We know there are a legion of organisational ‘culture surveys’ available today. No wonder, culture counts! Why? Well, at a social level culture is a shared ‘way of life’, at a project level it is a ‘way of working’ together. A project culture is a collection of attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that comprise the general atmosphere of the work environment.

A healthy project culture engages and binds people together in a shared enterprise, providing alignment with organisational goals while also supporting the well-being of individuals. An unhealthy culture does the opposite, fragmenting bonds and alliances, creating adversarial relationships, and diminishing personal well-being. All that and more – ultimately a poor culture erodes project timeframes and goals. A bad culture is bad for business.

Large and complex projects often experience a ‘culture clash’ as different organisations come together with their own ‘way of working’. This can lead to a poor overall project culture and unproductive outcomes. It might seem like a ‘no brainer’ that projects require an interconnected project culture to succeed. However, the task of creating one can get lost in the detail or ‘weeds’ of the daily grind and critical path of project programs.

Project leaders face the task of creating a shared culture within a temporary project ‘super-organisation’. Success depends on a ‘one team’ culture that enhances and doesn’t diminish the strengths of participating organisations, or the contributions of their people. An effective project culture must incorporate contemporary expectations of career progression, flexibility and leadership. People now seek an open, collaborative culture where ideas are sought, opportunities are created and relationships are fostered. If they don’t find it, they may look elsewhere. The ‘a job for life’ values of last century have changed. Talent retention is a risk.

With the above in mind, we created the Project Culture Index (PCX) to measure and maximise a project’s culture across its lifespan. The PCX captures project participants’ experience, providing project leaders with the data to foster a climate of success.

‍

The PCX is a simple and efficient leadership tool to guide decision making and generate progressive project discussions.

As outlined above, a project culture differs from a traditional understanding of organisational culture. In addition, many of the drivers of a successful project culture are unique to the sector, reflecting the specifics and changing nature of the industry. The PCX was developed to reflect these drivers and provide leaders with the levers for change.

 We measure project culture through the felt experience of working in a specific project community. Felt experience is key – people forget a lot of things, ‘but they always remember how you make them feel’ (Maya Angelou).  Project culture is an outcome of a range of human and organising factors that leaders put into place. These are essential, measurable, and thankfully - movable. Based on our collaboration with project leaders and extensive project research we have identified 12 crucial drivers of project culture.