The culture we aspire to create. The culture people currently experience. The work required to close the gap.
Based on 317 community voices.The Dream
Seven Cultural Distinctives
More than 500 area leaders helped define a shared picture of the culture St. Joseph aspires to create.
The Reality
317 Community Voices
Residents evaluated how consistently those cultural behaviors are experienced across the community.
LifeCycle of the Dream
From aspirational ideal to lived reality
The Seven Cultural Distinctives are aspirational. They describe the culture St. Joseph dreams of creating—not a culture we have fully achieved. That is okay. Like an acorn growing into a grand oak, dreams mature over time. The LifeCycle of the Dream follows that growth through Survival, Stability, Success, and Significance, giving us a shared way to measure the distance between our dream and the culture people experience today.
Scoreboard navigation
Explore the Scoreboard
Choose a section below.
Current cultural maturity
2.26St. Joseph is currently operating in Stability: healthy cultural behaviors are present, but residents do not yet experience them consistently enough to describe the culture as successful or significant.
The clearest warning signal
Community outlook
“I believe our community is moving in a healthy direction for future generations.”
The seven Cultural Distinctives
The Dream compared with today’s experience
Each score is positioned on the same Survival-to-Significance continuum.
2.44Serve with Compassion
2.38Pursue Excellence Together
2.22Encourage and Build People
2.25Lead with Integrity
2.24Grow on Purpose
2.20Love and Respect People
2.16Treat People Like Family
Where St. Joseph is strongest
We show up for one another.
Compassion and kindness shape how people respond to others.
People support one another during challenges and difficult situations.
People continue showing perseverance and resilience during adversity and challenge.
The culture gap
Accountability, humility, and conflict.
The six lowest Cultural Distinctive items concern owning mistakes, including others, protecting relationships, and navigating disagreement.
People are willing to admit mistakes, learn from them, and move forward.
People take responsibility for their actions and their impact on others.
People prioritize relationships and people over image, status, or personal gain.
People actively include and support individuals who feel disconnected or overlooked.
People communicate with respect, honesty, and humility even during disagreement.
Grace and forgiveness are extended when people fall short or make mistakes.
From Stability toward Significance
The next chapter belongs to all of us.
A healthier culture will be built as leaders translate shared identity into consistent action within their own spheres of influence. Together, those choices can move the culture of our entire community toward significance.
Standard-by-standard analysis
Explore the seven Cultural Distinctives
Open each Distinctive to see its identity statement, questions, scores, and maturity status.
2.44Serve with CompassionStability ＋
2.44Serve with CompassionIdentity Statement
We are people who move toward needs and use our influence to help, protect, and uplift others.
Culture Survey Questions
Compassion and kindness shape how people respond to others.51.1% experience this often or consistently
People support one another during challenges and difficult situations.52.7% experience this often or consistently
People are willing to serve and support others even when there is little recognition or reward.45.4% experience this often or consistently
Grace and forgiveness are extended when people fall short or make mistakes.24.3% experience this often or consistently
2.38Pursue Excellence TogetherStability ＋
2.38Pursue Excellence TogetherIdentity Statement
We are a community of teammates who work for the common good, persevere through challenges, and pursue excellence together.
Culture Survey Questions
People share a desire to build a healthier and stronger community.50.5% experience this often or consistently
People are willing to collaborate across teams, organizations, and differences.37.9% experience this often or consistently
People believe they can make a meaningful difference in the community.39.1% experience this often or consistently
2.22Encourage and Build PeopleStability ＋
2.22Encourage and Build PeopleIdentity Statement
We are encouragers who see potential in people, speak life, and intentionally help others grow stronger in skill, mind, and heart.
Culture Survey Questions
Encouragement and positivity are regularly expressed across teams, organizations, and relationships.41.3% experience this often or consistently
People share wisdom, experience, and knowledge to help others succeed.42.9% experience this often or consistently
Joy, encouragement, and positivity are present in the environments people experience.35% experience this often or consistently
People use their influence to strengthen and encourage others.33.4% experience this often or consistently
Leaders intentionally invest in developing and mentoring other people.34.1% experience this often or consistently
People feel empowered and encouraged to grow, contribute, and lead.32.8% experience this often or consistently
2.25Lead with IntegrityStability ＋
2.25Lead with IntegrityIdentity Statement
We are leaders who do the right thing, tell the truth, follow through, and create trust by being the same person in public and in private.
Culture Survey Questions
Trust is strengthened through consistency between words and actions.49.2% experience this often or consistently
Leaders model integrity and honesty in their decisions and actions.44.8% experience this often or consistently
People follow through on commitments and do what they say they will do.44.2% experience this often or consistently
Leadership is modeled through actions, not just titles or words.36% experience this often or consistently
Trust is present across relationships within teams, organizations, and the broader community.33.4% experience this often or consistently
Courageous conversations happen when something needs to be addressed.35% experience this often or consistently
People take responsibility for their actions and their impact on others.22.1% experience this often or consistently
2.24Grow on PurposeStability ＋
2.24Grow on PurposeIdentity Statement
We are learners who pursue excellence, embrace growth, and stay humble enough to keep improving.
Culture Survey Questions
People continue showing perseverance and resilience during adversity and challenge.52.1% experience this often or consistently
People are encouraged to continue learning, growing, and improving.42.9% experience this often or consistently
People are willing to admit mistakes, learn from them, and move forward.16.4% experience this often or consistently
2.20Love and Respect PeopleStability ＋
2.20Love and Respect PeopleIdentity Statement
We are people who honor others with respect, bring joy to the culture, and lead with love.
Culture Survey Questions
People treat others with dignity, empathy, and kindness regardless of role or status.47% experience this often or consistently
People are treated with respect regardless of role, background, or status.30% experience this often or consistently
People communicate with respect, honesty, and humility even during disagreement.23.7% experience this often or consistently
2.16Treat People Like FamilyStability ＋
2.16Treat People Like FamilyIdentity Statement
We are a people-first community that values relationships, supports one another, and creates belonging.
Culture Survey Questions
People feel a sense of belonging in the environments they are part of.47.9% experience this often or consistently
People feel seen, valued, and cared for in the environments they are part of.36% experience this often or consistently
Leaders create environments where people feel safe to be honest and authentic.34.1% experience this often or consistently
People actively include and support individuals who feel disconnected or overlooked.22.1% experience this often or consistently
People prioritize relationships and people over image, status, or personal gain.24.9% experience this often or consistently
Beyond the averages
Different perspectives reveal where leadership must listen.
The seven Distinctive averages provide a useful snapshot, but subgroup analysis shows that residents do not all experience community culture the same way.
People who identified as a Leader or Supervisor rated the overall culture 0.16 points higher than other respondents. This does not prove why the gap exists; it signals that leaders should evaluate culture through the eyes of people beyond formal leadership roles.
One area of remarkable agreement
The community shared the same concern about its future.
Leader and non-leader outlook scores were nearly identical: 1.76 and 1.77. Across sectors, roles, and demographics, every group remained below the midpoint.
“I believe our community is moving in a healthy direction for future generations.”
This was the lowest-scoring question in the survey. The agreement should not be read as a prediction—it is a shared signal that St. Joseph must intentionally create a better future.
How community strengths were identified
What St. Joseph does well
Survey question: “What is one thing you believe St. Joseph does especially well culturally?”
Of 317 respondents, 174 provided a substantive answer to this optional open-ended question. Each response was hand-coded into one or more themes, so percentages show the share of those 174 substantive responses mentioning a theme and do not add to 100%.
Representative comments
“I think the sense of community we have is phenomenal. Fundraisers, support, and lending a hand happen every day to families going through tragedy. We are there for one another.”— Education sector respondent, age 45–54
“There are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things in this community. That reality gives me hope.”— Nonprofit sector respondent, age 65+
How community concerns were identified
What leaders need to understand
Survey question: “Is there anything else you would like community leaders to understand about the culture in St. Joseph?”
Of 317 respondents, 149 provided a substantive answer to this optional open-ended question. Responses could be assigned to more than one concern, so percentages show the share of those 149 responses mentioning each theme and do not add to 100%.
Representative comments
“Community leaders need to represent the community as a whole, not just a few people. We need leaders who will listen and understand the needs of all.”— Arts sector respondent, age 45–54
“St. Joseph needs to become more united. Several people need to stay off social media and speak in person, cordially.”— Faith Community respondent, age 25–34
About the survey
Where the questions came from
Over five years, more than 500 area leaders completed the 3D Journey and helped define the seven Cultural Distinctives—the shared picture of the culture St. Joseph aspires to create. The survey questions translated those distinctives into observable behaviors that residents could evaluate.
Who responded
The survey was distributed through the 3D Institute email list of roughly 750 contacts and through Facebook and X. It received 317 completed responses.
How results were scored
Respondents selected Rarely, Occasionally, Often, or Consistently. Responses were converted to a 1–4 scale and interpreted through the LifeCycle of the Dream. The community-outlook question appeared twice; those two responses were averaged and reported separately from the Cultural Distinctives.
How to interpret the sample
The sample reflects an established, civically active core of St. Joseph. It skews older, long-rooted, and leadership-heavy and should not be treated as a statistically representative cross-section of every resident.
Methodology and limitations
- The seven question groupings are provisional; the original instrument was not a balanced academic scale with an equal number of items per Distinctive.
- Sector, role, and area questions allowed multiple selections, so subgroup totals overlap and exceed 317.
- People rated St. Joseph as a whole community, not merely their own immediate circle; broad-community judgments are often more critical.
- Small subgroups should be treated as suggestive rather than definitive.
- Open-ended themes were coded non-exclusively, so one response may appear in several themes and percentages exceed 100%.
- Quantitative figures were calculated directly from the data and verified; qualitative coding combined manual review with AI assistance.