Defining your corporate culture and finding a way to share it is the key to unlocking its power.
Corporate Culture is not easy to define – it’s a feeling, an organizations’ personality, how employees interact with each other and how people outside your organization feel about you. Unlocking its power can make you stand apart from your competition, lead to incredible business success, and drive employee retention and engagement.
How do you define your organizations’ corporate culture?
Ask the questions that are often not written down or expressed. The Hagberg Consulting Group suggests five questions that, if answered honestly, get at the essence of your corporate culture.
- What 10 words would you use to describe your company? Exciting? Competitive? Cutting-edge? Creative? Boring? Meeting-focused? Risk-adverse? Fun? Not fun?
- Around here, what’s really important? Getting the job done? Being innovative? Meeting targets and deadlines? Being nice to people? Customer-service surveys? Performance appraisals? Revenue or Sales?
- Around here, who gets promoted? The teacher’s pet? The rules stickler? The highest achiever? The hardest worker? The best fit for the job? The best friend?
- Around here, what behaviors get rewarded? Customer service? The sale? Innovation?
- Around here, who fits in and who doesn’t? Trickery to write down but you can just feel it.
Why should you care about corporate culture?
- If you believe people are your greatest asset, then you are at the heart of understanding the importance of corporate culture.
- Your employees are the best advocates to build the reputation you want for your company.
- A strong culture leads to engagement and increased and greater awareness of your company and your product.
- A vibrant culture increases loyalty of staff and your customer – which will impact bottom line results.
- A well-defined culture allows ideas to thrive – being honest about who you are ensures you have the right people leading your organization.
How do you articulate your corporate culture?
It is important to articulate your culture so it can be shared. Write it down, share stories, video-tape it, embed it in your hiring practices and live it. Do whatever it takes so it can be shared and understood, and leveraged as a powerful tool for attracting talent, driving business growth and innovation.
How do you hire for culture?
A well-defined culture can actually attract the right people to your company. They know what they can expect which lessens the amount of time it takes for new employees to adjust and reduces the number of ‘miss-hires’. When new business comes your way, you can hire the right people quickly, and increased number of quality applicants per position – saving money and time.
How do you unlock its power for success?
Assess your current culture to understand if it is holding you back or driving you forward. It is essential to assess the culture of your organization. Has it evolved over time? Is it attracting the right talent? Are you able to retain top talent? If it is holding you back, evolve it. Consider an evolution (not a revolution) of your current culture – you don’t want to break the back of the organization and go into culture shock. Nothing will decrease profits faster. If it is moving, you forward harness it. – make sure you are harnessing it, using it as a tool in hiring practices, and on-boarding of new employees. Unlocking the power of your corporate culture is a key tool in delivering success for your organization.
