2016 AAL Culture Survey

AllAmericanLeadership
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UNDERSTANDING WHAT MAKES A GREAT CULTURE
With this study, we sought to delve further into the the drive towards elite organizational culture and the factors
standing in organizations’ ways. We found that while 94.5% of respondents aspired to achieve great or elite
cultures, 76.9% of them believed that their organization had average or below average culture, again
underscoring the importance of these studies.
QUANTIFYING
CHALLENGES
Top 4
Challenges
to Cultural
Development
Developing our next generation of leaders
Recruiting, challenging, & engaging high performers
Establishing & maintaining a culture of
empowerment & leadership
Promoting cooperation & sharing between and
among individuals & departments
42%
36%
36%
30%
KEY FINDINGS
Respondents
who rated their
organization's
current culture as
being weak were
asked to rate how
weak it was from
different
points
of view.
Respondents
who rated their
organization's
current culture as
being strong were
asked to rate how
strong it was from
different points of
view.
ExecutiveTeam Rating
4.5%
ExecutiveTeam Rating
44.0%
Your Rating
27.0%
Your Rating
22.5%
Key to Success: Again, we see a gap between respondents’ views of their
culture and their perception of executive teams’ views of their
culture. This must be addressed if all parties are to remain on
the same page when attempting to improve or change culture.
Organizations should start
by diagnosing this
issue.

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Understanding What Makes
a Great Culture: Defining
Measurable Best Practices
© 2016 All American Leadership. Page 1
Understanding What Makes a Great Culture: Introduction
People are the heart of most organizations and provide the energy, initiative, and
commitment necessary for organizations to achieve their business objectives. To achieve the
highest performance from people, a great culture is essential.
At All American Leadership, we do not simply strive to create a great culture. We strive for an
ELITE culture. Our purpose is to inspire, empower, and challenge leaders to build and sustain
elite cultures.
The purpose of the survey on culture is the same. The survey was designed to:
The culture survey builds upon the findings of an earlier survey commissioned by All
American Leadership that focused on quantifying the general impressions executive, HR
professionals, and mainline staffs have of their organization’s culture.
Striving to Achieve an ELITE Culture
• Identify and quantify the critical factors that limit an organization’s ability to
improve its culture.
• Develop actionable steps to overcome these hurdles.
• Stimulate meaningful dialog among Executive Leaders and HR Professionals.
Key Findings
56% of respondents report that culture and leadership are mission critical to
achieving their business objectives.
The development of next generation leaders is the most commonly reported
factor that impairs an organizations ability to develop and sustain a great culture.
72% of respondents report the pace of change within their industry is a
contributing factor preventing the organization’s ability to foster the leadership
dynamic and culture needed to achieve their five year plan.
Executives are perceived as overvaluing the strength of their organization’s
culture and underestimating its weaknesses.
•
•
•
•

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Mission Critical
Essential
Important
Somewhat Important
Not Important
Good (Better than Average)
Great (Top 10% culture in
your industry
Elite (Top 10% culture in
your industry)
ToWhatextentareCultureand
Leadershipcoretoyourbusiness
success?
Whatleveldoyouaspiretoregarding
yourOrganizationalCultureand
Leadership?
Figures 1 & 2: Measuring the Importance of Culture
93.4% of all respondents view culture and leadership as not simply important but essential or
mission critical to achieving an organization’s business objectives. Not surprisingly, 94.5% of
respondents aspire to achieve a Great or Elite with over half striving to develop an Elite
culture.
What we found surprising from the 2015 survey on culture and is once again confirmed in this
survey, is that most companies are striving to create a great culture but failing with 76.9% of
respondents evaluating their organization’s culture as average or less than average.
6.6%
56.0%
37.4%
5.5%
51.6%
42.9%
How do you rate your
organization's current culture?
<= Average
Good or Great
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

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Figure 3: Quantifying the Cultural Development Challenges
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Given the number of organizations struggling to improve their cultures beyond average, the heart
of the survey focused on quantifying the challenges executives and HR professionals are
facing that impair their ability to advance an organization’s culture.
Developing the Next Generation of Leaders was rated as the most significant challenge with
42% of respondents rating the topic as a significant or highly significant challenge.
Rounding out the top five most reported challenges are Recruiting and Engaging High
Performers and Establishing and Maintaining a Culture of Empowerment and Ownership,
with 36% of all respondents ranking them as the #2 and #3 hurdles.
Overcoming “Turf Wars” and the “Silo Mentality” and Managing / Leading Change were #4 and
#5 with 30% and 26% of respondents rating the issues as significant challenges.
Developing our next generation of leaders
Recruiting, challenging, & engaging high performers
Establishing & maintaining a culture of
empowerment & leadership
Promoting cooperation and sharing between &
among individuals & departments
Managing, leading, & championing change (&
transcending barriers to change)
Maintaining the quality of our culture (through
growing pains or organizational structure changes)
Developing, maintaining, or restoring
trust with your organization
Developing, communicating, & getting your people
to embrace a common sense of purpose
Conquering lethargy, indifference, & ambivalence
Cultivating commitment & loyalty
Surmounting generational differences to get
employees of all ages to work together cohesively

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Figure 4: Identifying the Contributing Factors
The commonality among the top five most reported challenges is delegation and
communication. “Silo Mentalities,” a lack of empowerment and engagement, and
underdeveloped leaders all related to organizational weakness in providing people the
opportunity to make decisions, work with limited supervision, respond to change, and fail
without punishment.
This situation is not uncommon; and based upon the findings from the survey, the ever
increasing pace of change and growing complexities within today’s business environments are
contributing factors.
In today’s fast paced business environment, it is difficult to find the time to communicate and
collaborate. Delegating projects to less experienced staff and keeping people properly trained
becomes a secondary priority compared to just trying to keep up and getting things done.
The only ones able to break the cycle and place a priority on people development are the
executive leaders. Executives are in a place of power and influence that provides the
managers, supervisors, and staff the permission and mandate to delegate and communicate.
Unfortunately, a blind spot among executives appears to be keeping the critical leaders from
fully appreciating and engaging the cultural challenges that exist within their organizations.
Howwouldyoudescribethepace
ofchangeandcomplexityinyour
organizationandyourindustryover
thelast10years?
Howdoesthepaceofchangeand
complexityimpactyourabilitytocreate
orsustaintheCultureandLeadership
dynamicthatyoufeelisnecessaryfor
theorganizationalsuccessthatyou
haveoutlinedforthenext5years?
Little Change
Moderate Change
Substantial Change
Dramatic Change
Little Impact (It’s relatively easy)
Moderate Impact (Requires some effort)
Substantial Impact (Requires a lot of effort)
Dramatic Impact (It’s REALLY hard, and we
are being compelled to find new ways to
lead, engage, and sustain our culture)
2.5%
3.7%
22.2%
58.0%
16.1%
44.4%
38.3%
14.8%

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Figures 5 & 6: Identifying the Contributing Factors (continued)
For the second time, the research is showing a significant perception gap among executives who
are viewed as overstating the strength of their organizations’ cultures and understating weakness.
Looking at the two charts above, the charts summarize how respondents view their culture and
how they think others within their organizations view the culture.
Only 23% view their culture as great but 44% report that they believe their executive teams view
the culture as strong. The inverse is even more telling with again roughly 27% viewing their
culture as weak but only 4% report that they believe their executives view the culture as weak.
Without a clear understanding of where a culture stands, executive leaders will not be in a
position to act and actively move an organization’s culture forward.
Respondents who believed their organization had strong culture were asked to assign a score to how
strong it was from their own view, then do the same from the perspective of others in their organization.
Respondents who believed their organization had weak culture were asked to assign a score to how
weak it was from their own view, then do the same from the perspective of others in their organization.
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Yourself Your Staff Your Human
Resources Team
Your Executive
Team
Yourself Your Staff Your Human
Resources Team
Your Executive
Team

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Conclusion
Awareness, desire, and commitment to build and sustain an Elite Culture are mission critical to
success. Equally important is the ability to monitor, measure, and diagnose progress.
Throughout every department within an organization, the tools to analyze and report on an
aspect of the business are commonplace. Accounting, Finance, Operations, Logistics, Marketing,
and Sales departments all have the tools to measure and identify weaknesses and strengths.
However, when it comes to developing an Elite culture, the ability to measure a simple baseline
to know where your organization’s culture stands isn’t readily available. Without the ability to
measure, organizations do not have the tools to improve.
As a result of the findings, All American Leadership is commissioning a team of experienced
leaders, executive coaches, and retired military officers to develop a framework and easy-to-use
diagnostic tool that can be utilized to measure and report on culture.

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About All American Leadership
All American Leadership is a powerful intersection of supporting interests.
In the years immediately before the economic collapse of 2008, I found myself at a crossroads. I
was making a very comfortable living at a highly successful company where I was respected and
making a direct contribution to a significant growth trajectory. At the same time, I was
experiencing a growing frustration with the way many businesses and business leaders operated.
How they looked at their people as mere supporting cast in the quest for profit, with little or no
regard for the wellbeing, growth or support of those that made their success possible.
For a long while, I believed that by demonstrating positive leadership in my own organization, I
would set a positive example, and that should be good enough… but it wasn’t. In the back of my
mind I knew that just wasn’t NEARLY enough. I wasn’t being the father or leader that I wanted to
be or felt I was capable of being. I was nagged by a growing belief that I was capable of, no,
RESPONSIBLE for, doing more… much, much more.
– Rob Nielsen, Founder of All American Leadership
For more information, please contact:
R.L. Hartshorn
562-209-2024
rlhartshorn@allamericanleaders.com

2016 AAL Culture Survey

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