Your culture is the heartbeat of your firm. It’s what binds teams together, fuels their motivation, encourages their collaboration, and defines how they see your future together. As a leader, it’s easy to assume that your team views your firm’s culture the same way you do. But what if your perception doesn’t align with theirs? In this blog, we'll dive into the importance of recognizing cultural disconnection within your team and help you repair any divide that may exist.

The Culture You Promote vs. The Culture Your Team Experiences

When a potential hire asks, “What’s the culture like here?” — you may be quick to describe a supportive, team-oriented, and rewarding environment confidently. When Vista begins to work with a firm, many firm owners describe the perceived strengths of their culture as:

• Clearly stated company values that guide decision-making
• Respectful and collaborative team dynamics
• An open-door policy to encourage dialogue
• Leadership support to overcome challenges and meet goals
• Flexible work-life balance initiatives

However, often, after hearing from other team members, the perception is disconnected from reality. This disconnect can be a major barrier to achieving your firm’s goals and can also harm team morale and overall performance. At some of those same firms where leaders have relayed a strong, cohesive culture, we hear a different story from the team with complaints like:

• Low morale
• Frequent conflicts or tension within the team
• High turnover rates
• Poor communication with management
• Lack of direction or support in meeting goals
• Inadequate work-life balance

Culture Isn’t What You Intend – It’s What Your Team Experiences

So here's the question and challenge for firm owners and leaders: Is your culture as strong as you believe it to be? The reality is culture isn’t defined by your own perspective as a leader or manager, but by how your team experiences and interacts with these elements in their day-to-day work lives. It’s shaped by their feelings, interactions, and the support they receive, as well as the environment and values they encounter consistently.

It’s not always obvious when there’s a disconnect between your perception as a leader and your team’s reality. Culture isn’t measured by intention — it is measured by lived experience. As a leader, you may see an environment of collaboration, communication, and growth, while your team may feel unsupported, unheard, or stifled. It grows gradually, hidden behind masked behaviors, often fueled by leaders who rely on surface-level feedback or their own positive experiences. Recognizing this misalignment requires intentional observation and listening, a willingness to seek unfiltered feedback, and the humility to accept ownership as the leader.

Evaluate Your Leadership Impact

Leadership impact is the influence a leader has on their organization’s culture, the engagement of team members, and overall success. It is shaped by decisions made, behaviors demonstrated, and the ability to inspire and align the team with a shared vision. When evaluating leadership impact, leaders must go beyond any assumptions and actively seek insight into their connection within the team’s experience. Asking yourself reflective questions is a great place to begin:

• Do I know what motivates my team beyond their paycheck?
• When was the last time I had an honest, unscripted conversation with a frontline team member?
• Do team members feel comfortable giving me bad news or disagreeing with me?
• Are people excited to contribute, or do they seem to be just going through the motions?
• Am I making decisions that align with our vision and mission, or do I sometimes contradict them?
• Do I address cultural issues proactively or only when they become a crisis?
• Am I setting the tone for a culture of trust and transparency?
• Have I assumed the culture is fine because no one is complaining?
• Is our turnover rate increasing, and do I understand why?
• Would I want to work here if I were in their shoes?

Whether you are feeling optimistic about your leadership impact reflection or aren’t quite sure how you’re feeling, increasing your awareness of signs and signals from your team is essential to your continued development and growth as a leader of your organization.

Recognizing Disconnect

It isn’t always easy to quickly identify rifts or issues in your company culture. There are, however, warning signs that should not be ignored. Here are a few key indicators that your culture may not be as strong or cohesive as you think:

• Lack of Engagement: If you feel that your team is hesitant to speak up or share ideas, it may indicate that they feel unheard or uncomfortable speaking up. It may also indicate that they are feeling or have become disengaged with what’s happening around them.
• Frequent Misunderstandings: Persistent gaps and misunderstandings may suggest that clearly defined or more consistently applied expectations are needed.
• Inconsistent Application of Values: If the values you communicate are not upheld uniformly, or exceptions are made for certain team members, your team may be struggling to trust leadership. This erosion of accountability will diminish their confidence in you, as well as cause animosity within your team.
• Reluctance to Voice Concerns: A quiet team isn’t always a happy team. If you find that critical concerns aren’t being shared with your leaders, your team may be suppressing them due to fear of judgment or punishment or a belief that no action will be taken at all based on experiences they may have had or were made aware of previously.
• Low Morale or High Turnover: When dissatisfaction takes root, employees become disengaged or leave. Often, this comes in waves of multiple employees leaving within a short period of time.

If any of these signs feel familiar, it's a clear signal that action is needed to address the underlying issues. Now is the time to take meaningful steps to realign your organization's culture with your core values, mission, and vision. By doing so, you can foster a more cohesive and engaged team, ensure your goals are being met, and create a stronger foundation for long-term success.

Beyond Assumptions: Using Cultural Surveys to Strengthen Your Team

Cultural surveys provide leaders with a clear, data-driven understanding of how employees truly experience the workplace. They move beyond assumptions, offering valuable insights into engagement, communication, leadership effectiveness, and overall alignment with company values. By identifying areas of strength and uncovering disconnects, these surveys serve as a foundation for meaningful cultural improvements.

Here’s what a cultural survey can reveal:

• Cultural Strengths and Gaps: Pinpoint what’s working well and where misalignments or challenges exist.
• Values Alignment: Assess whether employees understand, believe in, and feel connected to the company’s core values and mission.
• Adaptability to Change: Evaluate how well employees navigate change and whether they feel supported during transitions.
• Psychological Safety and Communication: Determine if employees feel comfortable sharing ideas, raising concerns, and trusting leadership to take action.
• Engagement, Morale, and Retention: Measure the overall health of your culture by understanding what motivates employees to stay and what factors may push them away.

To encourage participation and gather meaningful insights, keep your survey concise—ideally under 10 questions. A simple multiple-choice format, such as a scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree, makes it easy for employees to complete while ensuring responses are measurable and comparable.

When crafting survey questions for your team, consider including questions on key cultural elements such as:

1. Employee Recognition & Appreciation: Do employees feel valued for their contributions?
2. Growth & Development Opportunities: Are there clear paths for learning and career advancement?
3. Job Satisfaction & Engagement: How fulfilled and motivated do employees feel in their roles?
4. Communication & Transparency: Is information shared effectively across teams and leadership?
5. Commitment & Retention: Are employees likely to stay with the company long-term?
6. Collaboration & Team Dynamics: Do employees feel supported and connected to their colleagues?
7. Work-Life Balance: Do employees feel they have adequate time and flexibility to manage both personal and professional responsibilities?
8. Inclusivity & Diversity: Do employees feel a sense of belonging and see the organization embracing diverse perspectives and backgrounds?
9. Leadership Effectiveness: Are leaders providing clear direction, support, and feedback to their teams?
10. Innovation & Creativity: Do employees feel encouraged to contribute new ideas and take initiative in their roles?

Focusing on these areas will provide a well-rounded view of your organization’s cultural strengths and areas for improvement, giving you the insight needed to drive positive change.

Overcoming Challenges in Cultural Surveys

While cultural surveys offer valuable insights, they can also come with challenges that may impact their effectiveness. Awareness of these potential pitfalls can help ensure the process is successful and leads to meaningful change.

• Hesitation to Be Honest: Employees may withhold their true thoughts and feelings if they don’t trust that their feedback will be used constructively.
• Fear of Repercussions: Without guaranteed anonymity, employees may worry about facing judgment or negative consequences for candid responses.
• Lack of Action on Feedback: If survey results are collected but no visible changes follow, employees may feel unheard, leading to disengagement and skepticism about future surveys.

To address these challenges, leaders must clearly communicate the purpose of the survey, ensure anonymity to encourage open feedback, and—most importantly—follow through with visible action based on the results. When your team sees how their voices lead to real improvements, trust and engagement in the process will grow.

Pro Tip:

Effective communication is essential when gathering feedback through surveys, and a well-crafted email invitation can set the tone for engagement. Below is an example of a sample email designed to encourage employees to participate in a feedback survey, emphasizing its purpose, ensuring transparency, and fostering a sense of collaboration. This email demonstrates how to clearly articulate the importance of their input while providing reassurance about confidentiality and outlining how their feedback will be utilized.

Sample Email:

Turning Insights Into Action

As a leader, you and all those you entrust within your firm play a critical role in shaping its culture. When reviewing survey results, take a moment to reflect on how your leadership style, communication, and decisions influence the workplace environment. Embrace constructive feedback as a powerful tool for growth—not just for your team, but for yourself as well.

A cultural survey is more than just a data-gathering exercise — it’s a commitment to fostering a workplace where employees feel heard, valued, and empowered. By identifying disconnects and taking intentional steps toward improvement, you can transform your culture into one that truly aligns with your vision—one where engagement, trust, and collaboration thrive. The insights gained from the cultural survey are only as powerful as the actions taken in response.

Building a Brighter Future, Together

Great organizational cultures are a foundation for sustained success, fostering an environment where employees and the business can thrive. When a positive culture takes root, it impacts employee morale, productivity, and retention, creating a ripple effect throughout the organization. Engaged employees are more likely to be innovative, committed, and aligned with the company’s mission, driving higher levels of performance and customer satisfaction. Organizations with strong cultures tend to attract top talent as they become known as desirable places to work. The payoff extends beyond individual success—companies with exceptional cultures often outperform their competitors, achieving greater profitability and long-term stability. Ultimately, a thriving culture is an investment in the future, ensuring your organization remains adaptable, resilient, and poised for growth in an ever-changing business landscape.

Creating a culture that inspires engagement, trust, and collaboration is a continuous and collective effort. We encourage you to take this opportunity to lead with purpose, demonstrate your commitment to your team, and help build a workplace where everyone thrives. Together, we can create stronger, more empathetic, and future-ready law firms.