In this episode of Collaborative Culture, Dr. Kristine Gentry and Monica Smith tackle a common misconception in workplace culture efforts: the belief that a single assessment, survey, or workshop can “fix” culture. Together, they break down why popular tools like Myers-Briggs, CliftonStrengths, DISC, Hogan, Enneagram, and Working Genius can be useful, but only as inputs, not solutions.
Kristine and Monica unpack what culture really is (how work gets done), why leaders often misdiagnose culture issues as isolated “people problems,” and why real change requires understanding the lived experience of employees across roles, levels, and locations. They share practical examples, from multicultural team dynamics to frontline workflows, and make a clear case for culture work that’s collaborative, ongoing, and designed for sustained behavior change.
Monica names a few common ones you’ll recognize:
Key point: These can build shared language, self-awareness, and teamwork, but they’re not culture by themselves.
Kristine defines culture clearly:
So when leaders say “we have a culture problem,” they may actually mean:
Those may relate to culture, but they aren’t solved by a single off-the-shelf assessment.
Kristine calls out a major issue: many products labeled “culture assessments” are actually measuring something else, like:
Bottom line: If it doesn’t meaningfully engage values, behavior, and how decisions get made, it’s not capturing culture.
Monica introduces “house rules” for projects — especially in global teams — like:
This is culture work that’s built for the work, not just discussion.
Kristine shares a powerful example from nurse-shadowing research:
Takeaway: you can’t fix what you haven’t actually seen.
Both land the plane here:
Assessment tools are fine — even great — as step one.
But sustainable culture change requires: