The Belonging Space Challenge

How strong is the sense of belonging in your organisation?

Very strong: implicit trust, deep allegiance, people develop long careers

Hmm... Strong in parts or locally, but we can't seem to join it together

Strong: high loyalty, good collaboration, some divisions more than others

Do you mean that our employees have to do what we tell them?

Not sure, mostly people come to work and go home

What are you on about?

Is your company's ethos (values, principles, core beliefs) communicated clearly, consciously and accessibly? Do you explain what you value and why this all matters?

We explain what we value, and why it matters

We tell employees our values

We did values last year, people kind of know

Our code of conduct is on the intranet

I think HR gives something to the new people

Why would we bother with that?

How proud are people to wear a company badge or uniform or to say they work with you?

Hugely proud, given and received with pride: why people choose us

Proud: people don't shout about it, but it's deeply felt

Pretty good, there's some good heritage, but it's not the main motivation

Not really thought about that, I'll have to ask a few people

Not particularly, it's just a uniform for the job, I don't think they give it much thought

They change uniform at work, don't want to wear it in public

If a colleague needs help quickly with an unexpected challenge (eg shifting a big delivery, flood from water mains…) what proportion of your team is likely to drop what they’re doing to offer support?

We'd have a whole gang of support quickly, have to turn people away

A good crowd, we'd pull together to get the job done

Some people would show up, we'd probably manage

No point in sending a message, I'd just ask the people I know will help

Erm... Not sure we'd ever ask anyone

Are you kidding? This lot... Help out?

What does your company appreciate most – hitting sales targets or how you do business?

Both, on a balanced score card. We thank colleagues for upholding our principles

Main accountability is sales, we look at behaviour a bit

We don't really think about it, just hit sales targets

A bit of both, part of our appraisals

If people hit sales targets we can tolerate a bit of bad behaviour

Sales is all that matters, don't distract my team from making money

What business opportunity would you say 'no' to?

Anything out of synch with our ethos. Everybody understands the right thing to do

Anything that could damage our reputation or relationships

Something that we knew we couldn't deliver properly

If we might be found out doing something dodgy, or outside the law

Erm... Maybe if it looked risky for profitability or could lose us money

Don't be silly, we'd never say 'no': all business is good business

How strong is collaboration between disciplines and divisions in your business?

Very strong, free-flow exchange across any team or location

Mostly good collaboration, stronger between some divisions than others

Mostly close within teams and OK between them, some tension

Poor. It's fragmented, we all work differently, cooperation is tough

Really bad - more isolationism or protectionism, it's 'us and them'

It's gladiatorial combat, you have to know which side you're on

If you ask a few colleagues around you to give a quick rundown of your ethos, principles or values - in their own terms. How many could do it?

Everybody I asked would find it easy and answer confidently

Most people I asked would be able to do it without much trouble

Most people would remember our values statement, some would have to check

People would laugh, we did this at our conference, but they wouldn't remember

Hardly anyone would remember the themes

No-one would know what I was on about

How strong is your Board or Executive Group's sense of the organisation's values? Do they share these values and lead culture by setting good example?

Very strong, unified, lead by example

Quite strong, sometimes different styles

Mixed views, it's a bit confusing

They are sometimes contradictory

They seem to all have different values, not leading by example

A joke. They undermine our company values with their actions

The Belonging Space Challenge

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