The People First® Cultural Health Assessment

 

...Integrating the Best Business Systems with the Best Human Systems
The Secret to Rock Solid Business Success... It’s all about People!

 

The heads of high performing organizations understand the importance of getting their Purpose Partners® involved and energized. They know that their Purpose Partners® don’t just affect their bottom lines – they ARE the bottom line! In your quest for organizational excellence, Purpose Partners® emerge as THE number one sustainable competitive advantage.

 

In an effort to measure the impact that Purpose Partners® have on a business’s bottom line, hundreds of studies have been conducted and the results are staggering. Each of these studies has irrefutably found that creating and sustaining a healthy corporate culture is the key to success.

 

In fact, a recent study conducted by Northwestern University’s Forum for People Performance Management & Measurement discovered that overall organizational culture is a significant catalyst for Purpose Partner® engagement.

 

In light of these findings, cutting-edge leaders know how crucial it is to create a culture that honors the human spirit, one where employees are proud, committed, connected, AND engaged. Success isn’t about what’s "out there," it’s about the human spirit within each Purpose Partner® on the payroll.

 

At Lannom Worldwide, we agree wholeheartedly and have worked tirelessly to develop a validated, Internet-based cultural survey (a powerful diagnostic tool) known as the People First® Cultural Health Assessment.

 

The People First® Cultural Health Assessment is an apt name because that’s exactly what it does.... It defines the health drivers of an organizational culture.

 

How can an assessment do all that? It’s as simple as ABC. Our Cultural Health Assessment focuses on three key areas:

1. Alignment (between human systems and business performance)
2. Balance (between Purpose Partners’® requirements and those of the business in question) and
3. Clarity (of purpose)

 

This three-fold organizational focus allows the Cultural Health Assessment to remove the guesswork that often surround expectations, both in regards to behavior and business goals.

 

Ultimately, aligning the human systems and business systems works to support and enhance the achievement of business goals.

 

Forget about frills and fluff.... The People First® Cultural Health Assessment was engineered to measure what MATTERS! Our assessment solicits the opinions and conclusions of Purpose Partners® regarding critical cultural elements which are key drivers in supporting leaders in their quest to meet strategic business goals. Initiating the Cultural Health Assessment will provide meaningful data that supports your leadership in creating a culture that attracts, energizes, and retains talent while improving your bottom line and increasing shareholder value.

 

Lannom Worldwide developed this survey with the specific intent of providing a clear methodology for honoring the human spirit of a business while at the same time raising your ROI. We have achieved this by creating a validated, robust, and "invasive" but user-friendly Internet-based survey, as well as a holistic, comprehensive, and systematic process for assessing, analyzing, and transforming organizational cultures!

 

The People First® Cultural Health Assessment Aids You in Your Quest to:

 

• Discover the overall health of your organizational culture by identifying the barriers and drivers that affect productivity, attraction, retention, and engagement levels of your staff as well as customer satisfaction.
• Predict your business’s capacity for success and a competitive advantage.
• Create practical solutions and action plans that will support your movement from the Assessment Phase to the Action Phase. We don’t just seek out problems; we solve them by translating the results of the Cultural Health Assessment into meaningful, customized strategies that actually WORK!
• Prioritize change initiatives (short-term, mid-term, and long-term) while also identifying resource requirements for each.

 

Noteworthy Features of the People First® Cultural Health Assessment Include:

 

• Replacing the need to conduct traditional employee satisfaction surveys
• A behavioral basis
• An invasive approach that goes right to the heart of things and measure the levels of trust, fear, and bureaucracy throughout your organization... an MRI versus an X-ray
• A total absence of jargon – we call it what it is and keep communication clear
• The ability to gain clear insight about both the constructive and destructive behaviors that exist within your organization
• A close look at "soft" and "hard" organizational issues while taking longitudinal data and creating links
• Identifying alignment. Do you have the necessary elements for changing your marketing strategy, creating teams, etc?
• Determines where you should be focusing your energy and resources
• Spotlighting the specific results that will make an immediate impact and foster faster (nearly instantaneous) "buy in" for the process
• A one-of-a-kind tool that employs unique measurements, offers a tailor-made diagnosis and results in a prescription that doesn’t just treat symptoms but offers a real cure
• Addresses the issues that are keeping you up at night!

 

More Importantly, Though, are the Rewards You Walk Away With!

The Benefits

• An increase in managerial teamwork and collaboration
• Greater Purpose Partner® attraction and retention
• Higher customer service levels
• Better communication
• Increased commitment to a SHARED vision for the future
• Improved productivity
• Decision making capabilities improve
• Increased commitment toward attaining strategic initiatives emerges
• Leadership and managerial effectiveness is markedly enhanced
• The capacity to partner across your organization is improved
• Competitive advantages increase, and
• The efficiency of your operational processes is enhanced

 

The question everyone asks is HOW we make it happen...

 

The People First® Methodology

Using the People First® Cultural Health Assessment, we provide a full comprehensive overview of your culture by collecting both quantitive and qualitative data. Without both types of data, you only get a piece of the picture.

 

In our years of experience, we’ve found that the numbers support the stories and vice versa. Taking this into account, the People First® Cultural Health Assessment is a combination of 88 quantitive statements. Using the traditional Likert Scale (rated from 1-5), we measure the individual responses. On the qualitative end, we’ve included a minimum of three open-ended questions – the Purpose Partner® stories. The Purpose Partner® opinion questions are co-created and can be completely customized for each organization. Additionally, we can include up to three additional questions in the event that there is a particular topic or issue you need to collect data on.

 

The Cultural Health Assessment also incorporates a section we call "Cultural Descriptors." This segment provides a list of values (i.e., trusting, bureaucratic, respectful, Purpose Partner® involvement, etc.). Respondents are then asked to select all of the words that best describe:

(a) Their CURRENT experience, and
(b) Their DESIRED experience

 

...within their organization. This provides us with an IMMEDIATE gap analysis. Like the other sections, the Cultural Descriptors can be customized. In fact, we encourage you to add your stated mission, vision, and values to the list.

 

While in the set-up phase of the CHA, we also work closely with you to create data sort categories that compliment your organization. Ultimately, this allows you to "slice" the resulting data however you choose. Categories might include location, years of service, functional areas, and levels within your organization. This enables our team to run reports and perform analysis on your own tailor-made data sort categories.

 

Employing the People First® Methodology Helps You to:

 

• Pinpoint ways to take FULL advantage of the positive aspects that exist within your culture, in order to enhance your success in achieving your specific strategic goals.
• Ferret out the unhealthy aspects of your organizational culture which hinder or undermine your likelihood of achieving your stated goals.
• Devise a plan that accentuates the positive while either eliminating or minimizing the negative components of your organizational culture.
• Establish a solid, actionable plan that you can have measured and benchmarked over time.

 

Once the CHA is Complete, the Results Also Measure a Number of Elements that Will Aid You in Determining:

 

• Purpose Partner® engagement
  
• Leadership effectiveness
  
• Purpose Partner® satisfaction
  
• Internal "customer" satisfaction levels
  
• Clarity of values
• Productivity levels
  
• Levels of trust and
  
• Strategic business focus (just to name a few)

 

Additionally, your CHA results will help to determine the most cost-effective and efficient strategies for utilizing the resources necessary for creating a positive, upbeat all-around healthy culture.

 

The Best 20 Minute Investment Your Purpose Partners® Can Make...

 

The CHA survey only takes about 20 minutes to complete. Our survey provides an incredibly high level of anonymity, which promotes greater honesty and REAL evaluation. Additionally, each Purpose Partner® is given their own unique password. This feature allows your Purpose Partners® to log off and then log back in later if they aren’t able to complete the entire CHA in one sitting. This automatically saves all of the data they’ve already completed and submitted.

 

This enhanced technology is especially ideal for organizations like manufacturing plants, call centers, and health care environments where Purpose Partners® may not be able to dedicate the full 20 minutes necessary for completion all at one time.

 

An All-Inclusive Assessment

We see conducting our Cultural Health Assessment as a VERY inclusive experience. Because of this, we don’t believe in "random sampling." While this may seem to be a subtle point, it is absolutely critical as you work to define, refine, and craft your organizational culture.

 

Failing to include EVERYONE in your base line assessment sends the message that not everyone’s opinion counts. This approach is counter to creating an inclusive culture where people feel honored, valued, and respected.

 

It is of the utmost importance that you solicit feedback from EVERYBODY – from those that are passionate about the current state of your organization down to those who are your biggest (and loudest) critics and cynics.

 

While a number of consultants employ one-on-one interviews and focus groups, we’ve found that this type of approach is incredibly time and labor intensive and fails to provide their clients with the ability to hear from everyone at every level of their organization. Our People First® approach invites ALL Purpose Partners® to actively participate and sends a strong message that their opinions do in fact count.

 

THIS is where a cultural shift can begin to emerge.

 

What We Measure...The Cultural Dimensions Evaluated in the People First® Cultural Health Assessment:

 

Leadership	Vision, Mission, and Values Business Strategy Development Leadership Effectiveness Ethics
Relationships	Trust Collaboration Inter/Intra Group Relationships Community Customers
Communication	Feedback Information Sharing Purpose Partner® Trust in Information
Infrastructure	Formal Procedures Processes, Systems, Policies, & Structure Teams
Involvement & Decision Making	Authority levels Accountability and Expectations Decision-making process
Change Management	Creativity and Innovation Recognition Continuous Learning Diversity
Finance	Perception of Financial Health Perceptions on the Role of Purpose Partners® Level of Financial Comprehension How this Comprehension Impacts your Business
Cultural Descriptors	A List of Predetermined Values (Completely Customizable)
General Climate	3 Open-Ended Questions that Capture Purpose Partner® Stories (Additional questions can be included)