How To Measure Culture
How do we measure culture?
It's a hard question. It's tough to place a value on organizational culture. It can seem subjective and based on answers to questions like “How does this make you feel?”
And that's a difficult question to quantify.
This article popped into my newsfeed yesterday, and I was excited to find some answers. While it’s well written and somewhat helpful, it’s also a tad convoluted and confusing.
The author says to develop KPIs around the question of culture. But the question is still, what exactly do we measure? How do we quantify culture?
I don’t want to oversimplify this issue at all. But I do believe we can remove some of the complexity without reductionism.
Organizational values are the engine for organizational culture.
Core values can not be random words on a poster plastered on the wall. Your values are the promises that you make to yourself, your team, and your customer. Your values and your culture are intricately intertwined.
The article cited above talks about creating KPIs for culture, which is something you can and should do. But, you have to know what you need to measure before you can start quantifying.
The specifics are clearly defined core values.
Create great core values for your organization.
What are the values that guide the way you spend your time and money?
What are the values that guide your choices related to your team?
Frame those values into promises that you make to yourself, your team, and your customers and clients.
You can then measure your culture by answering this simple question:
