Nobody at the helm of any kind of organization wants to see it driven into the ground, and yet across America, corporations and businesses fall into crisis every day. The reality is that even for the most astute and visionary leaders, seeing the signs of danger with unwavering clarity isn’t always an easy thing to do–the type of signs that a corporate culture audit could identify.
When crises move from being isolated incidents into becoming part of a pervasive pattern, the tough truth is that an undoing may have already begun. In these instances, a corporate culture audit provides the powerful insight and game-plan required to not only avert catastrophe, but get growth and prosperity set back between the sights—where it belongs.
What is a Corporate Culture Audit?
A corporate culture audit is a comprehensive assessment of all the moving parts that together comprise a business or organization. Its goal is to reveal the root causes behind the challenges faced by so many contemporary businesses, and plot a course towards their remedy. The corporate culture audit can be seen as akin to getting a check up from a great physician—the idea being to pinpoint how to cure the disease, rather than simply treating the symptoms in a reactionary fashion.
Undergoing a corporate culture audit will almost certainly bring big results, but it’s not something to view as a big disruption. Corporate investigations specialists know how to navigate essential information gathering with discretion, efficiency, and respect for your day-to-day operations. So, the only impacts felt will be the ones that come with the positive action that follows!
Turning to the role of the auditor, their efforts will be to assess factors such as hiring protocols, organizational subcultures, leadership functionality, interdepartmental and hierarchical communication, on-site security, team morale, external influences, and potentially much more. They may also examine the company’s corporate culture history—going back to its inception—in order to develop an optimal picture of the best way to get back on track.
Who Performs Corporate Culture Audits?
Programs designed to evaluate business operations can be found across a number of different avenues, but the most common providers—and usually the best equipped—are risk assessment and private investigations firms. Here, we find the broad skill set required to follow leads within a professional setting, gather corporate intelligence, engage the workforce in valuable interactions, compile a documented body of evidence, and make precision and practical suggestions for effective remedial action.
Of course, many businesses will be keen to keep corporate investigations internal as far as they can. This instinct is understandable—the idea of having an outsider come into the organization in order to seek out its weaknesses may well be a source of anxiety for leadership. However the problem with internal investigations is inherent; there’s no escaping the fact that objectivity is almost impossible from within, and failing to acknowledge this is all too often where organizations start to stumble.
Even when transparency and accountability is the quest objective, viewing day-in-day-out co-workers and the culture within which one is immersed with impartiality is not as easy feat. What’s more, it is difficult not to be bias when the impacts of an investigation may mean dramatic changes for the business, or an emotional fallout for those doing the reporting.
In the case of smaller businesses, there may simply not be the budget to maintain an internal corporate investigations team—not to mention, the will to take team members off vital tasks so that they can put their private investigator caps on. Bringing in external corporate investigations services as and when required can deftly side-step all of these issues. Professional investigators do this sort of work every day, serving swiftly with independence and autonomy. Their role is to provide you with the information you need today so that you can change tomorrow’s trajectory for the better.
The Value that External Investigators Bring to Businesses
With a fresh pair of eyes, corporate culture auditors will be able to establish whether there is cognitive dissonance between leadership and employees, and whether internal operations are as efficient and effective as they should be. Seasoned analytical skills will be turned to examining the chain of command, productivity flow, and the quality of communication company-wide. This may involve the confidential review of meeting minutes, interviewing department heads, or environmental evaluation. Through this process, previously unseen causes for concern or further indications of corporate theft and misconduct may also come to light.
Fundamentally, even the most engaged, efficient, and talented team member will struggle to perform well within a flawed corporate ecosystem. With this in mind, it becomes clear that every company can find value in periodic corporate culture audits—whether seeing signs of a problem or not. There is a lot to be said for performing maintenance before the cracks start to show.
With a corporate culture audit report in your hands, you will not only find a detailed overview of the current status quo, but also explicit recommendations for how to fix every hidden flaw identified. From there, enacting the transformation is up to you. Being a beacon of change means having a clear plan in place, and setting it into motion. If you’re ready to light the way, contact Lauth Investigations International today for a free quote. Our team of corporate security and investigations specialists are here to help you prosper.