Why Great Leaders are Replacing Rules with Culture
What is corporate culture and how does impact my company? It’s a question business leaders have been asking themselves since the term was coined in the early 80’s and spread like wildfire during the 90’s. At the time it was used by academics and managers to describe the character and business culture of a company according to its defined beliefs, behaviours, management strategies, work environment and more.
Over time, awareness of the concept has become more acute than ever and today, it’s widely considered one of the most critical factors of influence in a successful company. Think Google, Virgin, Adobe or Apple, whose well-defined people and business cultures, often widely known and even mimicked, form the very foundation of their organisations.
Defining Corporate Culture
According to Investopedia, corporate culture can be defined as ‘the beliefs and behaviours that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions’.
While it may be relatively simple to define corporate culture, it’s not an easy concept to pin down or even put into practise for many businesses, and the subject of how something so intangible can have such a vast impact on an organisation is the subject of study throughout the business world.
In a survey of over 1000 CEOs and CFOs in the U.S. almost all respondents agreed that corporate and work culture, no matter how it’s defined, is responsible for making a difference, not only to the overall value of a company, but its performance too.
Among the findings:
• More than 90% said culture was important at their businesses
• 92% believe that they could improve the value of their company if they improved its culture
• More than 50% said that culture has a direct impact on productivity and creativity
• 15% said their culture was not where it needs to be
It’s Always about People
It’s easy to mistake corporate culture for physical structure or tangible perks like weekly massages, free food or a foosball table, but at the core it’s really just about people and relationships.
Richard Branson says ‘“There’s no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff how you would like to be treated”.
Vern Dosch, author of Wired Differently says “I used to believe that culture was ‘soft,’ and had little bearing on our bottom line. What I believe today is that our culture has everything to do with our bottom line, now and into the future.”
The Benefits
According to Great Place to Work, a global authority on organizational culture, having a well-defined corporate culture can have a huge impact on a company’s success, and can benefit it in numerous ways. They say that a strong culture helps companies:
• Attract and retain employees
• Strengthen a brand
• Execute strategies more effectively
In addition to creating a positive work environment with less staff turnover, companies that cultivate a strong culture at work also differentiate themselves from their competitors more easily. In addition, it also impacts the way they communicate with, and are perceived by, customers.
What’s Your Culture?
Like anything worthwhile, corporate culture is something that requires investment and commitment in order to develop and grow. The values of an organisation aren’t formed through speeches or lectures, but by actions and behaviours. In order for it to be successful, every person needs to be committed to the company mission and be able to clearly articulate it.
A good place to start is by asking each employee to answer this question:
Why does this company exist, where is it going, and how is it going to get there?
Additional questions to ask yourself
1. Inspiration
How do you inspire employees to make them feel that their work has more meaning?
2. Recruitment
How would you sum up and communicate your culture to prospective employees?
3. Development
How do you help individuals develop their talents and put their strengths to good use?
4. Rewards
How do you reward employees financially and non-financially for good work, initiative and achievements?
5. Communication
How do you communicate internally, encourage feedback from employees and speak to clients?
The answers to these questions will give you a fairly good idea about the state of your corporate culture, and provide some insight into how you can improve.
3 Signs that Your Company Culture Might Need to Change
It’s not uncommon for a work environment to become so stressful and busy that employee wellbeing becomes a low priority, but a situation like that can easily snowball into other areas of the business and have a negative impact. Here’s a few signs that your company culture might need to change:
1. Everyone works overtime
Working longer is most certainly not working harder. While overtime is unavoidable during peak times when workload is high and there are multiple deadlines, a flag of concern definitely needs to be raised when employees work overtime too often. This could mean that workload is too high, internal processes aren’t as efficient as they should be, accurate time isn’t being allocated for tasks or time isn’t being managed properly, among other things.
2. You have access to information but you don’t use it
Instead of being shocked to hear that your employees are unhappy about something in the workplace, use the information that you have at your disposal to understand more about the culture in your workforce before it gets to that point. All you need to do is communicate with people, have honest and open feedback sessions, welcome constructive criticism and invite participation, and you’ll be surprised at how much you can learn.
3. You’re constantly treating symptoms and not problems
Whether it’s a high staff turnover, complaints from employees, general dissatisfaction or issues with delivery of work, quick fixes are simply a way to treat symptoms and do nothing to solve the overall problem. Healthy cultures are so beneficial because they naturally keep people happy, functioning and communicative.
Office Design: A Tool for Change
In the same way that walking into someone’s home can communicate vast amounts of silent information about their lifestyle, hobbies, preferences and even cleanliness, walking into an office does the exact same thing for employees, clients and customers.
The appearance of a workplace can reflect a company’s values, and the physical environment conveys a lot about the mood of the organisation. It’s important to remember that in order to create a satisfying physical work environment, a one size fits all approach is impossible. The needs and requirements of each business should be taken into account to create a space that’s an extension of its core values and beliefs.
Speak to a specialist at Instant Offices to discover more about how a flexible office solution can benefit your corporate culture, inspire employees and increase happiness.