Culture Assessment

Culture is about understanding why organizations do what they do and get what they create. Corporate Culture could also be defined as “whatever keeps an organization from being competitive and is difficult to change.” Organizations typically undertake a culture assessment to understand what is at root in explaining why they get what they get.

In order to understand culture, it is necessary to understand the common values and the assumptions and beliefs that are shared by its people. The reason “culture” is of such interest to organizational leadership is because they understand that shared values and assumptions lead to shared behavior that drives results. Unfortunately organizations espouse one set of values while behaving from a different set of values. Sooner or later, values and assumptions have to be identified and changed or aligned if different results are to be achieved.

Light Storm partners with clients to make the obvious, visible by gathering data about what really matters most and why people do what they do. Once the data is gathered, a report is generated and presented to management in order to clarify the current state of affairs. This process allows management to not only understand what is currently driving results but also what needs to be changed in order significantly build a vision and plan for future success.

Clients participate during the entire process so that the picture of the organization is clear and the direction for future change is supported and understood.

After a culture assessment is completed, the organization’s leadership will understand the following:

• Values that drive results
• Assumptions behind behavior
• Clear assessment of inefficiencies
• Necessity of a change in goals
• Clearer perspective of the present
• Understanding of individual reward and recognition
• Structure of formal systems
• Direction for the future