{"id":5816,"date":"2018-07-12T11:38:34","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T15:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/?p=5816"},"modified":"2024-08-30T11:12:25","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T15:12:25","slug":"evaluate-your-company-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/evaluate-your-company-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Evaluate Your Company Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-5817\" src=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/african-descent-3472462_1280-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"evaluate your company culture\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/african-descent-3472462_1280-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/african-descent-3472462_1280-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/african-descent-3472462_1280-1080x720.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/african-descent-3472462_1280.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/components-of-company-culture\/\" rel=\"noopener\">previous article<\/a>, we explained that every organization has a culture, and every culture has three components\u2014the organization\u2019s rules, traditions, and people. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/how-to-identify-your-company-culture\/\" rel=\"noopener\">second article<\/a>, we showed you how to identify the culture that you have so you\u2019re able to assess whether it\u2019s the culture that you want. We turn now to the question of how to evaluate your company culture.<\/p>\n<p>The specifics of a good culture vary from company to company, but there are a few general qualities of a good culture that you should aim for whatever your industry and mission. A good culture should be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Well-defined and understood;<\/li>\n<li>Embraced by people in the company;<\/li>\n<li>In alignment with your mission; and<\/li>\n<li>Beneficial to the long-term success of the company.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1>Is Your Culture Defined and Understood?<\/h1>\n<p>If you asked your employees to talk about your company culture, would they know what to say? Would they have similar answers? Could they point to a mission or vision statement? Maybe a set of core values and shared beliefs? What about company policies and procedures? In short, do they know how people are expected to behave and interact in the workplace? Do they know the rules? The traditions?<\/p>\n<p>You won\u2019t have much control over your culture if you don\u2019t clearly define it. You don\u2019t need to write down every expectation, but they should be evident in some way. That said, written statements really do help. Add them to your <a href=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/what-we-offer\/employee-handbook\/\" rel=\"noopener\">company handbook<\/a> as a way to communicate those expectations and hold everyone accountable to them.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also good to take time to discuss your culture \u2014 maybe in a quarterly meeting or at an annual retreat \u2014 that way everyone understands it and knows how they can play a role in cultivating and developing it. By discussing the culture that you have as well as the culture that you want, you can work through any ambiguities and ensure you have alignment and buy-in. And if you discover that your ideas about the organization\u2019s culture are not well-received or agreed upon, that\u2019s useful information to have, as your roadmap for success will look different depending on the kind of culture you have in place.<\/p>\n<h1>Is Your Culture Embraced?<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>If you\u2019ve defined your culture and clearly communicated it to employees, the next question to ask is whether your employees embrace it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important that the people who work for you believe in the purpose of the company and the ways you set out to achieve it. A company that prides itself on honesty and being helpful doesn\u2019t want salespeople who lie about the products and manipulate customers. It wants professionals who value truth and integrity.<\/p>\n<p>When you look at your defined culture and evaluate how much it\u2019s internalized by employees, you may find that not everyone buys into it. This may be expected, but don\u2019t settle for indifference. Make it a point to emphasize that the culture you\u2019ve defined is important to you. To start, the leaders in your organization must live the culture themselves. Interact with employees the way you want them to interact with you.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, though, that culture isn\u2019t set in stone. It\u2019s always developing and adjusting since culture lives and grows out of the way people in an organization think, feel, and act. Each new person you bring in will contribute something new to the culture. New habits. New perspectives. New ideas. So, encourage employees to make the culture their own and encourage them to contribute to it.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1>Is Your Culture Aligned with the Mission of Your Organization?<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Let\u2019s say your culture is clearly defined and most of your employees embrace it. What\u2019s next? Make sure your culture is aligned with the good of your organization. Your organization has a purpose. Does your culture help further the purpose, does it sabotage it, or is it a mixed bag?<\/p>\n<p>When identifying and assessing your rules and traditions, make sure they all work together and don\u2019t undercut each other. Suppose as a company you encourage employees to be innovative, but you also don\u2019t put up with mistakes. What would happen? You\u2019d likely stifle innovation. Employees would avoid sharing new ideas since they\u2019d be worried they might make a mistake.<\/p>\n<p>Also, take a good look at the cultures of each department and each team. These smaller groups will have their own ways of interacting and doing things, and that\u2019s okay, but their micro-cultures shouldn\u2019t fundamentally conflict with the larger organizational culture.<\/p>\n<p>If your overall culture isn\u2019t aligned with your mission, or if the cultures of some departments don\u2019t match the cultures of others, this can create conflict and disorder. If people aren\u2019t united behind your company\u2019s purpose, they likely aren\u2019t all following your rules or traditions, either. And that can create resentment and frustration, hurt morale, and stifle productivity.<\/p>\n<h1>Is Your Culture Conducive to Long-Term Success?<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Among the most important questions to ask when evaluating your culture is whether it\u2019s conducive to the organization\u2019s success. Your core values and practices might all be in alignment, but what if the values themselves, or the mission or vision, aren\u2019t good for long-term sustainability? There\u2019s a possibility that the core values you defined aren\u2019t really the best ones for you to have. Maybe your current mission and vision won\u2019t take you as far as others could.<\/p>\n<p>One way to answer whether your culture will lead to success is to analyze your recent successes and failures, asking why each happened. For this analysis, you would examine the underlying reasons why people acted the way they did. If, for example, a project failed because there was a breakdown of communication, you\u2019d assess whether the existing policies and procedures for communication played any kind of role. Maybe the rules for how people communicate weren\u2019t clear to everyone. Or perhaps people weren\u2019t sharing information because they didn\u2019t trust one another, in which case you\u2019d want to discover why they didn\u2019t trust one another. If your rules or traditions are causing problems, they may need to be revised or abandoned. On the other hand, if they\u2019re contributing to your successes, look for ways to strengthen them.<\/p>\n<p>GTM\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/what-we-offer\/human-capital-management\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">payroll and HR system<\/a>\u00a0helps keep your employees engaged, improving your company\u2019s culture.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/contact-gtm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Contact us<\/a>\u00a0to learn more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What makes a good culture in one workplace might not work in another, so you need to evaluate your company culture to see what works best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[49,16,18],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-5816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consulting-services","tag-culture","tag-employees","tag-employer-policies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5816"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5859,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5816\/revisions\/5859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5816"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=5816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}