Performance Frontiers

Culture Check

Description/What is the Health Check?

The Cultural Health Check assists organisations in defining the culture on its own terms. This process involves managers/directors of the organisation deciding on the areas of interest that are crucial to defining the culture of the organisation. These selected areas will inform the nature and direction of the survey. The actual questions to be posed in the questionnaire will be selected by the client before being published.

The results of the questionnaire will provide the organisation with a clear view of the organisational culture, and an insight into the underlying mechanisms. By understanding an organisations culture, evidence is provided on the strengths and development areas; the inter-play of aspects which affect productivity, performance and retention; identification of the levers for cultural change; sub-culture differences (how they operate to support or impede organisational success); identify tensions; etc.

An Organisational Health Check generally assesses employee perceptions and includes critical examination of up to ten organisational dimensions:

• Communication: Adequate communication typifies a healthy organisation. Facilitating communication among co-workers and between managers and subordinates is essential. The communication process needs to be friendly, two-way and across all levels of the organisation.
• Commitment: Trust cultivates organisational health. A sense of pride among employees about the place of work results in commitment. This, in turn, leads to a willingness to attend work-related meetings.
• Morale: Employee morale is reflected in the friendly atmosphere where employees interact with each other, both professionally and personally. This gives them enough motivation to perform their jobs enthusiastically.
• Participation and involvement: Employees at all levels should be involved in decision-making processes. Employee ownership in decisions aids efficient implementation of measures.
• Organisational reputation: Positive reputation of the organisation is a reflection of organisational health. Employee involvement in improving relationships with the community is critical for such reputation.
• Performance recognition: When employees are encouraged and supported to attain their potential, they feel valued and appreciated.
• Goal alignment: Departmental goals are usually achieved in a healthy organisation. Employees can identify the focus of their departments and set the goals accordingly.
• Leadership: Leaders have well perceived working relationships with people at the top, peers and subordinates. They are generally friendly and approachable and contribute significantly to organisational health.
• Development: Employee development is an essential component of organisational health. Formal development and training programmes are mandatory. Accordingly, planning, execution and participation need to be facilitated.
• Resource utilisation: Appropriate use of resources is a measure for organisational health. Employee perception about shared resources results in goal achievement.

The Cultural Health Check will be tailored to your organisation and will explore areas of cultural interest.   

Features/What it does

The Culture Health Check is a comprehensive self-report questionnaire taking approximately 15- 30 minutes to complete. A follow up face-to-face survey is conducted with a representative sample of the organisation taking approximately 30 minutes.

The components of the process include:

• Online Questionnaire: offered to all members of the practice. The nature of the questions will require written responses with some of the questions asking respondents to grade their responses on a 5-point Likert scale of: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree.
• Face to Face Survey: this will be conducted with a representative sample across the practice. Interviews will be conducted over a period of 30 minutes in duration.
• Written Report: the report will contain a synthesis and a collection of the responses. It will be presented to the directors and will include a set of recommendations for consideration.

Benefits/how it helps you:

The questionnaire provide insights into the cultural dimensions of the practice which will include:

• Satisfaction levels in areas such work type and work load
• Work/life balance, team relationships
• Lines of communication
• Knowledge sharing, mentoring
• Learning and development
• Appreciation of organisational vision and values
• Recognition