Killer Analytics: Top 20 Metrics Missing from your Balance Sheet

Chapter 18

The Culture Index

WHY AN ORGANIZATION MIGHT TRACK THIS

Questions Answered

• Do people really understand our values?
• Can they recognize when decisions and behavior are consistent with the values?
• Do leaders exhibit the values in their behavior and decisions?
• Do employees believe the organization really operates according to the values?
• Do our values and culture stay the same through changes in leadership and in bad times?
• Are we systematically managing the culture to ensure it stays positive?

Why Is This Information Important?

Your organization has a set of values and a culture whether they were engineered or not. Most organizational cultures tend to revolve around the personal values of the founders, even if the company has been around a long time. Young companies tend not to think much about culture because they are too busy focusing on customers and shareholders. As companies age and the founders retire or die, they tend to become more inward-looking and often want to make sure that the values that made them great in the beginning still characterize the company.

Southwest Airlines is one of those rare companies that has maintained its culture of humor, focus on the customer, and efficiency long after founder Herb Kelleher stepped down as CEO. 3M is also a company that has been through leadership changes, yet stays focused on the core value of innovation. Everyone is watching Apple now that Steve Jobs is gone. He clearly was a huge part of the culture of Apple, and ...