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By Angela Sinickas, Editor
angela.sinickas@melcrum.com
April 11th, 2008
Fact-based evidence of culture
I was recently asked: “If you had to build a fact-based argument to support a culture change – what areas would you look in to do that?”
I’ve always believed that culture is defined as “the way we do things around here”, whether that’s for a company or a country. So it all comes down to behavior. What facts can you gather about the way the culture currently is, compared with what the organization wants it to be?
I would start with the mission, vision, values and brand attributes that theoretically define an organization’s ideal culture. Then identify what behaviors would indicate that the ideal culture was actually being practiced.
Turn behaviors into percentages
For example, if respect is an ideal value, behaviors that indicate a respectful culture might be that supervisors don’t yell and swear at employees. Then you can measure on a survey how often employees say that supervisors currently yell or swear at them. A percentage from a well conducted survey is a fact, especially if the questions ask for frequency of observed behaviors rather than opinions about satisfaction. You might check any existing surveys for questions about these types of behaviors related to your culture before you start a new survey.
Other behaviors could be measured through observation. For example, respect could also be defined as providing needed information to other employees on a timely basis. You could check with HR how often performance review paperwork needed for pay increases is submitted on time to them vs. how often retroactive pay increases need to be paid.
Get external opinions
Similarly, many employee behaviors could be measured by external customer satisfaction surveys; often a bad internal culture spills over into behaviors affecting potential or actual customers as well. For example, just think about unhappy airline employees being rude to passengers or spending most of their time while passengers are trying to sleep chatting loudly in the galley about how bad the company is. Or in a retail environment, two employees may be so busy chatting with each other they make a customer wait for them to finish before asking “May I help you?”. These behaviors could be measured by observations of “secret shoppers” as well as from customer surveys.
See you next time.
Angela Sinickas
President, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
measurement@melcrum.com
Coping with crisis at Transport for London
Strategic Communication Management, April/May, 2008
In this free article from the latest issue of SCM, Janet Croissant, head of group internal communications at TfL, reflects on the internal communication challenges during the terrorist bombings. She suggests some questions to ask yourself when testing your own internal communication preparedness to handle a crisis.
BAA’s robust communication for T5 employees
Annie Waite, Internal Comms Hub, 7 April, 2008
Following the chaos at Terminal 5, the Hub asked Damon Hunt, head of media – operations, for BAA Heathrow, what communication BAA had undertaken with front-line staff to prepare for the opening of the much anticipated new terminal.
Email overload vs. Email education
Alex Manchester, Melcrum Blog, April 7,
2008
There's a lot of people out there at the moment who say they hate email, that it's a serious problem, and email overload is ruining our working lives. While I understand the issues people have with their email inbox, I'm with those who say that email itself is not the problem.....
Focus on your "almost engaged" employees for quick wins
Annie Waite, Internal Comms Hub, April 3, 2008
How many "honeymooners" or "hamsters" do you estimate your company employs? Research results from training and consulting firm, BlessingWhite, says you could be holding as many as 12%.
How to communicate a new way of doing business
Melcrum's Communicators' Network, April 8, 2008
Join in a conversation on Melcrum's Communicators' Network about how best to integrate workforces and create "one culture" post acquisition.
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