Top Five Ingredients for Successful Corporate Culture
As a leader of an organization and its people, you surely want success for all involved. Achieving this really can be as simple as living the values of your company. From my consulting work with many corporate leaders, I have found that the most successful leaders share the following five traits:
They have a “culture first” mentality.
It’s hard not to get caught up in the day-to-day internal and operational problems of your business. Great leaders find ways to focus on culture. They invest the time to discover and discern CoreVals (core values), and then bring them alive and make them thrive. They realize that having a great culture can help eliminate ineffective patterns, smooth over conflicts, and set a more positive course. They see the big picture and understand that they lead a culture, not just a company.
They’re closely involved with all people operations.
The number one thing influencing your culture is the people, so culture leaders take ownership of critical people operations. By staying involved in assessing and managing, they ensure the people working within the organization are the right fit. They recognize the role of culture on hiring decisions, and take steps to unhire poor culture fits. Linda Maclachlan, CEO of Entara, said on the Culture Czars podcast that part of Entara's new hire training includes having their "technical engineers watch a Brené Brown video about the meaning of empathy.” Linda understands that core values are not an afterthought; they are an integral, foundational piece to introduce as soon as possible.
They really see their employees.
In a previous blog, I mentioned my childhood living in Southern Africa, and how that experience helped me embrace the greeting, Sawubona, which means, "I see you." Think about the idea of greeting someone in this way. When you truly see someone, and give full acknowledgment of their presence, you open yourself up. By doing so, you receive a wholehearted recognition of the full person in front of you and what he or she brings to the world. Truly seeing your employees also understanding and giving weight to their feelings, which is a common value among successful CEOs. Bejan Douraghy, CEO of the staffing agency Artisan Talent, created a company that considers seeing its employees as important as seeing its clients. When Bejan joined my podcast, he said he sees empathy as a “differentiator” of how employees behave internally, how they treat the talent they source, and how they work with their clients.
They advocate their CoreVals internally and externally.
Great corporate culture leaders take every opportunity to discuss their CoreVals and share stories about the company culture on every public stage: At company-wide meetings, speeches outside the organization, during engagements with partners. They tell stories about great employees that become a part of company folklore. At Lextech I adopted our CoreVals poster as my computer desktop, because I loved having this be the first thing prospective clients saw on a video call. Successful CEOs are proud of the culture they worked hard to cultivate, and they help make it thrive by sharing examples of how culture positively shapes their workplace.
They recognize their culture champions.
Leaders who value culture recognize and reward the employees who act in accordance with the CoreVals. The marketing agency Pepper Group exemplifies this with their “Kick-Ass Awards,” for which employees nominate each other for stand-out behavior, even if it’s as simple as coming in early or helping a colleague with a project. “We don’t really have definitions for what a kick-ass behavior is, because I think it’s personal,” Pepper Group Founder and CEO Tim Padgett explained on the Culture Czars podcast. “Whoever thinks someone kicked-ass, that’s good enough for us, and we don’t measure [employees] against each other.” All the submissions are read out loud every Monday morning at the all-company meeting. While no financial reward is provided, the success of this public recognition and reinforcement is backed up by the ongoing enthusiastic participation.
Going from simply having core values to truly having a valued culture begins with intention and the desire to live the values of your company. The best ways to approach and implement cultural changes will differ at each company. However, the common thread remains: Successful CEOs understand that placing a focus on culture creates a massive return for what's really a no-brainer investment. The cost to bring your values alive at your company are minimal compared to the return you will see from a thriving culture. A great culture will improve your bottom-line while creating a more enjoyable environment for your employees, which will help drive them and your company forward.
Will Scott is passionate about creating environments where people thrive to become the best they can be. Great corporate culture drives great performance and investing in culture yields the highest returns in terms of revenue growth and employee retention. Author of the forthcoming book, The Culture Fix: Solve C-Suite Problems at Ground Level with 9 Deeds in 90 Days, Will regularly holds workshops and speaking events on corporate culture and can help you transform yours in just three months. His two key workshops, Discerning Your Core Values and From Core Values to Valued Culture, are now accepting registration for attendees. Click here for more information. Look for his book this June!