Take a Look at Organizational Culture
A positive organizational culture is a key factor in employee retention and it does more than just create a positive work environment—it directly impacts the bottom line. According to TeamStage, companies that cultivate a culture attracting top talent can see a 33% increase in revenue. However, 63% of U.S. businesses struggle more with retaining employees than hiring them, highlighting the critical role culture plays in keeping staff engaged. Furthermore, 86% of job seekers actively avoid companies with a poor reputation, underscoring the need for organizations to invest in a culture that not only attracts but retains, high-caliber employees.
If your organization is facing turnover, disengaged staff, or wants to help ensure longer tenure, it’s time to take a look at your organizational culture. What exactly is organizational culture?
It’s the collection of values, beliefs, and behaviors that form your organization’s identity and influence how employees interact, make decisions, and approach their duties. With a stronger, more positive organizational culture, you will see higher productivity, longer tenure, more employee engagement, and so many more benefits that help your organization thrive in the short and long term. Let’s dive into our step-by-step guide to building a better organizational culture.
Step 1: Define Core Values
To build anything, you have to build a foundation, and building an organizational culture is no different! Your core values provide a sense of unity to your team, giving them common goals to strive for. By identifying and consistently reinforcing these values, you ensure that employees understand and embody the organizational culture you aim to create.
Once your core values are identified, ensure that they also connect and align with your overall business goals. For example, if one of your business goals is higher sales, a few core values you could instate are resilience, initiative, and customer-centricity. Well-defined values can not only shape culture but also direct business strategy. This creates a symbiotic relationship where organizational culture supports the achievement of business goals.
Be sure to work with leadership to help implement the core values at all levels of the organization. Your leaders are influential on the day-to-day processes of your business and help to set the tone for the rest of the team. Without leadership actively enacting your core values, they may seem like abstract concepts rather than integral parts of your company’s culture and success.
Step 2: Lead by Example
Beyond ensuring that leaders demonstrate your core values, they should all be aligned. Consistent behaviors, attitudes, and processes reinforce the company’s core values within the team. With leadership presenting a unified front, the rest of the organization can follow suit.
It’s also important for leadership to gain the trust of the organization, which often begins with transparency and accountability. Trustworthy, transparent leaders communicate their decisions and admit when they’ve made mistakes, which helps to empower employees to feel confident in contributing to the organization’s overall goals.
To further support and empower your leaders to be the embodiments of your company culture and values, investing in executive coaching can be highly effective. Coaching can help leaders identify their management style, strengthen their emotional intelligence, and align their actions with the company’s values. In fostering leadership skills and growth, your organization can ensure that leaders across all levels can confidently cultivate a positive, resilient organizational culture.
Step 3: Encourage Open Communication
Open communication is imperative for fostering a positive company culture because it promotes transparency, trust, and collaboration. When employees feel that they can freely express their ideas, concerns, and feedback, it helps create an environment where everyone feels valued and heard. It’s important to remember that not all employees will feel comfortable raising their hands in a meeting to share their thoughts, so be sure to offer opportunities for anonymous feedback, like suggestion boxes or regular surveys.
Once your organization has received some kind of feedback, whether it’s a question, criticism, or concern, what you do with it matters. Be sure to acknowledge the communication, and, if applicable and actionable, follow up with making a change. This shows your employees that you care about what they have to say and that you are responsive to their needs.
Step 4: Empower Employees
Empowering employees is crucial for cultivating a thriving organizational culture, and talent advisory services play a vital role in this process. Empowered employees will feel more confident to share their ideas and have a sense of ownership over their work. An exceptional workplace culture not only welcomes and supports employees but also aligns with a larger mission and encourages collaboration. Successfully doing so is a sign of a solid organizational culture.
By providing continuous opportunities for learning and growth, you can enhance employee retention and cultivate tenured employees who become ambassadors for your company culture. Our strategic talent advisory services help organizations attract, develop, and retain exceptional talent. We design custom programs tailored to your unique goals, including talent attraction and retention strategies, employee growth plans, and effective work environment policies to prioritize employee well-being and engagement. Ultimately, focusing on empowering talent leads to better retention, sustainable organizational growth, and competitive advantage, creating a collaborative and purposeful workplace culture that drives success.
Step 5: Inclusive Team & Cohesion
Did you know that inclusive teams are over 35% more productive? An inclusive, team-oriented company culture fosters a sense of belonging, boosts employee engagement, improves productivity, drives innovation, improves retention, and ultimately helps to build a better business.
One way to cultivate a more inclusive work environment is to prioritize collaboration interdepartmentally. This gives teams a chance to work with experts in different areas than they work in, while also fostering cohesion and unity across the whole organization. Regular team building can also fortify relationships and encourage open communication, building both trust and camaraderie.
Conclusion
Enhancing your organizational culture is not a “one-and-done” step for any business or organization. It requires ongoing commitment, adaptability, and responsiveness as your team’s needs evolve. While fulfilling this to-do list is a great start to improving your organizational culture, it’s important to remember to reassess and continue constantly making changes that your team needs. As you grow and team dynamics shift, conduct employee surveys, check in with your team members one-on-one, and adapt to changes as they arise. Fostering a positive, inclusive environment enhances employee satisfaction and retention while driving long-term business success.
Embrace the journey of cultivating your organization’s culture, ensuring it aligns with both your team’s needs and your overall business goals. Foster a dynamic culture that serves as a mutually beneficial entity, supported by key pillars that adapt and evolve over time.