How do you assess Culture Change and identify gaps?

1 Define your desired culture

Before you can assess your current culture and identify gaps, you need to have a clear and shared understanding of what your desired culture looks like. What are the core values, principles, and practices that you want to embed in your organization? How do they support your strategic objectives and stakeholder needs? How do they differ from your existing culture? You can use tools such as vision statements, value propositions, and culture maps to articulate and communicate your desired culture.

2 Assess your current culture

Once you have defined your desired culture, you need to assess your current culture and compare it with your vision. How do your employees perceive and experience the culture of your organization? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your culture? What are the enablers and barriers to culture change? You can use methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, and audits to collect data and feedback from your employees and other stakeholders. You can also use frameworks such as the Competing Values Framework, the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument, or the Denison Organizational Culture Model to analyze and categorize your culture.

3 Identify and prioritize gaps

After you have assessed your current culture, you need to identify and prioritize the gaps between your current and desired culture. What are the specific aspects of your culture that need to change? How significant and urgent are they? How feasible and impactful are they? You can use tools such as gap analysis, SWOT analysis, or force field analysis to identify and prioritize the gaps. You can also use criteria such as alignment, relevance, feasibility, and impact to rank the gaps.

4 Develop and implement action plans

Once you have identified and prioritized the gaps, you need to develop and implement action plans to address them. What are the specific actions, activities, and interventions that you will take to close the gaps? Who will be responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for each action? When and how will you execute the actions? How will you monitor and evaluate the progress and outcomes? You can use tools such as action plans, project plans, or change management plans to document and communicate your action plans.

5 Monitor and evaluate outcomes

As you implement your action plans, you need to monitor and evaluate the outcomes and impact of your culture change efforts. How do you know if your actions are effective and sustainable? How do you measure and report the changes in your culture? How do you celebrate and reinforce the successes and learn from the failures? You can use methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, and audits to collect data and feedback from your employees and other stakeholders. You can also use indicators such as employee engagement, customer satisfaction, productivity, innovation, or profitability to measure and report the outcomes.

6 Review and adjust strategies

Finally, you need to review and adjust your strategies and actions based on the outcomes and feedback of your culture change efforts. What are the lessons learned and best practices from your culture change journey? What are the new or emerging gaps or opportunities for further improvement? How do you adapt and refine your strategies and actions to meet the changing needs and expectations of your organization and stakeholders? You can use tools such as after-action reviews, feedback loops, or continuous improvement cycles to review and adjust your strategies and actions.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?