A Workplace Culture Checklist And 15 Culture Jump Starting Ideas to Shift Your Culture

Jul 12, 2023

So you want to shift your workplace culture, but you don’t know where to begin?

The following is a checklist of workplace questions to help you generate some conversations at work around what you might need to do to shift your culture, weaved in with some concrete ideas on what you can do to make a shift. Following the workplace culture questions, there are 15 ideas to help you jump start a culture shift in your workplace.

Jump Starting a Culture Shift in Your Workplace

 

How do we define our workplace culture?

• What words or images will we use to capture our desired culture?
• What do we want our employees and customers to say about us?
• What are some positive unwritten rules we want employees to embrace?
• What will our veteran employees say to our new employees about our culture?
• What is our cultural advantage over our competitors?
• How will we measure our culture?
• What are three red flags that will indicate we are moving in the wrong direction?
• What are three green flags that will indicate we are making progress in the right direction?
• Could we implement monthly culture themes to help everyone focus on one aspect of culture each month?
• What is one thing we need to commit to keep doing; one thing we need to stop doing; one thing we need to start doing that will help us shift our culture in the right direction?

Purpose

• Is our purpose statement clear, exciting, and memorable?
• Does everyone understand our purpose?
• Does everyone understand our top three priorities?
• How can we better communicate our purpose?
• How can we better celebrate our purpose?
• How can we link employees’ jobs to a greater sense of purpose?

Values

• Are our existing values still working for us?
• Can we simplify our values down to 3-4 memorable value statements?
• Have we translated our values into observable behaviors and mindsets?
• What are some fun ways we can bring our values to life?
• Are we training for our values?
• How can we keep communicating our values?
• What can we do to better model our values?
• How will we hold each other accountable in constructive ways to make sure we are living up to our values and treating them as lines in the sand and not just slogans?
• How will we recognize and celebrate our employees who live our values out loud?

Communication

• Do we have simple, effective communication guidelines in place, especially for our remote/hybrid employees?
• How can we consistently check in with one another?
• How can we build a culture of constructive feedback?
• Could we implement random coffee/lunch dates to help people connect across teams and departments?
• Could we implement regular weekly video updates for key messages?
• Could we implement a “question of the week” to take the pulse of our employees on a regular basis?
• Would a mid-week team huddle be beneficial?
• Would a Monday morning launch meeting be beneficial?
• Can we start doing daily team huddles as a regular touch point? (Daily huddles are standing meetings, same place, same time, set agenda, 5-10 minutes long.)
• Are our meetings helping to build the culture we want and do they reflect our desired culture?
• Do we need to go on a meeting diet and focus on having better conversations over too many meetings?
• Are we injecting enough fun into our meetings to make them more effective?
• Are we following best meeting practices to make sure they are both efficient and effective?
• What can we do to better give our employees a real voice at work?
• How can we ask for feedback from our employees on a regular basis?

Teamwork

• What is one thing we need to start doing and one thing we need to stop doing to perform better as a team?
• Can we hold regular “good neighbor” meetings to talk about ways we can work better alongside one another?
• What are we doing that gets in the way of teamwork?
• How can we celebrate team performance better?
• Are we modelling compassionate honesty with one another to build a culture of continuous improvement?
• How can we create more psychological safety in our teams so people feel free to speak up and speak out?
• How can we incorporate a service-first culture on the inside so we are modeling service excellence internally and not just externally?

Recognition  

• What can we do to better incorporate praise and recognition into our daily routines?
• How can we leverage our meetings to do a better job recognizing employees?
• Are we linking our recognition efforts to our values?
• Could we have an award linked to each of our core values?
• Are we asking our employees how they prefer to be recognized?
• What are five new FUN awards we could implement that relate to our business or culture?

Putting humor to work

• How will we define “fun at work” here? What does fun look and feel like?
• What might be getting in the way of employees having more fun at work?
• What can we do to reduce “jobstacles” that are getting in the way of fun?
• How can we make our meetings more fun?
• What are some fun rituals or traditions we could implement that would strengthen our culture?
• Could we make use of a rotating “fun at work” ambassador or committee to help implement more fun initiatives?

 

15 Ways to Jump Start a Culture Shift

 

1. Create a dedicated “Culture Squad” that includes employees at all levels and across departments to look at initiatives that will shift your culture.

2. Hold a yearly culture boot camp re-energizer day to reinforce your cultural values and norms.

3. Hold a “culture pitch day” every four to six months where employees or teams can pitch ideas that will improve your culture. You can put the best ideas to an employee-wide vote and/or award prizes for the most creative or impactful suggestions.

4. Create monthly culture themes to have everyone focus intensely on one aspect of your workplace culture each month. For inspiration for monthly theme ideas, pop over to Monthly Culture Themes.

5. Create a 3-in-3 challenge where teams are encouraged to implement three ideas over the course of three months to improve your culture.

6. Hold a “values blitz” where you have everyone model one value per week as intensely as possible to demonstrate what’s possible and to turn your values into action.

7. Use the Wheel of Change framework every quarter: What is one thing everyone needs to commit to KEEP doing; one thing everyone needs to START DOING or CREATE; what is one thing everyone needs to STOP doing that will help you shift your culture?

8. Open and close meetings with a “culture moment” where you share examples of your desired cultural norms and values in action and recognize employees for living your values out loud.

9. Create three rituals or traditions that will help you strengthen your workplace culture. For inspiration: Workplace Rituals and Traditions.

10. Send out a question of the week to employees to check the pulse of your employees on various work-related topics.

11. Create a minimum of three fun recognition awards that link directly to your cultural norms and values. For inspiration: Fun Workplace Awards. 

12. Hold daily team huddles as a checkpoint and chance to reinforce values and cultural norms. Daily huddles are held standing up (no chairs allowed or they become a meeting); same time; same place; set agenda; five to ten minutes long.

13. Create a contest for teams to bring your cultural norms, your vision/mission and or your values to life in a creative video that can ultimately be used to promote your culture on your website and for use when on-boarding and training new employees.

14. Create fun milestones and celebrate your progress with key culture initiatives.

15. Infuse your workplace with more fun! As the saying goes, “Work made fun gets done!” Humor is a key ingredient when it comes to creating a psychologically safe workplace culture; it helps build a more positive workplace culture AND it reflects a positive workplace culture.

BONUS IDEA!!!  Sign your team up to the Culture Leadership Online Academy! 12 video-based modules, eBooks, and resources all designed to help you shift your culture and to build a more collaborative, inspiring, innovative, service-focused and FUN workplace!

Michael Kerr is a Hall of Fame speaker who travels the world researching, writing, and speaking about inspiring workplace cultures, inspiring leadership, and humor at work.  He is the author of 8 books, including The Humor Advantage: Why Some Businesses are Laughing All the Way to the Bank, The Jerk-Free Workplace, and Hire, Inspire, and Fuel Their Fire: How to Recruit, Onboard, and Train new Employees to Live Your Culture Out Loud! 

To see how Michael can help energize your workplace book an appointment here!