I ask board members what they use to manage the organisations performance and to inform their strategic decision making.
They usually tell me they have a good handle on performance through effective measures and a highly tuned reporting structure. They run me through such things as:
- Customer Satisfaction/Service data
- Number of Complaints received over 12 months
- Sickness Absence Totals
- Total appraisals completed
- Number of disciplinary’s
- Total training days delivered to staff
- Budgets/Financial
Excellent! When were these things last discussed? Monthly meetings and a big review every quarter I am told. A quiet confidence normally exists amongst the board at this point.
I then ask the following – “If your workplace culture was the best it could be, how much improvement do you think there would there be?”
The answers range from 5% to 80% improvement from each member of the board.
When did you last measure it? – Blank faces and silence is normally the loud reply.
When did you last discuss it? – “HR did something last year”
So, we agree that culture can improve things by between 5% and 80%, but it is not regularly discussed, it is not measured and more worryingly – the board have left it to somebody else to ‘do something’
The quiet confidence becomes a silence of discomfort.
Are you really confident you are measuring the whole performance environment – especially the most important enabler you have got?
Whilst the word ‘Culture’ is very mainstream nowadays, any pro-active and meaningful action about it is definitely not.
Ask yourself – how much improvement could there be in your business if you managed your culture?
