Research by Drake International has also found that 87 per cent of job failures occur because the person did not suit the organisational culture, rather than limitations in their skills or experience.

So what do you do about culture? Do you follow the latest policy hoping that will be the magic pill? Diversity, for example. Diversity in a workplace is beneficial we know, so we now recruit more widely, however, it is not an answer in itself. We still need to ensure some aligned values within the team to help the teamwork toward the common goal of your business success. We aim to ensure the culture is healthy by;

• Encouraging diversity and contribution and ensuring we are respectful of everyone in it,

• Supporting innovation and risk-taking to ensure progress, not at the expense of the risk profile of the business,

• "Walking the talk", to quote a ’90’s phrase,

• Providing stability, and

• Supporting and nurturing our employees to be their best.

 

But how, within your team’s cacophony of different talents, backgrounds, experiences, trends, business goals & demands, and personalities do you make changes in the culture that are measurable and effective, and build a more definable and discernible culture that becomes the centrepiece of your business success?

Loren said in her article “The cost of poor recruitment in your business” Feb 16, under The Way Forward: “Whatever you do, don’t forget to measure your candidate’s qualities against your business values and vision to get a good cultural fit”. At the time she was suggesting a purely manual process of assessment to the elements you knew of your culture.

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Knowing culture’s importance was one thing, and becoming aware and considering it was our level of maturity at the time. However, now we have a great new tool we deploy from Culture Shaper. Culture Shaper will give you a snapshot of your cultures’ shape and maturity, and a measurement system to improve it over time. Culture Shaper reviews your company through a new lens, supplying a comprehensive framework of 43 culture elements that are measurable and traceable to ensure progress toward the important success elements for your business, team or role.

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It is early days for us at Sync or Swim, but our early adopter businesses using this for hiring are finding they are bringing on people they may not have been sure of without the profile, who are fitting in - belonging and performing in the team at encouraging speeds.

With the profile you get a high-level assessment of the candidates fit on 3 cultural groupings; belonging, climate, and performance to roll up to an overall suitability score. The elements are infused with some personality traits to make the assessment even more robust and relatable.

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And as mentioned the profile can also be used for development discussions and general audits for cultural improvements.

Give your business an unfair advantage, and cut the cost and performance impacts associated with less than ideal hires, and get yourself a kick-arse culture by default!

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An example of culture design could be:

Setup: A one hour interview + a 2 hr team workshop + three baseline profiles and tests with Neuroscience and Growth Mindset Coach - $1,000 + GST

Once set up – each profile is $70/per person

You can use the profiles for recruitment purposes (see above) OR to identify development needs or do an audit of where the team is now to help you strategise your next culture steps.

This is the best new tool in culture measurement and management, and we work closely with the developers to understand it, to assist you.