Measuring organisational culture can feel a lot like polling toddlers on their fruit and vegetable preferences in the leadup to a family shopping trip. There are so many unpredictable variables (the exact redness of the apples, the perceived spikiness level of the litchis, whether the green peppers are looking ‘scary’ when you cut it open or not, etc.), that surely it’s not even worth the hassle?
You might as well wing it and hope you don’t end up with a surplus of bananas attracting fruit flies or a major shortage of baby carrots (which had not been a thing, ever) causing a complete and utter meltdown.
All toddler-related metaphors aside, measuring organisational culture can feel completely impossible if you’re trying to do so without the proper tools in place.
Happily, it’s a brand-new decade and human resources technology has developed to the point where we are now in the immensely fortunate position of being able to determine how our companies’ organisational cultures are doing at any given time, and what we can do to improve it overall.
This is great news for quite a few reasons. The benefits of being able to measure organisational culture properly include:
- The ability to base important HR decisions on relevant data.
- The retention and engagement of great employees.
- The promotion of high-performance teamwork throughout your organisation.
- The development of better leaders who understand their roles in shaping the social and psychological environment within your enterprise.
- The creation of an ongoing, internally owned measurement strategy based on your company’s unique requirements.
- Finding out which shared assumptions hinders the achievement of your company goals.
- Strengthening the connection between corporate culture and high performance.
- Aligning your employees with your most important strategic objectives.
After all, at a time when statistics are telling us that disengaged workers have 37% higher absenteeism and commit 60% more errors, and companies with low engagement scores also suffer from 18% less productivity, it makes sense to place a strong focus on company culture and overall employee satisfaction levels. Especially since we know that for every 1% increase in employee engagement, you can expect to see an additional 0.6% growth in sales.
So, without further ado, here are the essential tools you’ll need to keep tabs on your organisation culture:
1. Pulse surveys
An annual engagement survey is all good and well, but if your goal is to tailor immediate action plans and you prefer measuring employee engagement on the go, the instant feedback provided by a pulse survey will be more up your alley.
When you use this type of survey style effectively, employee feedback will be provided so quickly and so often that you’ll be able to gauge morale and satisfaction in what pretty much amounts to real-time.
You also won’t be dealing with clunky survey results that will take weeks to compile, assess and interpret by upper management, only to find that the lay of the land had changed when the correct person swoops in to correct the course.
Read more: Why pulse surveys are all the rage right now
2. Key performance indicators
Key performance indicators, also called KPIs for short, is a good way to provide employees and managers with milestones to work towards throughout the employment journey.
When used in collaboration with other culture measurement tools, it can serve to determine whether a given employee has the resources and support they need to succeed within your organisation, is suitable for their current role, or might need a little more guidance. It can also be used to help employees incorporate new behaviours into their daily jobs in the long run.
3. Gamified learning platforms
Mobile-boosted learning tools are a great way to promote cultural change and development by introducing new concepts and keeping certain behaviours top of mind. By delivering short messages that drive your culture goals, you can increase efficiency, productivity, service delivery and more.
Read more: Why you need bountiXP for a more aligned organisational culture
4. Self-assessments
Once an employee is sufficiently settled within your company, they should understand what is expected of them, have the tools to reach their goals and show a genuine effort to apply newly acquired skills and adopt behaviours that align with your ideal culture.
At this point, self-assessments with the support of a manager can help employees to set clear goals to improve their performance, and a way to make corrections, learn new behaviours and generate valuable feedback overall.
5. Culture impact scorecard
A culture impact scorecard refers to a tool that acts as a digital dashboard from where you can manage and communicate the importance of company culture within your organisation. This is very helpful when it comes to making decisions regarding training, knowledge transfer and application, behaviour change and transformation in general.
So, just to recap, the ability to measure the cultural environment of an organisation will benefit your company because you’ll be able to base important HR decisions on hard data, retain and engage your best employees, promote high-performance teamwork, develop intuitive and involved leaders, address unwanted shared assumptions that stand in the way of achieving company goals, and align your employees with important strategic objectives. That’s a whole lot of yasssss right there.
And, the most important tools you need in your measuring arsenal in 2020 include:
- Pulse surveys
- Key performance indicators
- Gamified learning platforms
- Self-assessments
- Culture impact scorecard
With these tools at your disposal, you will be able to keep abreast of the unique social and psychological factors that impact on the health, happiness and productivity of your workforce and address aspects of a company culture that don’t count in your favour.
Are you serious about improving workplace satisfaction and culture at your company? Why don’t you get the ball rolling with our employee recognition platform for free? Simply click the button below to get started.