Whether created with intention or not, every company has a culture. Company culture refers to the values, beliefs, personality, and practices that influence how work gets accomplished within an organization. It’s more than just a mission statement and set of values pinned to the wall; it’s the invisible force that influences employee engagement, retention, and overall stakeholder satisfaction.
How to Know if Your Culture is Truly “Great”
While many companies claim to have a “great culture,” few leaders invest the time to ground this assumption. One of the best ways to discover the truth about your company culture is to survey your internal stakeholders (aka your employees). Here are a few questions I recommend including in an employee survey:
- What do you enjoy most about working at Company?
- How would you describe the culture at Company?
- What three values do you perceive to be the most important values of Company?
- What values do you assess Company should aspire to incorporate?
- What is the one thing you think Company is the BEST at?
- How would you describe the service Company provides its clients/customers?
- How do you think Company compares to its competitors?
While the employee survey should always be anonymous, I suggest separating employees into groups. How many groups depends on the size of your organization. At a minimum, there should be one group for owners and executives and a second group for employees. Once the results are in, compare them between the groups. Often you will find some similarities and differences among groups. The similarities prove certain values exist company-wide, the differences show you there is work to do to ensure your company culture radiates throughout your organization.
Feeling brave? Send the same survey to your customers and vendors. This way you will have a complete picture of how your internal and external stakeholders perceive your company culture.