel to the organization and each other.

This question helps to evaluate whether leaders show understanding, mirroring of ideas, care for others families and life outside of work, follows-through on promises, and more.

This question helps to determine whether or not the current reward system (salary, performance bonuses, etc.) are seen as effective and appropriate by the employees. This question also determines whether other reward systems are more important to employees Other reward systems may include succession planning, personal coaching and development, public recognition, achievement of personal and team goals and more.  In a study by Best Practice Institute called, Most Loved Workplace, only 24% of employees find that compensation is a motivating factor and 28% of employees feel benefits is a motivating force for performance as opposed to 76% who felt alignment of personal and company values and 78% who felt that they were respected were the most important motivators for high performance.