Improve Organizational Culture With This Simple Assessment

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

  Organizational Culture  

When we think of working in a positive culture, we think of organizations that encourage growth, treat us fairly, respect us, provide meaningful and challenging work, and more—basically, a culture that embodies goodness.

But if those attributes are universally desirable, why is it that there are so many organizations that don’t deliver? I believe that it is due to two basic reasons:

1. They don’t know how.
2. These attributes aren’t what they embrace or pursue.

In essence, the leadership of some organizations has its own definitions of “good,” and those definitions might not align with its employees and other stakeholders.

In addition, the nature of some organizations (like defense contractors, R&D firms, etc.) might not lend itself to being transparent, engaging or trusting. In fact, some—by design—constantly strive to be secretive, opaque and deflective as it is the nature of the products they produce.

Suffice it to say, that it is important for us to know when we are working for one of these types of organizations. But let’s set those organizations aside and focus on those that want to deliver on more traditional values.

When seeking to improve the overall culture of an organization, it is important to understand which areas actually need improvement and which areas need to be protected and …

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