Workplace Culture Reviews

Workplace culture is hugely important to the success and overall health of an organisation. It is, therefore, essential to consider why your culture is the way it is and why it’s crucial that it stays that way (or changes).

Workplace culture is made up of employees’ values, behaviours, and attitudes across the organisation and at all levels of hierarchy. Positive cultures are found in supportive and respectful workplaces, and as such, leaders must be accountable to their employees and clearly communicate organisational expectations. 

Poor culture is easy to spot. Conflict is rife, and employees have a strong lack of trust in leadership at all levels. The general environment at work can be toxic, with harassment and bullying commonplace. In addition, senior leadership hoards information about the business strategy, leaving employees unsure why they are doing what they are doing. Disengaged employees, high turnover, poor customer relations and lower profits are examples of how poor culture can negatively impact the bottom line.

Changing a defective culture can be an enormous task, so much so that many organisations are often intimidated to tackle the issue head-on. However, putting your head in the sand or ignoring the issue is certainly not the right approach. Successful transformation of one’s culture is not organic, nor is it a matter of luck. It requires extreme attention to detail and diligent planning.

And that begins with a frank, unblinking assessment of your current culture.

Before being able to change a poor culture at work, it is first important to define your current culture and discuss what practices, behaviours, and values need to change.

 To do that, one needs to engage in an unflinching self-analysis. For example, how do employees see the organisation and its leaders? Does the organisation live up to its stated values, and what aspects of the current culture may hamper the growth and innovation that must accompany transformation?

When developing a strategy to change workplace culture, your current culture should be defined and how you want it to look in the future. Then, empower those who will take responsibility and set clear expectations and measurable goals. Finally, ask your employees for their input, and let them know you are listening. 

Organisations should as best practice, regularly review results and address any gaps as they arise.

 It is recommended that the in-depth review be conducted by an external, objective third party consultant as employees will be more likely to trust the independence and confidentiality of this approach. Observations and recommendations will be given to the organisation. 

 Examples of situations when it’s a good idea to have a culture review:

• Bullying and harassment complaints
• Poor productivity
• Unexplained absenteeism or increased presenteeism
• Workers compensation claims for stress leave and other health issues
• Staff retention issues
• Toxic teams

Our process of conducting a culture review:

When you retain SCS to conduct a workplace culture review, our process is to:

• Have a briefing with a representative of the organisation to get a rundown of the situation.
• Review any relevant workplace documentation, including policies and procedures, codes of conduct, workplace incident reports, grievances/complaints and any other information that may give us insight into the context and issues of the organisation and how to resolve them.
• Collect information through various means such as administering surveys, conducting focus groups and holding confidential interviews with individual team members, all employees, a specific group of employees or a cross-section of employees if the team is extensive.
• Provide a written report containing observations and recommendations and a guide for any required additional or ongoing support. This may include a workplace investigation or mediation.

For a confidential discussion to see how your organisation could benefit from conducting a culture review, please contact Segal Conflict Solutions on 02 8036 5558 / 0413 532 353 / saranne@segalconflictsolutions.com.au.