Charting Your Course: Values to Shape Your Culture

1/9

Charting Your Course: Values to Shape Your Culture

This nine-question quiz can help you start to identify your core values and suggest workplace culture types and policies/practices that may be a good fit. Understanding your values is the first step to creating an ethical, inclusive culture for your team or company. If you'd like to get a deeper understanding of how values influence workplace culture, get in touch with us for a quick conversation!

Which guides you most when making major life decisions?

Ambition - Will it help me achieve my goals?

Compassion - Will it allow me to help others?

Justice - Does it align with my ethics and morals?

Autonomy - Will it give me more freedom?

What do you prioritize in your close relationships?

Mutual respect and shared goals

Emotional intimacy and providing support

Acceptance, understanding, and openness

Space, trust, and room to be yourself

Which of these is most fulfilling to you?

Accomplishing an ambitious goal through dedicated effort

Helping others become their best selves

Contributing to equality and ethical business practices

Having the freedom to follow my passions

What is most rewarding about your work?

Achieving tangible results and advancing my career

Developing relationships and seeing my team grow

Knowing our work is making a positive societal impact

Having autonomy over my schedule and work methods

Which of these statements resonate the most with you?

I tend to prioritize projects based on their potential impact and success metrics.

Making sure my team feels supported is extremely important to me. I want to provide mentorship and professional development so they have what they need to thrive.

Making a positive societal or environmental impact with our products/services is a top priority for me.

I want our culture to empower people to chart their own course and work autonomously. Giving my team flexibility and ownership is key.

Which of these best describes your preferred management style?

Hierarchic - I make the important decisions and set the direction

Democratic - I actively seek team input and build consensus

Supportive - I aim to develop people and be there for them

Delegative - I give autonomy and trust the team to handle details

Which of the following best describes your current work-life balance?

I tend to work very long hours because I'm very passionate about what I do.

My work schedule is demanding, but I like to pursue personal interests too. Work hard, play hard!

I aim for a sustainable pace with reasonable working hours so I am not working all the time.

Achieving major milestones is my focus right now, so I put in whatever hours are needed even if it means a little burnout.

Which of these best describes how you would like your culture to be described?

We are a tight crew - closely knit with shared values

We are visionaries - inspired to change the world

We are a meritocracy - everyone has a chance to have their best ideas heard and seen

We are free spirits - informal and flexible produces the best creative ideas

How would you like your team's working style to be?

I'd like us to collaborate closely so we can leverage our diverse strengths and benefit from each other's expertise.

I want to encourage high performance within the team. We’re all smart and can push each other to excel and outperform expectations.

I want our culture to empower people to chart their own course and work autonomously.

I want a flexible, casual environment to keep us creative and help us maintain work-life balance.

Image: Edsel Little via Flickr

A Visionary Culture

Related Values: achievement, stimulation, and self-direction.

A results-driven and innovative workplace culture could be a great fit. This can mean:

Celebrate wins and achievements
Designate spaces or projects specifically geared towards innovation and experimentation
Training that enhances leadership skills
Align company goals with a higher purpose, emphasizing the positive impact on society or the world
Valuing and modeling work-life balance

Policies/Practices might include:

Stretch goals and visions
Rewards for leading change
Passion projects encouraged
Minimal bureaucracy
Experimentation encouraged
Office perks and celebrations
4-day work week or no-meeting Fridays
Parental leave
Remote/WFH allowed

A Companion Culture

Related Values: respect, wisdom, care, and meaning

A collaborative and supportive workplace culture could be a great fit. This can mean:

Design shared experiences to support team bonding
Emotional intelligence training
Collaboration and consensus leadership
Celebrating milestones and traditions
Valuing work-life balance

Policies/Practices might include:

Team building activities
Consensus decision-making
Team passion projects encouraged
4-day work week or no-meeting Fridays
Parental leave
Group outings
Remote/WFH allowed

An Idealist Culture

Related Values: broadmindedness, care, honesty, and positive social impact

A purpose-driven workplace culture could be a great fit. This can mean:

Unite team through higher purpose and making a positive societal impact
Foster sustainability and social justice
Operate with transparency and integrity
Develop leaders who embody democratic leadership principles and value meritocracy
Value work-life balance

Policies/Practices might include:

Team building activities
Employee assistance programs
Consensus decision-making
4-day work week or no-meeting Fridays
Parental leave
Group outings
Remote/WFH allowed
Bonuses for collaboration

An Explorer Culture

Related Values: creativity, autonomy, daring, and respect

A creative and flexible workplace culture could be a great fit. This can means:

Trusting and empowering teams with freedom and autonomy
Creativity and blue-sky thinking
Provide leadership training that emphasizes delegative leadership styles and trust-building
Bond through creative activities with maximum team input
Value work-life balance

Policies/Practices might include:

Flexible schedules
Unlimited PTO
Passion projects
Remote/WFH
Parental leave
4-day work week or no-meeting Fridays
Bonuses for collaboration
Offsite adventures