What’s Your Company Culture? That Depends ....

In preparing for an upcoming client strategy session, I reviewed the results of a culture study which was done earlier this year. The study provided an overall measure of how employees feel about the company’s workplace and whether they would recommend coming to work there.

The report was organized so that the data could be stratified; broken down into several categories including employee levels, functions and by operating department. Overall, the scores indicated an operating culture that was well above average. So far, so good. However, a closer look at the data showed a chance, and a need, for rapid, continuous improvement.

While the overall score was reasonably strong, the results showed what statisticians refer to as multimodal distribution. Simply put, some departments were strong while others scored much lower. This means that employees in some areas of the company were far more energized and enthusiastic about the company than others. Those departments showing a lower score were led by supervisors and managers with limited preparation, training, and experience in leading and managing diverse teams of employees.

Two takeaways here. The first is as with any type of “satisfaction” survey, top line results provide a useful view, but a deeper analysis of the data can be more revealing. The second is the impact of supervisory, managerial, and leadership training and development on high-performing company culture. It’s no surprise that where this training is lacking, culture scores are less than ideal.

What does your organization’s culture look like? What is your plan for supervisory and leadership development for those employees who are called upon to lead others in departments, divisions, and teams?

For more information on ways to get started on or improve your organization’s development plan, contact me a joe@ajstrategy.com.