We at MyPeople believe that an organisation’s culture is the key to unlocking that organisation’s potential. Hillary Odiakaose from the University of Benin agrees, stating ‘the culture of an organisation, to a very large extent, determines the performance of the individuals that work in that organisation and by extension, the organisational performance.’ (Odiakaose, 2018).
With culture playing such a large role in success, it is only natural and indeed sensible, to try to understand it further in the context of one’s own organisation.
But what exactly is culture?
Although there is considerable variance between many academic definitions, the most important common denominator is that culture is a set of values, beliefs, and norms within a group. Further, these values, beliefs and norms are:
- Shared by all members of a group
- Learned by new members of the group
- Unique to each particular group
It becomes clear then that an organisation’s culture affects everybody within a group and creates conditions for each person to succeed. Culture has a lasting impact and sets the tone for all employees and as new hires join; they’ll adopt the existing norms that have been set before them. Ultimately, culture is what set’s one organisation apart from others, including crucially, its competitors.
With all of this in mind, it is worth giving some thought to the kind of culture that you want to achieve within your organisation, the question is… where to start?

67% of Global CEOs predict that in five years, workplace talent will focus more on corporate culture and values than they do on pay.
Using culture to improve performance
To determine your organisation’s direction and the strategy you need to implement to get there, it is worth identifying where you currently are and whether your existing culture is really maximising organisational performance.
To do this, multiple factors need to be considered. A culture that maximises organisational performance does not necessarily mean a culture focused purely on results, but instead a holistic approach that focuses on the many facets of culture should be taken. One that considers cultural driving forces, employee focus, engagement, and health and wellbeing, and understanding how best to support employees and maximise their contributions to the group. One that also considers the impact of negative cultural factors, what drives employee burnout, poor performance, and employee churn.
This is the approach that we take with MyPeople Culture. Our Culture Health Check (CHC) focuses on four core areas: Culture, Engagement, Health and well-being, and the Net Promoter Score.




MyPeople Culture Health Check
The CHC finds out from your employees first-hand how they experience your culture. It pinpoints what the cultural focuses are in your organisation, what impact they have, the positive and risk factors within teams, where there are cultural silos and what this means for the whole group. It also identifies the prevalence of each aspect of culture, allowing you to understand the potential for change.
The CHC also examines Engagement, using the most academically validated measure of employee engagement available, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Not only does this allow you to understand where engagement is strongest and where it needs attention, but it also predicts burnout and the inevitable employee churn that follows.

MyPeople Culture Health Check
The Health and Wellbeing component identifies the pressures felt by employees and the impact of these pressures, while the Net Promoter Score component gives an overall position of how positive employees feel towards the organisation, and crucially, why.
With configurable employee groupings, the results can be sliced and diced to really understand different demographics, paving the way for a sophisticated and fully flexible adoption of culture management. Different groups can be compared to understand what barriers there are for internal mobility or even mergers and acquisitions, and how these barriers should be removed.
Once your current cultural health is identified, you can start plotting your path to the culture that you want to achieve. You’ll know what to change and what to keep, and where, how, and when to intervene. Regular re-measurement can then determine whether you’re on the right track.
Your Culture is unique to your organisation, and by understanding its many facets, you can ensure its always helping your employees contribute to the organisation’s success in a long-term and sustainable way.
To summarise
If you want to find out what’s driving of hindering your team’s performance, consider implementing a Culture Health Check in your organisation – Discover what your people value most and do what you can to support that, you’ll then be one step closer to creating an extraordinary workplace.