---
title: "The Incentive Check: Free Leadership Guide | Velocity"
description: A short framework for making sure what you measure and reward actually matches the culture you say you want. A free leadership guide from Velocity Advisory Group.
image: https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/hubfs/Podcast%20Episodes/Podcast%20Assets%20%28Social%29/Guides/Velocity_AG_The_Incentive_Check_Social.png
---

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Free guide · Activating Greatness

# Building culture is a full contact sport.

A short framework for making sure what you measure and reward matches the culture you say you want.

- A side-by-side audit of what you say you value versus what you reward
- Four actions for this week, from closing one incentive gap to delegating
- A quick-reference page you can pin up

## Get the free guide

The Incentive Check · 8 pages · PDF

Trusted by **800+ organizations** across **25+ industries** since 2009

Rarely trueAlmost always true

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Building culture is a full contact sport.

The Incentive Check

AUDIT WHAT YOU INCENTIVIZE

GROUP A

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GROUP B

**4**

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GROUP C

**7**

## What's inside

### You get what you incentivize

Why culture is a full contact sport, and why metrics and incentives shape it.

### The habits behind it

How Lexitas reviews culture metrics every month, plus Hecht's daily habit and most underrated skill.

### Audit what you incentivize

A table to compare stated values with what you actually measure or reward, and mark the gaps.

### This week

Four actions to close one incentive gap, hand off work, and communicate consistently.

[Get the guide](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-library/incentive-check#get-it)

## Results and feedback from Velocity's leadership work

**30% to 8%**employee turnover in one yearBiopharmaceutical company

**+126%**strategic alignment liftBiopharmaceutical company

**95%**retention rate in a construction leadership programVelocity client

> “Now associates understand themselves better, and leaders have new tools to support their teams.”

Chief People and Culture Officer, healthcare products distributor

> “Velocity challenged our team and brought us together in ways that have paid immediate dividends.”

Managing Partner, accounting and advisory firm

## Why stated values drift

Whatever an organization measures and rewards is the culture it actually has.

### Values Without Metrics

If values aren't measured and incentivized, the team is left to guess what really matters.

### Gaps Leaders Can't See

The distance between stated values and real rewards is usually clearer to the people being measured than to those setting the measures.

### Doing Everything

Leaders who try to do everything don't do anything well, and the culture work slips.

## From values to incentives

Closing the gap between what you say and what you reward is ongoing work, not a once-a-year survey.

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### COMPARE

List what you say you value and, next to each, what you actually measure or reward.

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### REALIGN

Pick one behavior you claim to value but don't reward, and change one incentive this quarter.

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### REVIEW

Track culture metrics regularly and act when one slips. Velocity's coaching and leadership development work helps leadership teams build measures and habits that match their culture.

**In Jeanne Hecht's words:** "You get what you organize, measure, and incentivize." Lexitas pairs that discipline with a line from its strategy: "We do serious work and we don't take ourselves too seriously."

### Who this is for

- CEOs and executive chairs
- Leadership teams setting goals and incentives
- HR and people leaders reviewing culture metrics
- Organizations whose values don't show up in behavior

## Reward the culture you want

Download the guide, then talk with us about aligning your metrics and incentives with your culture.

[Get the guide](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-library/incentive-check#get-it)

**800+**organizations led through change

**25+**industries

**2009**building momentum since

© 2026 Velocity Advisory Group.velocityadvisorygroup.com

[Get the guide](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-library/incentive-check#get-it)