How CulturePulse works

What it measures

CulturePulse looks at seven dimensions of culture:

• Result disposition: how much procedure, or outcomes, drive the work.
• Client orientation: how far the organisation looks outward to its clients.
• Structural discipline: how much structure and rigour there is.
• Strategic positioning: how far strategy looks inward or outward.
• Leadership access: how open leaders are to the people they lead.
• Workforce philosophy: the balance between people and output.
• Professional ethos: how people conduct themselves at work.

Each dimension is a scale with named positions along it. No position is good or bad in itself.

How it works

There are two groups, and both answer anonymously.

• Leaders set the culture they intend: one scale from 0 to 100 for each dimension, about 10 minutes.
• Employees describe the culture they experience: 70 statements on a five-point scale, about 15 minutes.

How results are worked out

Employees’ answers are combined into the current culture, and leaders’ into the intended culture, on the same scale for each dimension. Each is placed at a named position on that dimension, and the distance between them is the gap.

A report can be generated once every leader has answered and at least 5 employees, and at least 70% of those invited, have answered.

How to read the report

For each dimension the report shows where the culture is, where leaders intend it to be, the gap between them, and what moving from one to the other involves. It begins with a summary of where leaders and employees agree, and where the gaps are widest.

What a result is not

It describes perceptions and intentions, not a verdict on whether the culture is right. A gap may mean the culture needs to move, or that the intention needs another look. With very few leaders, their combined answers can reveal what each intended.

Using it well

• Include every leader who shapes the culture, and enough employees for a fair picture.
• Start with the widest gaps, and agree as leaders on the intended culture before acting.
• Share what you found and what will change.
• Never try to work out who gave which answer.