Board members on the forefront agree that company purpose, culture, and values are significant levers of profitable long-term company growth. If defined and implemented well, these can be strong driving forces guiding the strategy and decision-making processes and important prerequisites for recruiting and retaining the best talent.
Even if most companies have a clearly defined purpose, culture, and values, many boards find it hard to understand how well these are embedded in the organization—and rightly so! Though board members may interact individually with various company leaders, the board generally does not have a practical tool for obtaining measurable insights into these issues.
Here are a few questions the board could ask the executive management to understand the situation better.
- Why do people want to work for the company, and why do they leave?
- How has the company's employee churn developed over the last five years?
- What do the current company surveys (like “Employee Engagement Study” and 360-degree leadership evaluation) tell us about culture and values?
- If we lack sufficient data to offer measurable insights into the organizational culture, what internal data can be gathered, or what new surveys can be introduced to better understand this critical area?
Having the answers to these questions can give the board a good initial foundation for discussion and provide the basis for developing an action plan.
Another way to measure the extent to which the agreed purpose, culture, and values are being implemented is to use a tool that we have developed and used with several clients. This tool can help boards get more involved and work hands-on with good corporate governance.
Our Cultural Behavioral Indicator Analysis highlights alignment and reveals gaps in the organizational culture within and between several levels of the organization. It highlights the strongest and weakest links between what the organization has defined and the different levels of experience regarding cultural behavior indicators. The results are presented in a way that enables the board to have a sound discussion and to decide how to follow up.
If you would like to learn more about this new indicator, please get in touch with us at reception@LeadershipAdvisorGroup.com
Interested in self-evaluation? Try Online Board Evaluations
Well-aligned with national corporate and foundation/charity governance codes, our board clients usually conduct an external board evaluation every three years. However, most national governance codes recommend that boards perform a self-evaluation in the years between external board evaluations. Therefore, we have developed OnlineBoardEvaluations.com, a tool enabling boards to self-evaluate effectively and effortlessly every year.
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