You Already Know Something Is Off.
Your command staff has one read on the organization. Your battalion chiefs have another. That gap — between what leadership sees from the top and what the middle experiences every shift — is where culture actually lives.
Culture is not the problem — it's the symptom. Leadership and accountability are the cause. Until you can see the gap clearly, you're treating what culture feels like instead of what's actually producing it.
Most departments never name it directly. Command Culture Index™ does.
What It Is…
A structured diagnostic — designed and administered by John Maxwell Certified Coaches — that surveys your executive group and your battalion chiefs separately, analyzes the gap between how both groups see the organization, and delivers a combined dashboard report that makes the invisible visible.
Unlike assessments built on general business experience, every instrument in our process is grounded in proven leadership methodology and refined through real fire service engagements. The result isn't just data — it's a diagnosis your entire command staff can examine in the same room, with the team dynamics that shape your culture finally on the table.
What You Get…
Two validated survey instruments. Your executive group and your Battalion Chiefs rate the same twenty-four culture statements across eight leadership domains — Trust & Backing, Psychological Safety, Decision Authority, and more — on a five-point scale. Command staff also predicts how their BCs will answer six of those statements before seeing any BC data. Everything is completed individually, confidentially, and on your timeline.
Full data analysis, scored three ways. Domain Scores show where each group stands on its own. Gap Scores show where the two groups disagree — under 0.5 is aligned, 0.5 to 0.9 warrants watching, 1.0 or higher means the two groups are experiencing different organizations. Blind Spot Scores — unique to the CCI — measure how accurately command's predictions matched what their BCs actually reported. Together, these don't just tell you culture is off. They tell you exactly where, why, and how far apart the two groups really are.
The Command Culture Index™ Dashboard. A professional combined report showing side-by-side data from both groups — friction patterns, leadership gap rankings, culture descriptors, decision-making patterns, candor preferences, and the critical points of agreement and divergence between your executive and BC groups. Fully anonymized. No individual is identifiable. We focus on the “WHY” not the “WHO”.
A full written Command Culture Index™ Report. The dashboard shows you the numbers. This is where they get explained. A complete findings document — an executive summary, chapter-by-chapter analysis of every domain and gap, a Blind Spot Analysis unique to the CCI, the culture described in your own people's words, a clear-eyed look at what happens if nothing changes, and a set of sequenced recommendations — each with an owner and a measurable target. This is what you and your command staff read before the debrief, and what you keep after it.
A 75-minute virtual debrief with the Fire Chief.(Included) You see the full findings first — the perception gaps, the friction patterns, the points of agreement and divergence — walked through directly, with the data in front of you.
A 3-hour in-person debrief with your full command team.(Add-on, additional cost for travel) This is where the work goes deeper. Both groups see the data together for the first time, in the room, at the same time. The gap between how leadership sees the organization and how the middle experiences it gets named directly — with data, face to face. This level of facilitated conversation changes how an organization moves forward. It cannot be replicated on a call.
Why Our Assessments Are Different
Most leadership assessments ask one group how things are going. That produces a number — but not the truth, because it only measures what one group believes, not what's actually happening one level down.
The Command Culture Index™ asks both groups — your executive staff and your Battalion Chiefs — the same questions, independently. Then it goes a step further: your command staff predicts how their BCs will answer, before seeing any BC data. The distance between that prediction and reality is the Blind Spot Score — a measurement no ordinary survey produces, because ordinary surveys only ask one side of the organization to describe itself.
That structure is why the CCI can tell you not just that there's a culture problem, but where your listening is breaking down — which is the difference between a diagnosis and an opinion.
Every assessment is designed and facilitated by John Maxwell Certified Coaches, so the instrument sits on a proven leadership methodology, not a generic survey template. What that means for your department: you're not getting a consultant's opinion formatted as a report. You're getting a disciplined diagnostic — built specifically for fire service command structures — and facilitated by Fire Service Professionals who know how to read it, and what it means for your team.
How to Start…
Every engagement starts with the surveys and includes the 90-minute virtual debrief with the Fire Chief. From there, it's scoped to your department — group size, whether you add the 3-hour in-person team debrief, and timeline. Most departments move from survey close to a completed report and debrief within a few weeks.
Start with a 20-minute call to scope it for your organization. See what the report actually looks like before you commit?
This Is Right for You If…
You're preparing a leadership training program and want data to drive the design.
Your command staff or battalion chief group isn't functioning as a cohesive team — and you need to understand the dynamics driving that before you intervene.
You need to make a case to city leadership for a significant training investment.
You've stepped into a new role and want an honest read on where the culture actually stands.
You want to move beyond individual performance issues and understand how your team's collective dynamics are shaping outcomes across battalions.
The Data Is the Starting Point
The debrief names the gap. Closing it is a separate step — built around exactly what the data found, not a generic program applied afterward. That work happens through Leadership Behavior Coaching and Leadership Behavior Training, both scoped around what the Command Culture Index™ actually surfaces in your organization.