What’s Your Company’s Culture?
The Denison Culture Survey prides itself on over 20 years of research linking
organizational culture and leadership to performance.
“Denison Consulting research-based model and tools are designed to improve the performance of organizations by improving their corporateculture and leadership. At our core is a set of diagnostic surveys, rooted in our research linking organizational culture and leadership to business performance. This diagnostic technology is supported by a world-class electronic delivery system and a global consulting network designed to give client organizations the choices that they need to be successful.”
The survey was bench marked with 1,076 organizations around the world, including Shell, IKEA, Nintendo and Jet Blue. Our company scores were based on a comparison of what these other companies scored and placed us in the respective quartiles.
It focused on four traits:
- MISSION – This includes the mission statement, vision statement and your company values. It aligns your strategic direction along with your intent, answering the question, “Do we know where we are and where we are going?”
- CONSISTENCY – This includes a set of behavior standards that is practiced. In other words, it’s the company’s ability to “walk the talk.” It also answers the question, “Does our system create leverage?”
- INVOLVEMENT – This trait focuses on the front-line employees and if they are as involved as they say they are. Are they aligned and engaged?
- ADAPTABILITY – Change: It’s inevitable. How well does your company adapt to change. Do they embrace it? Sometimes, it’s simply asking yourself, “What do I need to learn in order to provide something to my customer? My employees?” Is your company listening to the marketplace? And, more importantly, are they responding?
I went in to the meeting with few expectations. I just started working for this company in June of this year, so about a month ago when I took the survey, I wasn’t sure how to respond. For many items, I found myself answering, “N/A.” I wanted to contribute, but I also didn’t want to answer ignorantly. There’s a huge line between what I had felt in a few months based on the overall company objective. But, once I was in the meeting and saw the results, I had a better idea of the company as a whole, where it stands and where it is headed.
The Denison Culture Survey states that companies who score well have more satisfied customers and high ROI. This didn’t surprise me, either, but it is always reassuring to see the positive correlation. I think surveys like this are so important for companies to consider. If you don’t understand yourself or how your employees view you as a whole, how are you supposed to move forward, successfully?
Luckily, our company excels externally. Our employees stated that they feel empowered and that they can have a positive impact on the company. Also, customers are our forefront. They are the focus. Our goal is to improve our communications with each other. Turns out that we are exceptional at the “hard” things… And leave room for improvement in the “easy” things.
Phew! 
