Culture Audits: What They Are and How to Conduct Them

Company culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that shape the identity and character of an organization. It encompasses everything from how employees interact with one another and with customers to the company’s mission, vision and goals. 

A strong company culture can drive productivity, foster innovation and improve employee engagement. Alternatively, a weak or negative culture can lead to poor performance, high turnover and low morale. Ultimately, company culture is an essential component of any successful business.

A culture audit comprehensively takes stock of a business’s culture to create an actionable plan to improve upon it. This practice aims to evaluate the company’s culture, strengths and weaknesses to assess whether they correspond with the organization’s goals and objectives. 

A culture audit typically involves surveys, employee interviews and an analysis of the company’s policies, procedures and practices. The business can then use the audit results to develop strategies to improve its culture and align that culture more closely with its goals.

Importance of culture audits

Culture audits are essential for any organization because they provide vital insights into a company’s inner workings. A properly conducted audit with a successfully implemented strategy can help foster a positive and productive work environment. Below are some of the key benefits of carrying out a culture audit.

Create a transparent set of values

Auditing your corporate culture helps you create a transparent set of values by identifying areas in which your current culture may not align with your desired principles. By conducting a culture audit, you can pinpoint where you need to improve and develop strategies to address those areas. 

If you have a clear set of values, you can better enforce your policies. A straightforward set of values also helps build trust with customers and stakeholders.

Retain current employees

Company culture audits can help you retain employees by pinpointing potential problems that could negatively impact employee engagement and satisfaction. Simply put, employees who feel undervalued or unsupported are more likely to leave a company. 

Addressing these issues through a culture audit can create a more positive and supportive work environment that fosters loyalty and retention. This can help reduce turnover while ensuring you retain your top talent over the long term.

Identify weakness in leadership

By examining employees’ behaviors and attitudes, a culture audit can highlight issues such as poor communication, a lack of trust or a negative perception regarding management. Culture audits can also provide valuable insight into your culture’s overall health and help your leaders recognize areas in which they need to improve. 

By taking steps to address these weaknesses, you can create a more positive and productive workplace, which ultimately benefits both your employees and the company as a whole.

Facilitate teamwork and collaboration

Culture audits can identify areas in which collaboration may be hindered or enhanced by assessing the underlying values, beliefs and behaviors that drive your employees’ interactions and decision-making. 

For example, employees may be less likely to collaborate effectively if your company’s culture prioritizes individual achievement over teamwork. 

By handling these matters through targeted training and development, you can create a more collaborative culture that promotes better teamwork and ultimately improves your business outcomes.

Foster a safe work environment

Company culture audits can help create a secure work environment by identifying potential issues that could negatively impact safety. For instance, if your employees feel uncomfortable reporting safety concerns or don’t trust their managers, hazardous conditions may go unaddressed for long periods of time. 

By managing communication and trust issues through a culture audit, you can create a more open and transparent work environment in which safety concerns are taken seriously and addressed promptly.

Culture audit challenges

Culture audits have become increasingly prevalent across a range of industries. More and more companies rely on internal teams to conduct these audits due to their cost-effectiveness and ability to effectively recognize areas for improvement. However, auditing your corporate culture can still be challenging for the following reasons: 

• Culture is vague and hard to calculate. The ambiguity surrounding the concept makes it difficult to define and measure your corporate culture, making it challenging to determine what is and isn’t acceptable. Because any auditing process relies on tangible data that you can quantify and analyze, this ambiguity can muddle the process. Also, corporate culture constantly evolves, so assessing your current culture without considering past trends and changes can be problematic.
• Identifying important cultural points is tricky. Deciding which issues have the biggest impact on your employees’ experience and output is a weighty responsibility. Once you gather your data points, you must prioritize the most relevant information to identify which factors impact performance more than others. Additionally, it can be hard to measure the effectiveness of these cultural points, as other factors may contribute to employees’ achievements, conduct and satisfaction. 
• Gathering accurate data and employee feedback can be complex and laborious. A culture audit requires a deep understanding of your organization’s current internal dynamics. This can be difficult to gauge without having prompt access to employee feedback data. Collecting this information can be time-consuming, though, as it requires carefully designed questionnaires and thorough employee interviews.
• Many external factors impact your company culture. Businesses are often at the mercy of social, economic and technological forces that are outside their control. These elements can lead to drastic changes in corporate culture over time, and failing to consider this when assessing your current culture can lead to an inaccurate understanding of your company. 

What should a culture audit address?

A culture audit can help identify gaps or inconsistencies between what your company says it stands for and what it practices within the organization. By managing these points, your company can create a more cohesive and influential culture that supports its strategic objectives.

Company vision

By evaluating the current culture within your organization, you can identify areas where you need to improve to coincide with your desired vision. This process can help identify any discrepancies between your company’s stated values and your employees’ actual behaviors and attitudes. 

A cultural audit can also help identify areas where you may fall short regarding diversity, inclusion and equity. By addressing these issues head on, you can create a more positive work environment that aligns with your overall vision for success.

Overall strategy 

When you’re conducting a company culture audit, it’s crucial to address your overall strategy. A company’s culture can significantly impact its ability to achieve its goals and objectives. By assessing the alignment between your company’s culture and its processes, your organization can determine areas where improvements may be needed to ensure that the culture supports its long-term success. 

Leadership

By examining your company’s values, beliefs and behaviors, an audit can specify areas where leadership may be lacking or where you need to implement changes. This perspective can be beneficial during a transition or when there are concerns about the company’s direction. 

By assessing the current state of your organizational culture, you gain insights into how you can improve your leadership style and create a more positive and productive work environment.

Accountability and responsibility

By analyzing your company’s culture and values, an audit can highlight any inconsistencies or areas where you can better align with responsible business practices. These areas may include diversity and inclusion, environmental sustainability and ethical sourcing. 

Addressing these issues can enable your company to demonstrate its commitment to corporate responsibility and build a positive reputation among stakeholders.

What makes culture audits unique?

What makes culture audits unique is their ability to provide a holistic view of an organization’s culture, including the formal and informal aspects of how people work together. 

Unlike other types of assessments, culture audits go beyond metrics and KPIs to examine the underlying beliefs, values and behaviors that shape an organization’s culture. This type of examination can help you identify areas of strength and weakness and opportunities for improvement. By understanding your culture in depth, you can create a more inclusive, productive and engaged workplace for everyone.

Culture audit best practices

When developing a plan on how to conduct a culture audit, you need to evaluate various factors. You can help ensure the process provides valuable insights by following culture audit best practices, including:

1. Gather feedback from all levels of the organization. You must seek input from not only employees but also managers and executives.
2. Use a variety of methods to collect information. Surveys can be valuable for gathering quantitative data, while focus groups and one-on-one interviews can provide a more qualitative perspective. Ultimately, the goal is to collect as much intel as possible to understand the company’s culture comprehensively.
3. Guarantee confidentiality and anonymity. It’s crucial for employees to be comfortable sharing honest thoughts and feedback without fear of retribution or negative consequences.
4. Develop actionable steps to address issues and concerns. Carefully analyze the data you receive to implement new policies or procedures, provide additional training or physically change the work environment. By taking action based on feedback, you can improve the culture and create a more positive and productive workplace for all employees. 

Understand that the process must be flexible. As mentioned, a company’s culture constantly changes due to external factors and internal dynamics. Therefore, it’s essential to be flexible to effectively capture the nuances and subtleties of the culture at any given time.