Dimension 5 of 8 · 8MAP

Culture & engagement: whether each person is connected to their team or halfway out

In the 8MAP, the Culture & engagement dimension measures trust in the organisation, the direct manager's effectiveness, belonging to the team, purpose and wellbeing. It rests on Gallup Q12, Great Place to Work's Trust Model and psychological safety, and keeps trust in the company separate from trust in the manager.

What it measures

What Culture & engagement is made of

01

Trust in the organisation

How far the person trusts the company they work for.

02

Direct manager's effectiveness

How they experience the relationship with whoever leads them day to day.

03

Belonging

How far they feel part of their team.

04

Purpose

Whether they find meaning in what they do.

05

Wellbeing and safety

Whether the work environment holds them up or wears them down.

How to read the result

Higher is better

Higher is better: a culture that holds people up. It measures the work environment, not anyone's mood.

Why it matters

Team engagement is consistently associated with better business outcomes, including lower turnover. And psychological safety, the shared belief that you can speak up and be wrong without punishment, explains much of how much a team learns.

What the 8MAP adds

It isolates wellbeing and safety as their own indicator, and keeps trust in the organisation separate from trust in the direct manager, because one person can experience the two in opposite ways.

Why we measure it this way

Trust in the direct leader has effects of its own on performance and on the intention to stay. If you mix it with trust in the company, HR cannot tell whether the problem is the organisation or one manager.

Frequently asked questions

About Culture & engagement

What is the difference between workplace climate and engagement?+

Climate describes how the work environment is perceived; engagement is how involved the person is with their work and their team. The 8MAP measures both in the same dimension.

What is psychological safety?+

It is the shared belief that in the team you can speak up, ask or be wrong without punishment, and it is linked to how much that team learns.

Does the 8MAP measure people's mental health?+

No. It measures the work environment. If a mental health topic comes up in the conversation, Kova does not dig further and points to your company's formal channel.

See how this dimension looks in your team

We walk you through the 8MAP with a sample team and answer your Talent team's questions.

Back to the 8MAP methodology