check

Quick Culture Checkup for Your Organization

Culture is about way more than foosball tables and funky furniture. It’s a collection of big and small collective behaviors that set the tone and experience of working in an organization. That being said, leaders can build trust and accountability through behaviors that may seem small on the surface - like early on in Ted Lasso when he fixes the shower pressure in the locker room. This seemingly small moment is a turning point where we start to see team members trusting that he respects and responds to their concerns and gets things done to improve their experience.  

 

Before doing the checkup, take a moment to reflect on what a great culture would look and feel like for you. What I love about culture is that you can teach ways to improve it and simultaneously, without teaching anything, most people know what good and bad culture feel like. 

 

For example, if I ask you…

  • What teams have felt best to work with? What characteristics or behaviors did those teams have?

or

  • What teams have felt worst to work with? What characteristics or behaviors did those teams have?

You could probably share a ton of things about past and present teams. So go ahead and think about these questions to get started. 

Click the button below to start.

Start

Question 1 of 5

 

How do leaders (or your direct manager) respond to feedback? 

A

Gaslighting: “That didn’t happen.”

B

Defensiveness: “That wasn’t my intent.”

C

The right words without the behavior to back it up.

D

Appreciation for the feedback, acknowledgement of harm done, commitment to change/action, accountability,

Question 2 of 5

What do boundaries look like in your organization?

A

Messages at all hours (including weekends) with the implicit or explicit expectation of reply.

B

Messages at all hours, but with clear expectation that people won’t reply during off hours.

C

Messages within all working hours with expectation of reply.

D

Established times that communication happens during agreed upon hours.

Question 3 of 5

Which of the following is true for your organization?

A

We don’t have established organizational values.

B

We have values but it feels like they get ignored or we often do the opposite.

C

We have organizational values and some leaders and they are modeled in informal ways.

D

We have organizational values and mechanisms to regularly check our alignment with them.

Question 4 of 5

 

When you think about experiences of sharing suggestions, feedback, or concerns with managers or leaders in your organization, which of the following is most accurate?

A

I have personally experienced, have seen others experience, or expect those who share these to experience repercussions (could include bullying, firing, taking away opportunities, etc.).

B

I’m not sure what would happen, but I would not feel safe sharing suggestions, feedback, or concerns with my boss or leaders in my organization.

C

I feel safe sharing suggestions, feedback, or concerns with my manager or leaders, but would not expect anything to change.

D

I feel safe sharing suggestions, feedback, or concerns with my manager or leaders and trust that they would be taken seriously with clear actions.

Question 5 of 5

What expressions of care are part of your team or organization?

A

My team or organization is actively depleting, harmful, or hurtful.

B

We check in on each other informally or between peers.

C

We have some established mechanisms to check-in on colleagues, but limited or no established actions or policies for supporting one another.

D

We have established and frequently used mechanisms and practices to check-in on how people are feeling and clear actions for ways to support them (providing time off, benefits to support mental health, and other support systems).

Confirm and Submit