Company culture is a phrase used a lot in the business world, and for many small business owners, it may not feel that relevant or essential when you have so much else to consider. Perhaps your company culture just ‘is’ – you can’t define it, but it all seems okay, so nothing much to worry about. Right? Wrong. You’re probably familiar with the concept of ‘the end in mind’. I like to ask all my clients what the end goal is for their business and always keep that goal in mind. And the reason that company culture is essential to you right now is that you’ll need a great culture if you want to meet the end goal for your business.
What Is Company Culture?
Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great, defines company culture as “the set of values, beliefs, and behaviours that guide how a company’s employees interact with each other and with the outside world.”
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has said that company culture is “the single most important thing” and “not something that can be copied.”
Why Is Building Company Culture Important?
Building company culture is vital for several reasons. First, it helps to define the core values and purpose of the organization. This gives employees a sense of direction and helps them understand what the company is all about. Second, company culture can help attract and retain top talent. Employees are more likely to stay with an organization if they feel like they fit in and are a part of something larger than themselves. Finally, studies have shown that companies with strong cultures are more successful overall. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, found that companies with strong cultures outperformed the stock market by 12x.
There are many ways to build a company culture, but some of the most effective include investing in employee development, creating opportunities for social interaction, and promoting a healthy work-life balance. Whatever method you choose, it is crucial to be intentional about it. Company culture doesn’t just happen; it needs to be created.
What Does Your Company Do to Build Culture?
Why Is Corporate Culture Becoming Even More Important?
The pandemic has forced many businesses to close their doors, and great resignation has followed. But what does this mean for corporate culture?
It’s no secret that corporate culture has recently been under scrutiny. The rise of the gig economy and the continued growth of startups have led many to question the traditional 9-to-5 work model. But the pandemic has brought these issues into even sharper relief.
With so many businesses shutting down, layoffs are becoming more common. And as people lose their jobs, they also lose their connection to a larger community. For many, the workplace is not just a place to earn a paycheck but a source of social connection and support.
The pandemic is also leading to what’s been called “silent quitting.” This is when employees quietly leave their jobs without giving notice. Sometimes, they may not even tell their boss they’re leaving.
With so many people leaving the workforce, it’s more important than ever for businesses to create a strong corporate culture. A positive culture can help retain employees and attract new talent. It can also help businesses weather tough times like the pandemic.
So how can businesses create a great corporate culture? Here are a few ideas:
1. Make sure your mission and values are clear. Employees should know why your business exists and what you stand for.
2. Emphasize connection and community. Help employees feel connected to each other and the company’s larger mission.
3. Foster a positive and supportive environment. This includes generous vacation days, flexible working arrangements, and comprehensive benefits.
4. Encourage employee input. Make it easy for employees to give feedback and be involved in decision-making.
5. Celebrate successes. Recognize and reward employees for their hard work and achievements.
Creating a great corporate culture isn’t easy, but it’s more important than ever in today’s uncertain world. By focusing on your mission, values, and community, you can build a strong foundation for your business—and help your employees weather any storm.
How Important is Company Culture to Employees?
There’s no question that company culture is vital to employees. A recent study by Glassdoor found that nearly two-thirds of respondents said they would not accept a job offer from a company with a bad reputation, even if it meant a significant pay increase. Potential candidates evaluate your business from the get-go.
And it’s not just about reputation. Positive company culture can increase employee engagement and satisfaction, boosting productivity and profitability. According to a study by Gallup, engaged employees are 21% more productive than their disengaged counterparts.
So how do you create a positive company culture that employees will love? It starts with understanding what employees want from their employers.
Here are four key things that employees look for in company culture:
1. A positive work environment: Employees want to work where they feel valued, respected, and supported. They want to feel like they are part of a team and that their contributions make a difference.
2. Opportunities for growth and development: Employees want to know there are opportunities for them to grow and develop within the company. They want to feel like they are being invested in and that their career is going somewhere.
3. A sense of purpose: Employees want to work for a company with a clear sense of purpose and mission. They want to know that what they are doing is meaningful and important.
4. Work-life balance: Employees want to know that their employer understands and values the importance of work-life balance. They want to feel like they have the time and flexibility to manage their personal and professional responsibilities.
Creating a positive company culture is not easy, but it is possible. It starts with understanding what employees want and need from their employers. Once you know that, you can start working on creating an environment that meets those needs.
How to Build a Company Culture?
Creating and maintaining strong company culture is essential for any business that wants to succeed in the long term. Here are some tips on how to build a strong culture:
1. Define your core values. What do you believe in? What kind of behaviour do you want to encourage? Make sure your values are reflected in everything you do, from how you treat your employees to how you interact with customers.
2. Hire for fit. When hiring new employees, ensure they share your company’s values and will be an excellent cultural fit. You can use values-based interviewing to help with this.
3. Communicate your culture. Make sure everyone in your company is aware of your company’s culture and knows how to live up to it. You can share stories and examples of how your company’s culture has helped you succeed.
4. Reward good behaviour. Recognize and reward employees who exemplify your company’s values. This will help reinforce the importance of those values and encourage others to follow suit.
5. Be consistent. Company culture is built over time, so it’s essential to be consistent in your messaging and actions. Employees will quickly lose faith in your values if you’re not living up to your values.
Building a strong company culture is essential for any business that wants to succeed in the long term. By Defining your core values, hiring for fit, communicating your culture, rewarding good behaviour, and being consistent, you can create a culture that will help your business thrive.
Reasons Why Organizational Culture is Important?
As the world of work continues to evolve, so does the importance of organizational culture. A strong culture can differentiate between success and failure in today’s business environment. Here are five top reasons why organizational culture is important:
1. Culture Defines What is Important to an Organization
Organizational culture defines what is essential to an organization. It is the set of values, beliefs, and norms that guide behaviour within an organization. When employees know what is expected of them, they are more likely to make decisions that align with the company’s goals and objectives.
2. Culture Shapes Employee Behavior
The way employees behave is shaped by organizational culture. Culture influences how employees interact with each other, customers, and suppliers. It also affects how employees make decisions and solve problems. When employees understand the organization’s culture, they are more likely to make decisions that align with the company’s goals.
3. Culture Helps Attract and Retain Top Talent
Organizational culture can help attract and retain top talent. Employees want to work for companies with cultures that align with their values. Employees who feel they fit in with the company culture are more likely to stay with the organization longer.
4. Culture Can Be a Competitive Advantage
A strong organizational culture can be a competitive advantage. Companies with strong cultures are more likely to attract and retain top talent. They are also more likely to be able to weather difficult times because employees are more likely to stick with the company during tough times.
5. Culture Makes an Organization More Resilient
Organizational culture makes an organization more resilient. When employees understand and buy into the company culture, they are likelier to stick with the organization through thick and thin. This loyalty can help an organization weather difficult times and become more assertive on the other side.
Organizational culture is essential for many reasons. It defines what is important to an organization, shapes employee behaviour, helps attract and retain top talent, can be a competitive advantage, and makes an organization more resilient. When companies develop a strong culture, they invest in their future success.
Why Organizational Culture Increases Employee Engagement
Organizational culture has a direct impact on employee engagement. A positive, supportive culture can increase engagement by providing employees with a sense of purpose and belonging. It can also foster an environment where employees feel valued and appreciated. On the other hand, a negative or toxic culture can lead to disengagement, as employees feel unappreciated and disconnected from the organization’s goals.
A strong organizational culture is essential for increasing employee engagement. This starts with new hires during the onboarding process and right through to existing employees.
When employees feel part of something larger than themselves, they are more likely to be committed to their work and invested in the organization’s success. A positive culture can also give employees a sense of purpose and belonging, leading to increased motivation and productivity. Finally, supportive culture can foster an environment where employees feel valued and appreciated, leading to higher satisfaction and engagement.
However, it is essential to note that not all cultures are equally effective in promoting employee engagement. Some cultures can have the opposite effect and lead to disengagement. For example, an overly competitive or excessively hierarchical culture can create an environment where employees feel constantly under pressure or their contributions are not valued. Likewise, a culture that is too permissive or relaxed may fail to provide the structure, and support employees need to feel engaged. Finding the right balance for your organization’s unique needs and goals is key.
You can do a few key things if you want to create a culture that promotes employee engagement. First, ensure that your organization’s values align with the needs and goals of your employees. Second, provide employees with opportunities to contribute to the organization in meaningful ways. Finally, create an environment where employees feel appreciated and supported. By taking these steps, you can create a culture that will engage and motivate your employees.
Importance of Leadership in Company Culture
Leadership is critical to any organization’s success. Leaders set the tone for the entire company culture, and their influence can be felt throughout the organization. A strong leader will inspire confidence in employees and help create a positive, productive work environment. They will also be able to make tough decisions and guide during times of change or crisis.
An effective leader will also be able to build relationships with other key stakeholders, such as customers, suppliers, and investors. These relationships can help an organization thrive and grow. Strong leaders are essential to any company’s long-term success.
Benefits of a Strong Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is the set of shared values, beliefs, and norms that shape how employees behave. It includes everything from how we dress and speak to how we make decisions and handle conflict.
A strong organizational culture can be a significant source of competitive advantage. It can help attract and retain the best talent, promote cooperation and teamwork, foster innovation, and instil a sense of employee pride.
There are many ways to build a strong culture, but some of the most important include having a clear vision and purpose, providing employees with opportunities to grow and develop, encouraging open communication, and modelling desired behaviour.
Building a strong organizational culture is not easy, but the rewards are well worth the effort. A culture of excellence can help you attract and retain the best talent, promote cooperation and teamwork, foster innovation, and instil a sense of pride in employees.
Organizational culture can be a significant source of competitive advantage when done right. So if you’re looking to give your company an edge, start by building a strong culture.
Brand and Culture Blended
Some time ago, I met Denise Lee Yohn, the author of an invaluable book, Fusion. Denise has been working on brands for over 25 years and has discovered that great brands are built from the inside out, meaning that all the brands we admire, like Apple and Nike, aren’t built through advertising or having a great logo or a great website. They’re built by having a strong brand-led culture inside their organisations. If you want to build a great brand, you need to have that culture & brand alignment and integration. As Denise explored this area with her clients, she realised there weren’t many resources about how exactly to do that. So that’s why she wrote Fusion.
I often find that when we talk about core values and culture, there are still businesses that often say culture is just a myth and don’t worry about core values. They’re just a lot of BS because it’s a paperwork exercise, et cetera. I explored this line of thought with Denise to see how she overcame this sort of objection.
Denise agrees that many people think culture just kind of grows organically. And so there’s nothing that you can do about it. And there is an element of truth in that you can’t impose a culture on an organization, but I do think that as a leader, you can shape the environment where your desired culture and values can thrive.
I’ve begun a process of helping leaders understand that their most important responsibility is for culture because culture is the foundation for everything else that they do. And so understanding the importance of culture and how culture multiplies results gives you better financial performance. It gives you lower employee turnover. It gives you more significant customer satisfaction. Once you understand that you’ve got over the most challenging part.
First, let me explain this integration and alignment of brand and culture. So brand, and I’m talking about how your company is perceived and experienced by your customers and other stakeholders. And then your culture is the behaviours and decisions of your people and the attitudes and beliefs that inform those behaviours. Creating this mutually reinforcing interdependent relationship between the two creates more power and value for your organization because your workforce is more aligned. You establish a unique competitive advantage in attracting customers and employees, have greater brand authenticity, and have built-in motivation and commitment from everyone because everyone is committed to the end goal.
Importance of Leadership on Company Culture
Accept Your Responsibility As A Leader
The first step is to accept your responsibility as a leader for driving, cultivating, and shaping culture.
The next step is to identify your overarching purpose and your single set of core values. Your purpose is your why; why does your organisation exist? Sometimes it’s helpful to think about what would be missing if you didn’t exist, but you need to articulate a clear, compelling, irreplaceable, invaluable role that you play in your customers’ lives. So that’s your purpose. And then, you need a single set of core values to drive and align and guide everything you do as an organisation and as a brand. When everything you do internally and externally forms the foundation, you can start operationalising your culture and thinking, ” Okay, are we organised the right way? Do we have the right processes in place? Do we have the right employee experience in place?
If at this point you’d like to learn more, grab yourself a copy of Denise’s book, as it provides an action plan for these two steps.
Most entrepreneurs think their core purpose is to go and make money because when a business starts, most owners do not start with the end in mind. They think, do you know what I’ve got this excellent idea. I’m going to run with it, make some money (and often replace the money they’ve lost through changing careers). The big difference between the companies that make it big and those that just stay static is that they don’t look at their core purpose. They don’t hone their core purpose.
Businesses don’t just grow
It’s important to remember that after a particular stage, your business won’t just grow. To make it beyond a small business, you must get the core components right to enable growth.
You do need to make money. You do need to be profitable, but the way you accomplish that is by having this powerful, clear, overarching purpose that is your motivation that will enable you to attract employees who believe in that as well. But then also customers, because they’re in practically every category today, customers have so many choices, they’re going to pick the one that aligns best with their values, that they feel like understands them and they understand the company. And so, by having this purpose, you attract those customers who believe in the same things you do.
To illustrate this point, let me tell you about a great restaurant I’ve visited a few times. It was based in America and was a Mediterranean restaurant where all the food was organic. Everything is fresh. None of it is unhealthy. One of their core reasons for being was to combat fast food. Their defining message was to eat healthily, reduce heart attacks, reduce strokes, reduce diabetes, all those lifestyle illnesses that America (and now the UK) is known for. Given the many choices for places to eat in the US, this restaurant was busy every time I saw it. I believe the owner’s core purpose in clean, healthy food has been truly defined. He pushes the Mediterranean diet very clearly, so guests know what to expect and are happy.
The culture is super because he knows who he wants on his team, and the people coming on board are genuinely passionate about what he does. When people say you can’t make money out of food, believe me, he’s making a significant amount out of food. If you look at where he’s located, it’s not the best shopping centre; it is quite an average-looking place. This illustrates the power of core values for someone in such an average-looking place to smash it.
Core foundations
If you’re a small business owner, perhaps just starting your journey, you may feel that you simply need to go after every opportunity to ensure your business stays afloat. And you do to an extent.
But if you want to make it, you have to think about your core foundations. It’s been told that when Richard Branson started in the 1970s, he was just a guy who owned a couple of record stores. And he and his partner decided they wanted to have more of an elitist hip kind of record store, unlike the teeny-bop pop music that most other record stores sold. And Richard writes about how he was nervous about making that decision because he knew they would be turning away short-term revenue while trying to create a brand identity.
But his business partner, Simon, reminded him, Hey, we need to stick to our values. And if we do, not only will we maintain our integrity and be able to live with ourselves, but we will also attract the kind of people who appreciate what we do and what we believe in. And it’s because they were willing to make those tough choices and stick to their core commitments that Virgin has been able to grow into this huge company that we know today. So you have to start now; all your decisions as a small business or startup entrepreneur will only grow in importance as you grow as an organisation.
And now we’re all familiar with Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group and multi-billionaire. He developed those values at a time when he could least afford them. The way that you become profitable and get that pricing power is by having a strong brand. And the way you have a strong brand is by having this healthy, sustainable, valuable culture.
It’s easy to get distracted by all the other priorities of running the business. But if you don’t live, breathe, champion, or drive it, you can’t expect your people to either. So I’m sure that Richard led that effort, and then for everyone else, it just becomes a natural part of what they do.
No matter how big or small your business is, at some point, you will have to define your core purpose, and it isn’t to make money (as much as you would like to believe it); that’s just a byproduct of a great core purpose. You’re going to have to do the work on your culture, and your culture isn’t going to be a bullshit exercise that you stick on the wall. It is going to be the essence of what your business is. Because if you don’t work on your culture, you’re always going to get people that you attract into your business that will not be right for your company.
They’re going to make you extremely unhappy because they’re not a culture fit, and you’re going to bitch and moan about them. And you’ll keep repeating that painful circle until you eventually do something different.
So your company culture needs to be defined. And you need to get your brand and your culture right. Define your core purpose; then, you brand it right. You get the right customers. And so many people talk about the fact that they get the wrong customers and the customers that don’t value them. You get the customers out there who want to nickel and dime their service and try and beat them down on price.
The reality is you get that stuff identified; the people who are not your target market and not aligned with your business will not show. In all fairness, some of those awkward questions focus on you because you have to be honest and make yourself feel like, Why am I doing this? They won’t happen.
If what you’ve read resonates with you and you’d like to have a deeper look at your culture, your core purpose, and perhaps your branding, have a look through the boolkah.com or contact me.
F.A.Q.s
Why is company culture important in the workplace?
As the CEO of a company, you have the opportunity to set the tone for the workplace. Employees will take their cues from you on how to behave, what values to uphold, and what kind of culture to create. Strong company culture can lead to a more productive and positive work environment, which is why it’s essential to ensure that your company culture is one that you’re proud of.
There are a few key things that you can do to make sure that your company culture promotes productivity and positivity. First, be clear about your company’s values. What are the goals that you want your employees to strive for? What kind of behaviour do you expect from them? Ensure that these values are communicated clearly and consistently, so everyone is on the same page.
Second, create a work environment that is conducive to productivity. This means having adequate space and resources for employees to do their jobs and providing them with the support they need to succeed. When employees feel they have what they need to do their job well, they’re more likely to be engaged and productive.
Third, foster a culture of respect and appreciation. Employees should feel like they are valued team members and that their contributions are recognized. When people feel appreciated, they’re more likely to go above and beyond in their work. Finally, make sure that you provide opportunities for employee development. People who feel they’re learning and growing in their careers are more likely to be engaged and committed to their jobs.
Creating a strong company culture is essential to the success of your business. By taking the time to focus on these critical areas, you can create a workplace that is productive, positive, and supportive.
What is corporate culture, and why is it important?
Corporate culture is the set of norms, values, and beliefs that guide an organization’s members. It shapes how they interact with each other and with the outside world.
A strong corporate culture can be a significant source of competitive advantage. It can help an organization attract and retain talent, build trust with customers and partners, and foster employee engagement.
However, culture can also be a liability if it leads to bad decisions or unethical behaviour. That’s why it’s vital for organizations to actively manage their culture and make sure it aligns with their goals and values.
Why is culture important in a company?
Culture is essential in a company for many reasons. It can be a source of pride and community for employees, attract customers and talent, and be a source of strength during tough times.
A strong culture can also help company weather difficult times. In the aftermath of 9/11, many businesses struggled to stay afloat. But companies with strong cultures were able to rally their employees and weather the storm.
In today’s business world, culture is more important than ever. Companies are under constant scrutiny with the rise of social media and the 24-hour news cycle. A strong culture can help a company withstand negative publicity and maintain its reputation.
When done right, culture can be a powerful tool for businesses. It can help companies attract and retain talent, build customer loyalty, and create a sense of community. It can also give employees a sense of pride and ownership in their work. Done wrong; however, culture can be a liability. Companies that don’t take the time to nurture and cultivate their culture can find themselves at a disadvantage.
“Remember, failing to learn is learning to fail.”
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