Culture Audit Step 2: Formulate an Audit Plan
Introduction
A Culture Audit is a powerful tool for organisations to gain insights into their internal dynamics, values, and behaviours. The first step towards conducting a culture audit is to define its purpose. Next, it is crucial to develop a comprehensive plan that outlines the audit process, timelines, resource requirements, and the involvement of relevant individuals or departments. In this article, we will delve into the step-by-step process of formulating an audit plan for organisational culture assessment. Whether you choose to conduct the audit internally or hire external consultants, this guide will help you navigate through the process and ensure the audit yields meaningful and actionable results.
How to Audit: Data Collection Methods for a Culture Audit
Planning a culture audit can be a little bit of a chicken-and-egg situation: you need to consider who is going to be audited, but to do this you need to know how as well. Let’s have a quick look at data collection methods that need to be considered:
Surveys: Conducting anonymous surveys is one of the most common and effective data collection methods for a culture audit. Surveys can be distributed to employees at all levels of the organisation and cover a wide range of culture-related topics. These surveys can include multiple-choice questions, rating scales, and open-ended questions to gather quantitative and qualitative data.
Interviews: Conducting one-on-one or group interviews with employees, managers, and leaders allows for in-depth discussions about their perceptions of the organisational culture. Interviews offer valuable insights into the lived experiences of employees and provide context to survey responses.
Focus Groups: Focus groups bring together a small, diverse group of employees to engage in guided discussions about specific culture-related topics. This method encourages open dialogue and allows participants to build upon each other's ideas.
Observations: Observations involve directly observing employee interactions, team dynamics, and work processes within the organisation. This method provides real-time insights into how the culture manifests in day-to-day operations.
Document Analysis: Reviewing organisational documents, such as mission and vision statements, values statements, employee handbooks, and policies, helps assess whether the documented culture aligns with the actual culture experienced by employees.
Employee Feedback Platforms: Utilising digital platforms for continuous feedback, such as pulse surveys and instant messaging apps, allows organisations to gather real-time data on employee sentiments and perceptions of the culture.
Organisational Artifacts: Examining physical symbols and artifacts present in the workplace, such as office layout, decorations, and symbols, can offer insights into the underlying culture and values.
Performance Metrics: Analyzing performance metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) can provide quantitative data on how culture impacts organisational outcomes, employee performance, and productivity.
Employee Engagement Data: Utilising employee engagement surveys and data on retention rates, absenteeism, and turnover helps gauge the level of employee satisfaction and commitment to the organisational culture.
Social Media and Online Platforms: Monitoring the organisation’s social media channels and online reviews can provide external perspectives on the organisation's culture from customers, clients, and other stakeholders.
Exit Interviews: Conducting exit interviews with departing employees can reveal their reasons for leaving and offer insights into any culture-related issues that may have influenced their decision.
Network Analysis: Applying social network analysis techniques can help visualise communication patterns and identify informal cultural influencers within the organisation.
Workshops and Ideation Sessions: Hosting workshops and ideation sessions with employees allows for interactive discussions on culture-related topics and encourages creative solutions for cultural enhancement.
Case Studies and Best Practices: Analysing case studies and best practices from other organisations with positive cultures can provide insights and benchmarks for cultural improvement.
By combining multiple data collection methods, organisations can obtain a comprehensive understanding of their current culture, identify areas for improvement, and develop targeted strategies for positive cultural change. It is crucial to use a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches to triangulate data and ensure the accuracy and reliability of the findings.
Who is Involved in a Culture Audit
Ultimately the process of the culture audit is to identify the culture by collecting data from a range of employees. They key questions first become: who does the auditing? and who is audited?
The Culture Champions
This team is crucial to the process of change management. One of your goals should be to form a core team of individuals who truly understand what you are doing and why. They also need to be in positions of sufficient influence that they can drive and maintain changes and behaviours. The team should consist of a selection of individuals from a range of seniority levels, usually placed in key points of communication.
This team may be clear from the outset, in which case they can assist with the auditing, or emerge through the auditing process.
The Auditors
If your organisation is large enough to have an HR department, it may make sense for the audit to be managed here. However, keep in mind that many HR departments do not have the capacity or expertise for such an undertaking.
The key problem in assigning auditing to an internal group is in the bias it can cause. If the auditors themselves are potentially problematic it can cause a lack of engagement or severely biased results. Conversely, if it is run by a popular and influential individual or group, the bias could swing the other way in an attempt at ‘impressing’ the auditors. It is likely that senior management will not be aware of the influence their internal auditing team will have on employees and thus the results.
One way to reduce bias is to emphasis and reemphasise your measures to ensure anonymity, to repeatedly encourage honesty and no direct repercussions on results. The best way to reduce bias, however, is to hire an external culture consultant. As an external entity, they will be separate from internal politics. They will also be better placed to convey their impartiality and to emphasise anonymity if there are internal trust issues. Even if a lot of the work is still conducted internally, having an external face to the process can go a long way.
Who to Audit
It is important that you plan to audit a sufficient number of employees from different levels such that you can gain an accurate picture of the current culture and issues, but without overloading the auditing team. You should find, once data collection starts, that you get to a point of diminishing returns: interviewing more candidates simply reiterates the same points. Knowing this is likely to happen can help with your planning and to put a cap on time. Once interviews no longer identify new points, don’t keep going to fill a quota, just stop.
Some advice on selecting roles and individuals to audit:
Define Key Objectives: By clearly defining the objectives of the culture audit you can help identify the areas or departments where the audit will be focused. This can help narrow down the selection of the most relevant roles and individuals.
Representation from Different Departments: Ensure that the selected roles and individuals represent a diverse cross-section of the organisation. Including employees from different departments, teams, and hierarchical levels provides a comprehensive view of the culture.
Identify Culture Champions: Look for individuals who are already culture champions within the organisation. These employees embody the desired culture and values, and their participation can positively influence the audit process.
Leadership Team: The CEO and leadership team are vital to defining, projecting and maintaining the culture of the organisation and their involvement is key.
Middle Management: Middle managers and supervisors are essential stakeholders in the culture audit. They directly influence day-to-day operations and employee engagement, making their participation crucial to understanding the culture at different levels.
Key Communication Points: Many organisations have custom or ad hoc hierarchies and organisational structures that have evolved over time as the organisation grew. By examining graphs of organisational structure you can identify key roles, or even entire departments, that serve as communication points between many others. These can be crucial to defining culture and should be included in the audit and later activities.
Random Sampling (if applicable): In large organisations, consider using random sampling techniques to select participants for interviews, focus groups, or surveys. Random sampling ensures unbiased representation and reduces potential selection bias.
Inclusion of Remote Workers: If your organisation has remote or distributed teams, ensure their inclusion in the culture audit. Use virtual communication tools to facilitate their participation in surveys and discussions.
Commitment and Enthusiasm: Choose individuals who are committed to the culture audit process and enthusiastic about contributing to positive change. Their passion for the organisation's success will drive active participation and engagement.
‘Challenging’ Staff: Providing it can be done in a positive and sensitive manner, it can be very useful to include specific dissatisfied staff members. Some of the points they raise, however painful, may have some truth and you could gain some valuable insights into aspects of your organisation that others may not have the courage to voice.
Timeline and Resources
Creating a well-defined timeline and allocating appropriate resources are critical for the success of a culture audit. Consider the following points:
Data Collection Methods: Determine your data collection methods, how long they will take and when they will be deployed. This will form the backbone of your timeline.
Set Clear Milestones: Determine the duration of the culture audit and set clear milestones for each stage of the process. This ensures that the audit progresses smoothly and stays on track.
Allocate Adequate Time: Adequately allocate time for data collection, analysis, reporting, and follow-up actions. Rushing the process may result in incomplete or inaccurate data.
Gather Necessary Resources: Ensure that the audit team has the necessary resources, such as technology, survey tools, and expertise, to conduct the audit effectively.
Schedule Meetings: Schedule regular meetings with the audit team to review progress, discuss findings, and plan the next steps.
Engage External Consultants (if applicable): If you opt to hire external culture change consultants, engage them early in the process and provide them with access to key stakeholders and resources.
Promote Transparency and Anonymity: Emphasise the importance of transparency and anonymity throughout the audit process. Assure employees that their responses will remain confidential to encourage honest and open feedback.
Seek Senior Management Support: Obtain support and buy-in from senior management for the culture audit. Their endorsement helps in securing necessary resources and facilitates culture change efforts.
Plan for Feedback and Communication: Establish a mechanism for providing feedback to participants and communicating the audit results to the organisation. Transparency in sharing results fosters trust and demonstrates a commitment to positive change.
Budget Considerations: Ensure that the budget is sufficient to cover the costs of data collection methods, external consultants (if hired), and any initiatives aimed at addressing identified issues.
Review and Refine: Continuously review and refine the audit plan based on feedback and insights gained during the process. Flexibility is key to adapting the plan to emerging needs and challenges.
Conclusion
Formulating an audit plan is the foundation for conducting a successful culture audit. By thoughtfully selecting data collection methods, involving the right individuals and departments, and allocating appropriate resources, organisations can gain deep insights into their culture and pave the way for positive change. The process of defining the purpose, planning the audit, and engaging stakeholders sets the stage for cultural transformation and a more engaged, motivated, and productive workforce. Embrace the culture audit as an opportunity to assess and improve your organisational culture, and watch as it drives positive ethical and productivity benefits throughout the organisation.