The Experience Audit

At the SPS Connected Workplace Experience conference, one idea kept resurfacing in different forms:

What have your employees experienced that led them to believe what they believe?  And what results are those beliefs producing?

That’s a different question than asking what they believe.

At Culture Partners, we spend a great deal of time helping leaders shift beliefs because beliefs drive actions, and actions produce results. But beliefs don’t appear out of nowhere. They begin as interpretations. Every belief has a history.

Your team doesn’t wake up one morning believing leadership doesn’t listen. They arrive there after multiple experiences that make that conclusion feel reasonable. Beliefs are constructed over time from meetings, conversations, observations, stories, policies and countless ordinary moments that most organizations don’t think of as culture.

Those moments are culture.

As I listened to speakers discuss everything from workplace design and technology to hospitality, security and facilities, I realized they were all wrestling with the same underlying question: What experiences are we creating, intentionally or unintentionally.

That question sent me home with a notebook full of observations. I started making a list. I wanted to understand how many moments employees use as evidence when deciding what to believe about an organization. Eventually, it became less of a list and more of an audit.

I’m calling it the Experience Audit.

The purpose of the Experience Audit is simple: it helps leaders become more intentional about the experiences they create. It isn’t a scorecard or a survey. It is a way of seeing hundreds of moments that employees use as evidence when deciding what is true about your organization and you as a leader.

I hope it will help you identify the experiences you’re already creating and the ones you should be creating more intentionally.

As you move through the audit, resist the urge to evaluation each experience in isolation. A delayed email, a confusing policy, or a poorly run meeting may seem inconsequential on its own. But culture is created through repetition. The same kinds of experiences, encountered over and over eventually become evidence of a pattern. It is interpreted as truth.

For each item, some questions to consider include:

1. What might someone experience here?

2. What belief could that experience reasonably create?

3. What action might follow from that belief?

4. What result would that action make more likely?

You may discover that some experiences are reinforcing exactly what you intend. Others may not.

The audit will never be complete. There is no checklist or checkbox in this process. That is part of its value. Once you begin looking through the lens of experiences, you may notice culture more intentionally. So begin with experiences you can see then look for the ones you have stopped noticing.

The Experience Audit

At Culture Partners, we think about experiences in three categories: leader interactions, third-party narratives, and systems. Every experience fits somewhere within those three buckets, and every experience gives employees another piece of evidence about what is true inside the organization.

For each item, some questions to consider include:

1. What might someone experience here?

2. What belief could that experience reasonably create?

3. What action might follow from that belief?

4. What result would that action make more likely?

LEADER INTERACTIONS

▶ Presence

• Greeting employees

• Eye contact

• Using people’s names

• Smiling

• Walking the floor

• Being visible during change

• Being visible during crisis

• Working behind closed doors

• Attending team meetings

• Cancelling one-on-ones

• Showing up prepared

• Arriving late

• Leaving early

• Being fully present

• Looking at a phone while someone is speaking

▶ Listening

• Asking questions

• Interrupting

• Taking notes

• Following up

• Saying “Tell me more”

• Becoming defensive

• Changing your mind

• Seeking dissenting opinions

• Inviting quieter voices

• Ignoring ideas

• Acting on employee suggestions

• Remembering previous conversations

▶ Recognition

• Public praise

• Private praise

• Timely praise

• Generic praise

• Specific praise

• Celebrating effort

• Celebrating outcomes

• Celebrating learning

• Celebrating teamwork

• Celebrating innovation

• Recognizing anniversaries

• Recognizing birthdays

• Recognizing frontline employees

• Recognizing only executives

▶ Feedback

• Frequency of feedback

• Candor

• Tone

• Coaching vs. criticism

• Praise-to-correction ratio

• Annual reviews only

• Immediate feedback

• Surprising someone in a review

• Asking permission before giving feedback

• Making feedback developmental

▶ Accountability

• Owning mistakes

• Apologizing

• Blaming others

• Addressing poor performance

• Ignoring poor performance

• Applying standards consistently

• Playing favorites

• Keeping commitments

• Changing expectations

• Explaining decisions

▶ Trust

• Delegating meaningful work

• Micromanaging

• Giving autonomy

• Checking every detail

• Sharing confidential information

• Asking employees to represent the organization

• Trusting judgment

• Giving flexibility

▶ Development

• Career conversations

• Stretch assignments

• Mentoring

• Sponsorship

• Coaching

• Investing in learning

• Promoting internally

• Discussing aspirations

• Helping someone recover from failure

THIRD-PARTY NARRATIVES

▶ Coworkers

• Stories about promotions

• Stories about layoffs

• Stories about leadership

• Gossip

• Hero stories

• Horror stories

• Inside jokes

• Origin stories

• “Around here…” conversations

• Stories about difficult customers

• Stories about unfairness

• Stories about opportunity

▶ Customers

• Compliments

• Complaints

• Testimonials

• Reviews

• Escalations

• Social media comments

• NPS feedback

• Thank-you notes

• Angry emails

▶ Candidates

• Recruiting process

• Interview experience

• Offer negotiations

• Glassdoor reviews

• Candidate rejection experience

• Word of mouth

• Referral stories

▶ Former Employees

• Exit interviews

• LinkedIn posts

• Alumni conversations

• Boomerang employees

• Public criticism

• Public praise

▶ External Reputation

• Media coverage

• Awards

• Rankings

• Podcasts

• CEO interviews

• Analyst reports

• Industry conferences

• Community reputation

• Employer brand

▶ Everyday Observation

• Watching who gets promoted

• Watching who gets ignored

• Watching who gets recognized

• Watching conflict unfold

• Watching someone be interrupted

• Watching leaders respond to bad news

• Watching a mistake handled

• Watching someone leave

• Watching someone return

SYSTEMS

▶ Arrival

• Parking

• Reserved parking

• Security

• Badge access

• Reception greeting

• Visitor process

• Waiting area

• Signage

• Lobby design

▶ Physical Environment

• Artwork

• Plants

• Lighting

• Natural light

• Noise

• Temperature

• Cleanliness

• Smell

• Office layout

• Executive offices

• Collaboration spaces

• Quiet spaces

• Break rooms

• Bathrooms

• Cafeteria

• Furniture

• Ergonomics

• Dress code

• Music

• Company branding

▶ Technology

• Laptop quality

• Software reliability

• Wi-Fi

• VPN

• Password requirements

• AI tools

• Searchability

• Help desk

• Printer reliability

• Video conferencing

• Chat platforms

▶ Meetings

• Agendas

• Starting on time

• Ending on time

• Cameras on/off

• Decision making

• Clear owners

• Follow-up

• Multitasking

• Side conversations

• Who speaks first

• Who speaks most

• Psychological safety

• Debate

• Silence

▶ Communication

• Email volume

• Reply-all culture

• Slack norms

• Weekend emails

• CEO communication

• Transparency

• Town halls

• Skip-level meetings

• Anonymous questions

• Information sharing

• Communication cascades

▶ Hiring & Onboarding

• Job descriptions

• Interview process

• Offer process

• First day

• Orientation

• Equipment readiness

• Mentor assignment

• First-week experience

• First 90 days

▶ Performance

• Goal setting

• Performance reviews

• Promotions

• Compensation

• Bonuses

• Internal mobility

• Career paths

• Succession planning

• Calibration

• Talent reviews

▶ Learning

• Training

• Tuition reimbursement

• Conferences

• Coaching

• Mentoring

• Certifications

• Lunch-and-learns

• Knowledge sharing

▶ Decision Making

• Approval processes

• Speed

• Bureaucracy

• Risk tolerance

• Experimentation

• Escalation

• Documentation

• Cross-functional collaboration

▶ Policies

• PTO

• Remote work

• Hybrid work

• Travel

• Expenses

• AI usage

• Security

• Flexible schedules

• Parental leave

• Wellness benefits

▶ Rewards & Consequences

• Spot bonuses

• Incentives

• Recognition programs

• Profit sharing

• Consequences for misconduct

• Ethics enforcement

• Consistency

• Fairness

▶ Change

• Reorganizations

• Layoffs

• Mergers

• Strategy rollouts

• Crisis communication

• Budget cuts

• Leadership transitions

▶ Customer Experience

• Service recovery

• Complaint handling

• Empowerment

• Response time

• Escalation

• Scripts vs. autonomy

▶ Rituals

• Monday meetings

• Quarterly town halls

• Happy hours

• Volunteer days

• Holiday parties

• New hire welcomes

• Retirement celebrations

• Wins of the week

• Awards ceremonies

As you work through the Experience Audit, remember that every interaction, every story, and every system becomes evidence from which employees decide what is true about your organization.

Elsewhere In Culture

Employee Alignment and Recognition with John Frehse

Leaders often mistake agreement for alignment. John Frehse joined me to discuss how behaviors and smaller milestones reveal whether a team is truly movingtoward the same result. We also explored why personal recognition can be more meaningful than another company-wide reply-all celebration that becomes more about the sender than the person being recognized. Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ceo-daily-brief-with-dr-jessica-kriegel/id1725350421?i=1000777532414 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Rlf8AeyM2LIzjP552PUHS?si=49e099e4ee824714

The Art of Workplace Divorce with John Frehse

John challenged me to think about divorce as a tool for change. Sometimes the relationship, habit, belief, or need for approval that once served us becomes the very thing holding us back. We talked about taking an honest inventory of what drains our energy, including the George Costanza impulse to keep chasing people who have already decided they don’t like us. Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ceo-daily-brief-with-dr-jessica-kriegel/id1725350421?i=1000777695407 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/episode/3KIAJrWW9KGBTsINwXQYRf?si=3e7c52f86d2a4a2c

Activating Change with Mary Daffin

I joined Mary Daffin, co-owner of The Jacquelyn, to discuss what culture actually means and why accountability requires more than accepting blame after something goes wrong. Real accountability means recognizing the role we play in creating results and choosing the next action that can move those results forward. Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/guest-appearance-the-jacquelyn-social-exchange-podcast/id1725350421?i=1000777856082 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7K9WpIdkCZEKnwTjd7fx3N?si=cb31ef074da24404

Trusting Your Intuition with John Frehse

Success can make leaders trust their instincts more, even when those instincts were built for a world that no longer exists. John and I explored the difference between grounded intuition and ego masquerading as certainty, why AI makes human judgment more important, and why taking a moment to pause can sometimes produce a better decision than reacting quickly.

Can Leaders Be Too Transparent? with John Frehse

John and I tried to find the point where transparency creates more anxiety than clarity. We couldn’t find many examples. When leaders leave an information vacuum, employees fill it with rumors, assumptions, and stories that are usually worse than the truth. Transparency can create hard questions, but secrecy rarely creates trust.