Why Should You Care about Culture?
For one thing, think about the cost savings. According to a 2022 FlexJobs survey, 62% of employees cited company culture as the reason that they quit their jobs. Numerous studies from widely respected organizations such as Gallup, McKinsey, and SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) cite similar percentages and estimate that culture-caused turnover costs U.S. companies billions of dollars each year. It’s an expensive problem.
Even if employees don't actually quit, culture-caused performance issues can cost just as much in lost productivity. When team members have conflicting values, beliefs, and priorities, it's hard for them to trust each other. At the very least this makes for an uncomfortable work environment and distracts from putting energy and enthusiasm into the goals you want the team to achieve. At its worst, distrust produces anxiety and stress which release chemicals in the brain that tend to exacerbate underlying frictions and tensions, i.e. bad team chemistry. Either way, not a great recipe for success.
The CultureSet™ Origin Story
After decades of practical experience working with a broad range of teams in a variety of workplace environments, the impact of culture and chemistry on performance was obvious; but how to consistently develop it was not. In response to the problem, Concrete Logic created CultureSet™ to provide an instructive framework for managers who want to build exceptional teams with great chemistry - without having to become experts in organizational culture. At its core is the CultureSet™ Values Matrix, a novel recombination of a few well-established constructs: an adaptation of Hofstede’s seminal Theory of Cultural Dimensions overlaid with the Big Five and HEXACO Personality Scales; with four interactive value scales that, measured together, forge the cultural profile for any individual person, team, or organization. Following industry standard practices, two questionnaires were developed to assess cultural compatibility between employees or applicants and the teams they would be assigned to work with. The CultureSet™ and Hire Quiz for managers to define their team's cultural values matrix, and the CultureSet™ Questionnaire for current and prospective members of that team who would be asked to respond to a series of 48 questions such as this:
Thinking about a team you most enjoyed working on, which description best applies
1. Fast-paced and chaotic at times, making a few mistakes was tolerated and even expected
2. Decisive leadership, a hands-on manager with lots of experience to make sure everything got done properly
3. Everyone had clearly defined roles, followed best practices and procedures to get our work done efficiently
4. Definitely on the original side, frequently had to improvise when tasked to resolve complex issues
There are no right or wrong answers to the questions, any more than there are right or wrong cultural values. It's just a matter of compatibility. Field trials proved out the concept and the name CultureSet™ was created. As previously mentioned, the matrix is the cornerstone. The worksheet below defines the four fundamental cultural values as well as how people on opposite sides of the spectrum are apt to see each other, hence make it difficult to build trust much less strong team chemistry.
CultureSet™ Process
To operate at peak performance, everyone on your team needs to share its mission-critical cultural values. But the problem is, how do you really know if someone else’s values are compatible with what you need for your team? During an interview, candidates are likely to say what they think you want to hear or may genuinely believe things about themselves that might not be quite accurate. That’s where Concrete Logic's CultureSet™ comes in. The first step is to take the CultureSet™ and Hire Quiz which will automatically generate your team's value matrix. Creativity always seems to be one of the more difficult cultures to set and hire for, so let's use that as an example.
| Your Team Values Matrix | # |
| Autonomy/Openness | 9.4 |
| Ambiguity/Risk | 7.5 |
| Egalitarian/Humilty | 3.1 |
| Assertiveness/Achievement | 0.6 |
The leader of a team whose mission was to look for novel, creative solutions took the CultureSet™ and Hire Quiz. The results ranked Autonomy/Openness as the team's primary value with a 9.4. Ambiguity/Risk was a strong second at 7.5. Egalitarian/Humility was of lesser importance and received a 3.1, while Assertiveness/Achievement with only .6 indicated that it was the least important to the team's mission.
Based on quiz results, this team would operate best with an Autonomy-Ambiguity culture. Its leader was given the following description: Successful team members are open-minded independent thinkers, imaginative and intellectually curious with a strong need for personal autonomy, spontaneous, flexible, and bold, seek out novel and daring experiences, feel comfortable in uncertain and unpredictable situations. Effective team leaders tend to be dynamic and visionary, they provide safe spaces to create, reward novelty and innovation, empower employees, encourage debate and improvisation, expect the unexpected, nurture a sense of adventure, encourage experimentation, discourage narrow-minded attitudes, inflexibility. and reluctance or resistance to change.
They also received the CultureSet™ Priorities Table (below) listing recommendations for the 5 most important, mission-critical priorities to set an Autonomy-Ambiguity culture, as well as the specific activities to reward and discourage; although they were encouraged to customize the table as needed, because every team and its culture are unique. The team uses it as a convenient reference guide, some think of it as their North Star.
| Mission-Critical Priorities | Actions That Get Rewarded | Actively Discouraged Behaviors |
| Novelty | Sense of adventure | Avoid taking risks |
| Intellectual Curiosity | Active debate about possibilities | Trying to control discussions |
| Imagination | Experimenting with new ideas | Sticking to standard procedures |
| Improvisation | Creative problem solving | Analysis paralysis |
| Flexibility | Quick to adapt | Resistance to change |
Example – Autonomy-Ambiguity Team’s CultureSet™ Priorities Table
Then the team leader used results from the CultureSet™ Questionnaire to hire individuals who were compatible with their Autonomy-Ambiguity culture. When people share similar cultural values, beliefs, and priorities, they can almost always find common ground, work through their differences. It builds the foundation for trust and a shared identity, the keys to team chemistry.
CultureSet™ - an essential leadership tool for setting culture and hiring to build great team chemistry.