Management by “walking around[1]” is a concept about getting out among your people to see what they are thinking and saying.  While this is a critical part of management, this tactic is not always used effectively.  Sometimes employees describe this practice with a little sarcastic humor by referring to it as, “management by wandering aimlessly.”  

Savvy leaders know that they can’t always hear what is being said, and more importantly,  “what is not being said.” A skilled third party professional can provide your organization with valuable insight on the dynamic forces that are at work in your culture.

The importance of knowing your organization's culture

An organization’s culture can be complex.  It is generated from many areas, such as deeply rooted beliefs held by employee groups, values, attitudes, interests, opinions, social clusters, individual and group behavior, impact of management style, changing business conditions, and much more. An expert organizational development consultant can assess, analyze, and interpret the dynamics of the culture and provide your organization with information that will help:

	Build upon the organization’s internal strengths and to minimize the negative impact of identified weaknesses.
	Make the changes that are necessary for your organization to more effectively achieve your strategic objectives.
	Develop interventions that will help you build your desired culture.
	Design succession planning and leadership development.
	Deal with lingering conflicts and causes of poor morale or motivation.
	Prepare for workforce integration in a changing business environment.

Why Survey the Workplace Culture?

	To solve employee retention issues.
	To determine causes of low morale and absenteeism.
	To assess training and development needs.
	To determine why and where communication is breaking down.
	To gauge the organization’s commitment to quality, safety, and other critical business measures.
	To develop strategies for meaningful change.
	To gather employee ideas about where the organization excels and where they believe it could improve.
	To determine predictors of organizational success.
	To inventory employee perceptions related to job satisfaction, retention, innovation, creativity, absenteeism, health care, safety, and cultural issues.
	To assess and solve workforce and workplace issues.
	To assess the wellness of diversity strategies.
	To implement strategies that strengthen the abilities and contributions of employees.
	To be able to objectively judge the gap between what is desired and what exists.

The Process: 10 Steps for Surveying the Workplace Culture

Getting Ready

1. Determine the purpose and objective of the survey activity.
2. Customize the interaction strategy (observations, interviews, questionnaires, etc.).

Surveying the Workplace Culture

3. Conduct the survey exercise.
4. Analyze the findings.
5. Do follow-up individual and small group meetings, if appropriate.
6. Report the results.

Engaging the Management Team

7. Perform the cultural gap analysis: where you are vs. where you want to be.
8. Implement the Workplace Culture Intervention and Care Plan.
9. Assess the results.
10. Adjust as necessary.

For more information please contact:
Elizabeth Johnson
phone: 1.800.200.1104
email: info@corneliusassoc.com
or use our CONTACT FORM