What is a Culture Council?

A Culture Council is an empowered group of committed team members from across the organization that advises leadership with curated recommendations to improve workplace culture.

Who should be on your Culture Council?

To get your culture committee off the ground, first, select your sponsor—the person from the leadership team who is most respected by the team. This person then invites influencers from different departments who care about the organization and the team and exemplify the core values. Include a diverse group of perspectives by including team members of different ages, gender, race, tenure, level of authority, etc. Include no more than 8 participants.

‍Note: Participation on the Culture Council is voluntary.

How to make your Culture Council a Success

First, leadership must be an active proponent of the creation of a Culture Council.  

Second, the Culture Council must have a clear charge to provide curated recommendations to leadership to improve the workplace culture.

Third, prior to making a recommendation, the Culture Council needs to be thoughtful about the resources needed (time, energy, and money) to implement said recommendation. A Culture Council strives to be intentional and focused in only making those recommendations they see that would truly be impactful.

Fourth, leadership needs to consider recommendations in a timely fashion and then act—either by coordinating implementation or putting it in the parking lot.

Note: Whatever the decision, the leadership team must communicate to the Culture Council both the decision and the thinking behind that decision.

Operating within the Culture Council

1) Intentionally nurture the culture by "sparking" camaraderie. "Sparks" are small simple thoughtful actions easily implementable by anyone at any time. You can:

• Witness a co-worker’s personal or professional struggle
• Acknowledge a teammate’s contribution, dedication or thoughtfulness
• Share a groan-worthy bad (clean!) joke

Get more sparking ideas here ...

2) As the voice of the culture and advocate for the culture, the Culture Council’s second key responsibility is to get a temperature check on how the team is feeling about working for the organization, gathering meaningful, actionable feedback and highlighting morale patterns.

Some simple questions that gather actionable input:

• On a scale of 1-10, how do you feel about coming to work here? What would make that a plus one?
• What do you most appreciate about our culture?
• What is your best suggestion for improving our culture?

3) As advocates and protectors of the company culture, the Culture Council is also responsible for encouraging direct, kind, candid, and constructive communication whenever concerns about another teammate are brought to them. It’s their responsibility to redirect triangulation and gossip when they arise.

4) Last but not least, the Culture Council is responsible for continuous learning and generating ideas to nourish and improve the culture.

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7 Common Pitfalls of a Culture Council

Many organizations have the best of intentions when they put together a culture committee. Yet often the enthusiasm that brought this committed group of employees together tends to wane, and they feel like they are wasting their time due to one or more of the following:

1. Leadership has an expectation that creating a Culture Council will alone fix the culture challenges.  
2. The Culture Council becomes a dumping ground for addressing any morale challenges within the organization.
3. There is no clear direction, and thus meetings become nebulous, lackluster chatting with no outcomes.
4. The council becomes the party planning committee—also known as the “forced fun” committee—and their impact is significantly diminished and value undermined.
5. The Culture Council’s recommendations are not taken seriously and/or are not handled in a timely fashion.
6. The direction of the Culture Council is dominated by the personal agenda of one person rather than guided by what’s best for the whole team.
7. The Culture Council has little to no experience navigating key culture challenges such as gossip, silos, apathy, entitlement, and drama.

If you're struggling with any of these pitfalls, we can help! Reach out to us using the Let's chat button above.

Remember: Culture Councils are made up of some of your best people. Honor their time and their commitment by supporting them in being successful!  

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