What do we know about company culture?
We read a great article, that articulated company culture as this;
“Culture is ever-changing, evolving minute by minute. Your culture is the outcome of decisions made by your organisation, and the input for the next decisions made by your organisation.”
You already have a culture based on your founding values, your personality and as evident your everyday decisions.
But…
You’re a CEO or HR Director that understands the need for not just any company culture, but an epic one – one that employees boast about, one where motivation and creativity is through the roof and one that serves as striking to your competitors.
You’ve come to the right place.
In this blog post, we aim to arm you with a guide to creating an epic company culture that boasts all kinds of success and to bring your ROI along with it.
Are you ready?
1. What are your core values?
This is where everything starts, its the very foundation on which you built your company. It makes sense to really know and understand what those core values are. This may be a fun whiteboard session, write those values down and decide which ones you really want to see implemented.
Then evaluate if and how any of these values are currently being implemented within your company today.
If you’re a CEO of a larger company you may not always know the on the ground implementation of this, so you may want to get your HR team involved. You’ll want to spend some time with a core group of people to uncover if and how those core values are being worked out in your workplace.
Don’t panic if they’re not, that’s why you’re reading this.
Once you’ve established what is being implemented, you’ll be creating the perfect road-map to making sure that the core values that aren’t being implemented, are.
2. What’s your purpose for creating a company culture?
You may have identified that your company could do with a boost in company culture because perhaps your employees need a little boost in motivation and productivity or you just want to make sure that your core values are truly permeating in order to create the company you always envisioned.
But now you need to identify the kind of culture you want to create:
- Do you want to create a culture that’s more flexible in nature?
- Do you want to create a culture that focuses on frequent learning opportunities?
Whatever you choose, it needs to align closely with the values that you wish to see being implemented.
3. Your company culture should start with recruitment
Do you know and understand your recruitment process? This is most likely a deeply defined onboarding process.
Review, analyse and optimise your recruitment process.
You’ve decided on the core values that you want to penetrate the workplace and you know the type of culture you want to create. This will, therefore, inform the type of people that you recruit going forward.
But, what does this look like?
This could mean anything from presenting a potential new recruit with a task beforehand and allowing them to communicate their process and thinking behind it in a follow-up meeting. You could even invite them to spend a week at your company with a focused task. This will allow you to experience first-hand how they work and tackle different tasks.
4. We’re a team
A tight-knit team driven by an inspiring company culture can be what sets your company apart for both your customers and your competitors.
Teamwork is known to boost motivation and be a drive innovation.
You may be thinking this is not really an efficient way of driving results and project outcomes.
We’re not suggesting that your team should be joined at the hip. We suggest dividing a project into various elements and deliverables, then delegating them to the individuals that make up the team.
This gives you the opportunity to harness the strengths of individual members to complete a project of high quality.
Teamwork has all kinds of benefits;
- It promotes communication.
- It promotes collaboration.
- It promotes increased accountability.
- It promotes engagement.
What has your experience of teamwork in the office been like?
5. Lead by example
Your employees will lead by your example.
So are you leading and by that virtue creating a culture that you’re proud of, one that represents your core values and purpose?
How often do you follow through on what you ask your employees to do?
If you’re looking to adopt peer-to-peer recognition for a boost in employee engagement, but you’re not partaking why would your employees proceed without seeing their leader do the same?
As a leader, your employees take their direction and guidance from you.
Your employees need to see and learn from your example. You set the tone for the culture of your company. So go on and lead by example.
6. Your company culture should be inclusive
Inclusivity can lead to an incredibly rich and diverse set of ideas.
“…inclusion should be a big focus for employers because it ensures that all employees, regardless of their background and experiences, can be connected with equal opportunity and create a healthier, more successful future together with their employers,” said Alexandre Ullmann, head of human resources at LinkedIn”
The process of inclusion will naturally include diversity. This diversity should lead to the incorporation of new ideas and perspectives, which as we know are crucial elements to innovation.
7. Create a respectful work environment
Treating each human being with respect is essential to a healthy work environment. We’re all unique and different, we have differing opinions and ideas. These differences should never be cause for disrespect.
These differences can and should be seen as an advantage in the workplace. Diversity in the workplace can offer unique and interesting perspectives on varying business decisions and can often lead to major innovations.
8. Let’s not mess with what’s working
At this stage, you likely have an intimate understanding of your workplace processes. As a part of your cultural analysis, you will have identified what is and what isn’t working.
Analyse the systems that are working and question why they’re working? When you know, try to work out how you can replicate that in other areas of your business.
Key takeaways
Creating a company culture that really stands out like Zappo’s, you need to understand that it takes time, it’s a process that’s always evolving. So don’t be hard on yourself when you don’t see immediate results.
Creating a culture that consists of great communication, collaboration and support does not happen overnight and it definitely doesn’t happen without your input and leadership. So what are you waiting for?