What is a Worthwhile Activity for Your Company Retreat?

In my last article, Why Have a Company Retreat?, I mentioned the idea of conducting a culture audit with your team. In this article, I’ll discuss how you conduct it, and how it can benefit your company.

The culture audit asks each team member, including the team leader, to respond to a series of confidential questions. The collective data provides a snapshot of what’s working well within the organization, and where the team gets “stuck.” It is a powerful process of discovery and often lends the team leader significant feedback about potential “hot spots” that may need immediate attention.

With this collective data, I am able to provide my best service in designing organizational development and performance management for great effectiveness.

When conducting a team culture audit, the questions should be simple. They should be sent online to each participant, and room for feedback should always be included so the employee can freely add comments from his or her perspective. If you can set up confidential responses, you will gain more honest feedback, as well.

Questions for your culture audit

I have used the following core questions to conduct insightful team culture audits, which can be customized to fit your needs:

1. I have a clear job description and know what my job duties are?
   1. Yes     No    Please explain:_______________
2. I am provided with job training that  allows me to do my job better and with more ease:
   1. Never    Rarely     Sometimes    Almost Always    Always   Please Explain:_____________
3. I feel driven to make a difference in my organization:
   1. Never    Rarely     Sometimes    Almost Always    Always   Please Explain:_____________
4. In your opinion, what inspires people to make a difference in their organization:
   1. _______________
5. My organization recognizes and celebrates the success of team members:
   1. Never    Rarely     Sometimes    Almost Always    Always   Please Explain:______________
6. How could your team improve the way it recognizes the successes of individual team members?
   1. _______________
7. We work together as a team:
   1. Never    Rarely     Sometimes    Almost Always    Always   Please Explain:_______________
8. What do you believe are important characteristics of a good team?
   1. _______________
9. My organization communicates effectively (written and verbal) and in a timely manner to its employees:
   1. Never    Rarely     Sometimes    Almost Always    Always   Please Explain:_______________
10. I enjoy starting a new day:
    1. Never    Rarely     Sometimes    Almost Always    Always   Please Explain:_______________
11. What makes a really good day for you?
    1. _______________
12. Describe what makes your organization great and what would make it better?
    1. _______________
13. What does your organization need to be focused on to be successful for the next year?
    1. _______________
14. If you could implement any change within your organization, what would it be?
    1. _______________

How will these questions help?

Feedback from these questions will help to shine the light on what is truly going on within the organization and help you to identify areas of team synergy as well as areas of strain or conflict among the team players. Often when I review the collective feedback from this process I can immediately help the team leader to understand where the team is “stuck” (and why), and collectively, we can begin putting a plan in place for team development and solutions for creating a stronger team alliance.

Honoring the system as its own entity, and accepting that each of the parts, (the people), make up the organization’s whole will help you as Leader, to understand more clearly your business opportunities and potential threats. And you don’t have to do it alone! The gift in this process is that when you hold each of your team members creative, resourceful, and whole (another concept adopted from the Coaches Training Institute), you don’t have to figure it all out on your own. With this powerful feedback, you can begin to put your strategy in place for taking action – then, you’ll be one step closer to intentional productivity.

Order my book today or contact me at 425-241-4855 to schedule a workshop.