Have you ever heard the phrase 鈥渃ulture eats strategy for breakfast?鈥� There鈥檚 a reason why this expression has been long-standing in the business world. Having a winning corporate culture can make or break organizational success.
In this article, we鈥檒l unpack what comprises corporate culture and the steps to create
a winning corporate culture.
What is Corporate Culture?
Corporate culture encompasses a company鈥檚 shared beliefs, values, and attitudes. While
companies often define their culture with core values and mission statements, corporate
culture typically develops organically over time. Everything from employee benefits
and dress code to business hours and office setup can dictate corporate culture.
Why is Corporate Culture Important?
Creating a winning corporate culture , including:
- Providing a positive workplace environment.
- Attracting high-value employees.
- Creating an engaged, enthusiastic workforce.
- Reducing turnover.
- Increasing collaboration and innovation.
- Driving and improving performance quality and productivity.
6 Components of a Winning Corporate Culture
According to the , there are six key characteristics of successful corporate cultures:
Vision: A vision or mission statement helps guide a company鈥檚 values and provide it with purpose. Vision statements can also help orient customers, suppliers, and stakeholders. For example,
Values: Company values offer a set of guidelines on the behaviors and mindsets needed to achieve the company vision. Early on, Google established its values 鈥� 鈥� to guide the company in the right direction.
Practices: Practices are how values are reinforced and carried out in daily life. For example, Patagonia is a leader in many ways on employee benefits and care, including its .
People: A company needs people who share and embrace its core values to construct a coherent culture. If employees don鈥檛 take on the company鈥檚 vision, values, and practices, then the culture doesn鈥檛 truly exist.
Narrative: Every company should unearth and tell its unique story as a part of its cultural creation. Having a shared story and heritage can help employees feel more invested in the company and provide a greater meaning to the work they do every day.
Place: How the office is set up is a critical aspect of corporate culture, whether in-person
or remote. Open office setups, for example, encourage collaboration. Flexible hours
in remote working can demonstrate a more relaxed work culture.
8 Ways to Create a Winning Corporate Culture
After clearly defining and sharing the six components above, you can take the following
steps to foster your winning corporate culture.
8. Ask Your Employees
What do your employees love about the company? Or, how do they envision an ideal company culture? Gathering employee feedback is a great first step in creating a thriving corporate culture and knowing what aspects of your current organizational brand to highlight or update.
, President and CEO of YourMechanic, did one-on-one interviews with each employee when he started his company. He asked what they thought should change and how they would propose to solve the problems they were seeing.
鈥淕ive your employees the space to express their observations, and then ask them to
create solutions. In my experience, this can lead to greater transparency, trust and
self-determination that creates a sense of ownership in their roles.鈥�
7. Take Inspiration from Other Companies
The good news is you don鈥檛 have to start from scratch when building a winning team
culture. Consider companies you admire. What sets them apart? How do they convey their
values and practices? This can help create a strategy for fostering your team culture.
6. Start on Day One
Instilling company culture is critical for new employees鈥� success. From providing all the necessary tools on
their first day to having a thorough onboarding plan, taking the time to really embed
employees in the company culture can create more engaged employees down the line.
For example, providing a roadmap that shows what success looks like during the first
week, month, quarter, six months, and one year will help them manage expectations
and have personal goals to work toward.
5. Highlight, Reward, and Recognize
Everyone wants to feel like a valued part of the team. Explaining to employees how their work helps the overall organization succeed can help them feel a sense of belonging.
One team exercise that can help employees feel valued is to ask them to share their top three strengths and how they鈥檝e put them into action at work. When you see these strengths being demonstrated, you can share them with the team to highlight what individual employees bring to the table and how they are a uniquely valued part of the organization.
In addition, recognizing employees publicly on a regular basis will help employees
celebrate wins. Whether you share employee stories and successes in monthly all-team
meetings or send out an email or chat weekly with some team highlights, employees
will feel noticed and inspired.
4. Encourage Professional Growth
Motivate your employees to continue their growth within the company by establishing
a culture of continuous learning. Whether that means encouraging employees to level
up their skills with online courses or hosting in-person 鈥渓unch and learns,鈥� helping
employees train and upskill adds value to the company and prevents employees from
getting bored.
3. Implement Internal Communications
From an email newsletter to regular town hall meetings, maintaining consistent contact with employees about the company goals and expectations, working environment, and employees鈥� roles in company success will help keep everyone in the loop and engaged.
For example, international transportation company Stagecoach app for its 20,000 bus and retail employees that features access to organizational
news, peer communication channels, training, and policy information. Employees can
also use the app to provide feedback. The company has said that the award-winning
app has increased employee engagement across the business and is a valuable internal
communications tool.
2. Practice What You Preach
Leadership needs to model the ideal team culture in order to be an example for employees. Implementing a team culture is a collaborative process starting with leadership showing the way and guiding employees to the ideal team culture whenever possible.
If you or your leadership team needs some upskilling to implement the team culture,
it may be a good idea to enroll in some courses to elevate your organization鈥檚 leadership
capabilities. From emotional intelligence to effective communication, USF offers a
variety of leadership and management online courses that can help nurture current and future leaders.
1. Update Culture as Needed
Corporate culture needs to change over time. As employee needs and demographics change,
so will the best ways to increase employee job satisfaction. For example, suppose
your organization switched to remote work during the pandemic. In that case, you may
need to create more regular touch-base meetings to check in on employees since casual
check-ins that happen in the office won鈥檛 be as likely to occur.
Everyone Wins with a Winning Corporate Culture
Employees and leadership both benefit when it comes to creating a winning corporate culture. From increasing engagement to growing job satisfaction, implementing effective HR principles is key to cultivating a great place to work.
If you鈥檙e looking to become a change-maker in your organization, USF鈥檚 HR certificate courses provide professionals the ability to transition to an HR role or advance in their current position. Gain the essential HR skills you need to champion a winning corporate culture.