Climate & Culture
If culture is the enduring, shared values and beliefs of your organization, then climate is the perceptions and feelings your people hold day to day. Developing both is an investment in the wellbeing, health, and functioning of your business, and everyone in it. We measure where you stand with each, pinpoint what to build on, and help shape the workplace you want to create.
Two lenses on your workplace, and the tools to shape both.
- 01
Culture Diagnosis & Development
intentionally determine the culture you want by clarifying, operationalizing, and implementing your key values.
- 02
Organizational Climate Assessments
measure how your organization is functioning right now across leadership, departments, team dynamics, resources, and more.
- 03
Employee Engagement Surveys
gauge morale and engagement, and surface what drives high performance and talent retention.
Why culture shapes organizational health.
When short-term perceptions and long-term vision line up, the effects show up across the business. Focused climate and culture work helps you:
- Enhance organizational effectiveness by targeting initiatives shown to lift productivity and employee satisfaction in your business.
- Improve leadership alignment by identifying the values and behaviours needed to support organizational success.
- Drive sustainable growth by aligning values with business goals to foster innovation and resilience for the long term.
- Gain actionable insight by accurately measuring satisfaction, communication, leadership effectiveness, and team dynamics.
- Boost morale with strategic plans grounded in a real understanding of what your people need.
- Replicate what works by identifying what drives engagement and spreading it across teams.
From understanding to change.
Every engagement is shaped by your organization's needs. In general, the work moves through three stages:
- 1
Understand the current state
An in-depth read on how your workplace functions today, drawing on a mix of methods, including interviews, surveys, and focus groups, for a complete picture.
- 2
Pinpoint strengths and gaps
We surface what's working and the areas that need attention, so solutions target the things that genuinely move your organization forward.
- 3
Enhance the environment
Put targeted strategies in place, and measure effectiveness over time, to build workplace engagement and employee satisfaction.
Why organizations partner with us on culture.
Our tools are rigorous, and most useful because of the expertise and confidentiality around them:
- A diverse team of experienced workplace psychologists and consultants.
- Customized questions and recommendations, targeted to the areas of importance you identify.
- Evidence-based methods, with hundreds of industry-benchmarked items proven to assess climate, culture, and engagement.
- Third-party confidentiality that increases participation, honesty, and integrity in the process.
- A research and data background that holds accuracy and privacy standards high.
By combining diverse data-collection methods with the confidentiality of a third-party provider, we deliver reliable data and precise analysis, offering the knowledge and strategies you need to move forward with confidence.
Frequently asked questions.
Culture is the enduring, shared set of values and beliefs that shape how an organization works; climate is what people perceive and feel about working in your organization right now. The two are related but they move at different speeds. We look at both, then help you understand which one is driving what you're seeing, and which one to work on first.
Organizational climate and culture development encompass strategies to enhance your workplace environment. Whether through an assessment of the current state of your organization (climate) or evaluating and building the enduring values that shape your organization's identity (culture), the goal is to boost employee engagement and organizational functioning for sustained success.
An organizational climate assessment or employee engagement survey from Birchwood provides vital insights into the current state of and perceptions towards things like workplace morale, operational efficiency, and employee satisfaction. By identifying strengths and areas for improvement, these tools enable organizations to implement strategic interventions that enhance productivity and employee retention.
Birchwood supports culture diagnosis and development by collaborating closely with your organization to define values that align with the vision for your business and strategically build those values into day-to-day operations. We define values through multiple methods, which may include interviews and focus groups with key leaders and stakeholders, and a representative sampling of employees. Our tailored strategies promote a workplace culture driven by what is most important to your business, leading to enhanced employee commitment, strengthened teamwork and organizational identity, and deep organizational resilience.
Investing in organizational climate and culture development fosters a positive workplace environment that drives employee engagement and organizational success. By ensuring that you're doing all you can as an organization to align the employee experience with your long-term vision, you'll help to drive meaningful change for your organization and people.
Where we work
We run culture and climate work in person in Calgary and Toronto, and virtually with organizations across Canada, from Vancouver to Halifax.
Engagement findings often point straight to team-level work. Explore Team Effectiveness
Build a culture people want to work in.
Reach out to talk through your organization's climate and culture goals. We'll recommend the right place to start, from a diagnosis to a full engagement survey.