What are the best ways to identify an organization's culture?

Absolutely, observing behavior is a crucial factor of understanding an organization's culture. To have an overall understanding if the culture is a strong one, here are few more insights - 1. Whether the consistency in behaviour exists or varies 2. How leaders react to situations or respond to/behave with employees 3. Informal interactions too can be quite revealing 4. Feedback mechanism of the organization and action on the feedbacks received

To identify an organization's culture, observe communication styles, values, teamwork, leadership approach, and employee behaviors. Surveys, interviews, and company events also provide valuable insights.

Behavior Observation: Observe how people act in various scenarios to uncover the organization's underlying cultural values. Employee Engagement: Use methods like surveys, interviews, or focus groups to collect employee perspectives on culture, including satisfaction, engagement, and areas needing improvement. Artifact Analysis: Analyze tangible and intangible artifacts like logos and policies to understand their cultural significance. Framework Utilization: Apply cultural frameworks for categorizing and assessing cultures, e.g., Competing Values Framework or Hofstede's Dimensions. External Feedback: Seek external perspectives to gain an objective evaluation of the culture from customers, suppliers, and industry experts

Asking employees and management is a great way of identifying the culture. I recall doing this with a client and I asked them to identify the "values" they believe the company stood for. When I received consistent words or phrases from many, both employees and managers, I knew the values mentioned were important.

Of the suggestions listed here, I've found stories to be the most insightful and representative of the "real" culture. Ceremonies and rituals are helpful also, yet only if they are considered highlights for people and are well attended on a voluntary basis.

Such frameworks can help evaluating the culture in multiple aspects - 1. Provide a common language for understanding the culture 2. Offer criteria for assessing in a structured manner 3. Comparative analysis for identifying areas where alignment with the organization's strategy and goals is needed 4. Holistic view to address cultural challenges and opportunities

External feedback always is valuable and insightful : 1. Diverse perspective to identify the nuances and unbiased view 2. More objectivity 3. Perception of the brand and ethos to the outside world 4. Environmental/Industry impacts of culture in terms of opportunities & threats

An additional item to consider is the behaviors which are accepted vs. those behaviors not accepted within the organization. For example, I remember working with a client who insisted one of their values was honesty, yet when a vendor (such as myself) would call to learn the status of an invoice submitted, the common response was, "the check is in the mail" when they knew full well the invoice hadn't yet been processed. In this case, behavior spoke much louder than the stated value. Don't get me wrong, they were a great client for many years.