Ask a team to describe their culture and you'll usually get the values statement back. Ask them how they want to feel at work on a Tuesday afternoon, and you get a very different, much more honest conversation.
That's the conversation the Emotional Culture Deck is built for.
What it is
The Emotional Culture Deck is a card-based tool created by riders&elephants, a New Zealand company founded by Jeremy Dean. It's now used by teams in dozens of countries.
The company's name echoes a well-known metaphor from psychologist Jonathan Haidt: the rider is our rational, planning mind, and the elephant is emotion. The rider can steer, but if the elephant doesn't want to go, it isn't going. Most culture work talks to the rider. The Emotional Culture Deck talks to the elephant.
Using the cards, a team works out:
- the feelings they want to experience at work,
- the feelings they don't, and
- the specific behaviours that create each one.
The result is a culture people can describe in their own words and act on, rather than a list of values nobody remembers.
What it is not
It's not a psychometric assessment and it doesn't produce a score or a profile. It's a structured conversation, which is exactly why it reaches things a survey misses.
How we use it
Team culture
Defining or resetting how a team wants to work together, especially after growth, a merger, new leadership or a rough patch.
Values and behaviours
Turning a values statement into behaviours people can actually see and hold each other to.
Leadership
Helping leaders understand the emotional climate they create, and what they want their team to feel when they walk into the room.
Onboarding
Giving new starters a clear, human picture of how this team works, beyond the induction slides.
Who runs it
Bonnie Mohan is an Emotional Culture Deck accredited consultant and uses the deck in team and leadership workshops.
Related: Leadership & Coaching
Want to run a culture session with your team?
Book a free consultation, or email hello@happyhumans.com.au.
Disclaimer
This article is general information only. It doesn't take into account your specific circumstances and isn't a substitute for professional legal or HR advice. We make every effort to keep our Insights accurate and current, but award rates and Fair Work Commission decisions can change, and we can't guarantee this information is complete or up to date at the time you're reading it. Nothing on this page should be relied on as legal advice, and nothing here forms part of a professional engagement with happy humans.