Here at Digital Additive, we recently implemented the Culture Index platform to better understand our team members, what best motivates them, and how to hire the best fits for our open positions. We spoke with our advisor, Sumeet Chahal, about what sets Culture Index apart and how it benefits companies like Digital Additive.
What is Culture Index?
Culture Index is a behavioral analysis platform that ultimately allows companies to get the right people in the right seats and manage them the right way. Psychometric assessments have been around for over a hundred years, so this idea of using people’s hardwired trades to align with their work is nothing new. What we really do is work hand in hand with clients and leaders to ensure these assessments are taking place on an ongoing basis so that they can manage their team more effectively and with more impact.
What sets it apart from similar workplace assessments?
If I’m being candid, a lot of what sets it apart is the advisors themselves. For example, my background reflects that: I was a COO for 15 years in healthcare. Prior to that, I was a computer engineer and a consultant for a couple of years after getting my engineering degree from Texas A&M. Before that, I was in the Marine Corps, so my experience goes from military leadership all the way through to technology as well as operations alongside being an entrepreneur myself. So the advisors that you get with Culture Index are people that have been in your seats: they’ve run businesses, they’ve been founders in C-suites, and leaders in their own organizations. Culture Index has offered them an opportunity to share the information they’ve gleaned with other leaders as they grow their businesses.
How was the Culture Index tool established?
Dr. Lewis Janda, a clinical psychologist and professor out of Old Dominion, did the initial studies behind the program. Dr. Janda worked with companies to perform psychological assessments of potential employees and employees under consideration for promotion. He also published extensively.
The founder of Culture Index, Gary Walstrom, also had a history utilizing psychometric assessments and behavioral analyses and really wanted to empower leaders to build better organizations and be stronger leaders. So he reached out to Dr. Janda to help create Culture Index.
How have you seen it positively impact companies?
I’d have to say that one of the clearest examples is me, personally, because it’s changed my life. I mentioned being a COO for 15 years in healthcare, a marine, and all those things. But really, my DNA or my hardwired traits were not aligned with process operations and detailed work. They were much more focused on engagement and building relationships. And so for me, Culture Index essentially gave me my life back. Six years ago when I got into this business, I was struggling emotionally and at really high risk for burnout. And so CI for me essentially unlocked my potential. It allowed me to stop trying to run operations and start teaching people and engaging with humans.
I always lead with that story, because it’s played such a powerful part in who I am now. I’m 47, and I’ve been working since I was 17 — so for the last 30 years. And these last six years with culture index, I’ve been more impactful, productive, and helpful than my previous 15 years combined. So I always go back to that mindset of really helping leaders empower their dreams with other leaders.
I’ve also seen Culture Index work really well in companies that start using the shared language. For example, clients will start to consider people through the lens of, hey, you’re an external processor. That means when you have a solution, that’s the beginning of a conversation. Or you’re an internal processor. When you say you have a solution, that’s the end of the conversation. Really focusing on people’s strengths, and not their perceived “weaknesses” is where my clients have really seen the most impact. They have better engagement, lower turnover; their ROI is really in engaged employees being more productive.
Working with people’s strengths, like those identified by the Culture Index platform, is essential to the supportive character of Digital Additive as an agency. Want to work where your individual traits are valued as part of a cohesive whole? Check out our open positions today.
