The Conundrum of Culture Measurement

“What gets measured, gets managed”.

 

It’s a phrase we’ve all heard countless times and its widely attributed to Peter Drucker (although the Drucker institute say he never said it).

 

On the surface it seems fine – when we pay attention to something and we’re clear on the outcomes, we are more likely to see progress.

 

But the way it’s been ingrained in to our corporate way of thinking is a little bit more obsessive. It sometimes feels like we can’t do anything without the right KPI, its not worth it if it can’t be measured and we’re not commericial enough if we can’t identify it, track it and benchmark it within an inch of its life. Even if it tells us nothing.

 

And the questions become “What are we doing about the x index?” or “Why do x have a better y KPI then we do?” instead of paying attention to the actual root subject, whether thats employee engagement or customer happiness.

 

There’s a danger culture measurement has fallen in to that trap too. Dashboarded to death, rehashing the numbers that people have already seen to tell a story in percentages and indices that really can’t be told in numbers. Boiling everything that’s said, felt and changed into 4 or 5 numbers and using those to discharge culture responsibilities. Its like saying ‘our culture is a 7/10’ – it means very little to anyone.

 

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted” (atributed to Albert Einstein)

 

Culture definitely counts, but should it be counted in the same way as everything else? I’d like to propose an alternative.

 

I used the analogy of an a book the other day in a conversation. What makes a book successful?  That it’s critically acclaimed? That Richard and Judy put it in their Book club? That it’s an international best seller and Reese Witherspoon bought the film rights?

 

Great – but that doesn’t tell you how you and I felt about the book, what we took from it, our different perspectives, how we saw the characters differently because of the history we brought to it. It doesn’t tell you about the minds changed or decisions altered because of the story. It doesn’t tell you about the authors intentions.

 

And to stretch the analogy even further, it’s quite often the case in culture change that we don’t really know how it’s going to work out until we look back, a bit like the final chapter in a book that pulls all the threads together.

 

So an alternative way of documenting your progress is to capture your culture story, chapter by chapter.

 

Capture the stories of decisions made, different conversations had, failed initiatives, from different authors and perspectives. Listen, observe, be curious and be in the right places and the stories will come to you. It’s not a record of ‘fact’, there is unlikely to be a single ‘truth’ about culture anyway – it’s a record of the different realities that exist.

 

“But how the heck do I take a bloody story to my Executive team?” you might ask… They might be more up for it that you think.

 

Imagine a meeting where – instead of defending the RAG of a percentage in a dashboard – you’re having a conversation about what’s happened over the last ‘chapter’ – the aims, triumphs, perils and failures, the heros (and villains) – and asking for their support shaping the next chapter. Of course – you might have to throw in a few measures to reinforce the story – that’s OK. But perhaps that type of conversation will get you further along your journey in a more fluid, agile and human way.

 

 

But…”What gets measured, gets managed”

 

At the risk of contradicting myself entirely – there are some measures, done right, that really help focus attention. I prefer to think of these as evidence points.

 

And when you’re trying to adapt or evolve culture –  getting people to pay attention in a very crowded landscape is your main aim. You want people to pay attention to a few critical priorities,  to pay attention to their biases and mindsets when making decisions,  to pay attention to their words and actions, to pay attention to the way they debate and have conversations at the most senior level. And a few well chosen (but not overriding) and balanced measures can really help you do that, in support of your story.

 

Things like evidence of:

 

  • colleague engagement levels – not the same thing as culture, but good evidence to say progress is being made
  • engagement in initiatives – comments, conversations, likes, reads, shares etc
  • people using new tools
  • people having different conversations
  • people calling out risks, problems and opportunities – for example whistleblowing numbers
  • customer opinion changing (long term)
  • ‘sales’ are changing – might be an increase, might be a change in customers
  • stakeholder opinions and positions changing

 

 

In summary…

 

Looking at organisational culture is more anthropological than mathematical, and therefore more weight should be on observations, stories and meaning, supported by evidence. If you’ve ended up putting all your weight on the evidence side of the scale (in which case you’ll likely be taking RAG statused dashboards to Board every quarter) then it may be time to reassess what counts, and what is getting counted.

 

 

If you’d like to chew the fat about culture measurement, or get some help on exploring or telling your story – please get in touch at kerry.freeman@freehuman.co.uk

 

PS: I’m running 5 webinars exploring culture ovre 5 weeks with This is Milk starting on the 8th March – find out more and book your place here

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