Many people believe that the concept of business culture is just a buzzword, but having a strong company culture can be a huge help in running a successful business. At its core, company culture is meant to make employees more productive. Employee satisfaction, fairness on the part of the employer, and employee comfort all play into this concept.
POWERS believes strongly in the importance of culture for all types of companies and explains how to optimize your business culture in order to make your business more profitable.
What is Company Culture?
Company culture is the sum of the attitudes and behaviors of the company and its employees. It governs how the people in the organization interact, the shared values they hold, and the priority of the decisions they make.
Company culture covers many elements, including goals, expectations, ethics, values, leadership style, company mission, and work environment.
How Does Company Culture Work?
A company’s culture may be newly adapted and deliberately cultivated, or it may be the result of decisions occurring over a long period of time. When a company has a strong culture, employees are able to understand what they are expected to do and act accordingly.
In some companies, a team-based culture is important. This means that a company is interested equally in the output of each employee. Other businesses are more formal or hierarchical.
Each business culture has its advantages. In a more traditional company, everyone knows their place within the structure and how they contribute to the whole. However, this can also lead to stagnation in roles. Team-based cultures can be a better fit for certain personalities that are easily bored by an established set of responsibilities.
How to Learn About Company Culture
In order to learn what a company’s culture is like, the first step is to go to their website. Their “About Us” page should describe their values and mission. Some companies also include employee testimonials.
You should research the company and read all of the reviews you can find. Ask around and find out whether you can do an informational interview.
How to Adapt Company Culture to Your Needs
Businesses may be left at a loss, trying to find out how to update their company culture. Changing a workplace’s practices may be difficult since many behaviors are entrenched over time.
The following are suggested steps that you can take to adapt your company culture.
1. Clearly Define Values and Behaviors
Without resorting to “MBA speak,” set out the values and behaviors that you want to see. You will need to arrive at behavioral descriptions for each value and then articulate how these concepts will translate into behaviors. These guidelines will apply to every one of your employees, from manufacturing employees on the factory floor up to the C-suite.
2. Understand How Culture Works with Strategy
One of the most important areas where culture applies is in your human resources department. Recruiting, compensation, benefits, and talent development can all play into the company culture. Companies should think about how these different aspects of their business relate to the principles set out in their company culture documents.
3. Emphasize Accountability
Every employee needs to be accountable. There are many examples of companies from the past with a toxic culture, from Enron to WorldCom. When a problem arises inside a company, the staff must take responsibility and avoid simply passing the blame back and forth. Each supervisor needs to be accountable for the work under their purview.
4. Make Sure Top Management Understands
Even the CEO and board of directors must be invested in company culture. The board needs a framework to understand the culture of the organization and how it impacts performance at all levels. The board will need to determine the objectives for the CEO and make sure they are living up to expectations.
5. Align Brand and Culture
A disconnect between your branding and company culture will have disharmonious results. For example, if a company portrays itself as fun-loving and friendly but the company’s culture is harsh and punitive, the branding will not be very effective. It is necessary to be honest about how the company’s branding is impacting the culture.
6. Quantify It
Instituting an updated company culture looks good on paper, but you will need to take measurements to make sure that you are getting results. Demonstrate the effectiveness of your actions by putting out employee surveys, talent analyses, and assessment of ethics principles.
7. Don’t Rush
Company culture cannot be changed overnight. With a qualified consultant like POWERS, the culture can be changed more rapidly. It may take time for the principles you have set out to trickle down to all levels of the company. Make sure that all of your employees take culture seriously, and discourage cynicism.
A Positive Culture Pays
A positive culture will not only make your employees happy, it will make them more productive. You should be able to track better sales and production numbers as time goes by. If you are not seeing results, make changes.
POWERS emphasizes the importance of culture in today’s competitive business environment. When companies take culture seriously, they will be more likely to succeed.
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