How to Measure Culture

The Leader Factor

How are you measuring your organization's culture? In this episode of Culture by Design, Tim and Junior are discussing just that. This is a fantastic episode for individuals who really care about being cultural architects and being practitioners in their roles, not just theorists. Tim and Junior will dive into the fundamentals of culture, the different ways we measure culture today, and what metrics give you the most actionable and practical insights on how to improve your culture.

What is culture? (01:28) Culture can be segmented into material and non-material, visible and invisible parts. But at the end of the day it all comes down to how we interact. Tim and Junior explain that how you define culture influences how you attempt to measure it, which, of course, influences your dataset.

How do most people measure culture? (11:01) Most organizations currently use a mix of employee surveys, focus groups, interviews, cultural audits, exit interviews, performance management tools and people analytics tools to measure what's going on in their organization. They're measuring things like employee satisfaction, engagement, teamwork, innovation, diversity, and turnover, not culture directly. Tim and Junior delve into these methods of measurement and why they are the lag measures of culture, not the lead measures.

What does a healthy culture look like? (19:09) Healthy cultures are cultures of rewarded vulnerability. The health of our interaction is dependent upon how others respond to our acts of vulnerability, if they're rewarded, we're working in what's called a blue zone. But if they're punished, we end up working in a red zone.

How does LeaderFactor measure culture? (27:12) At LeaderFactor, we measure psychological safety as the lead indicator of culture. If a healthy culture is a culture of rewarded vulnerability, our ability to monitor and measure red and blue zones in organizations allows us to determine the levels of inclusion, learning, contribution, and candor on any team.

Important Links
The 4 Stages Survey