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Five Key Elements For Building a Strong Company Culture?

Without stating the obvious, a strong company culture can enhance employee retention, engagement and motivation, innovation, and collaboration. It has even been seen as a decisive factor in enticing investors.

One could write a entire whitepaper on how you can build a strong company culture; the opportunities are endless. But, what I was interested in finding out in our recent series of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, sponsored by Hibob, are the key elements that build a robust company. Here is what our guests had to say:

Aligning Organisational Mission With Company Culture

It all starts with a clear and well-defined mission statement. This is the driving force behind the company, outlining its purpose, values, and goals. A strong culture should be rooted in this mission and aligned at every level.

But it's not just about having a fancy mission statement hanging on the walls; it must be embedded in daily operations, decision-making processes, and talent management strategies. 

When I asked Founder, CEO, and author of the fantastic book 'Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges', John Winsor, what his view was on the key elements that build a strong company culture, he advised: 

"The beginning is reframing a company culture because I don't think it's an internal culture and an external culture… So, I would suggest that breaking down the silos between internal and external culture and melding them together and thinking larger about what culture is your organisation trying to promote for, a holistic view of what culture is." 

To put this in perspective, during our discussion on his three-legged model to combat the global skills shortage, John also referred to Nike and Reebok as comparisons to how to successfully align company culture with the overall organisational mission and value.

"Nike has to be for high-performance athletics inside and outside. And I think if companies don't do that, there's a real schizophrenia going on, right? That's to me, in the early days, that's why Nike was really successful, and Reebok died because Reebok was a bunch of shoe salesmen. Great guys, but before Reebok, they sold fishing equipment. And so, they didn't really care about athletics and you could feel it, right? Employees could feel it, customers could feel it, and it's that feeling that made people come together and really want to support that culture."

This perfectly encapsulates the importance of aligning company culture with the overall organisational mission; it creates a sense of unity, purpose, and direction for both employees and customers.

Culture Begins at the Top 

You have either read or heard about tech giants like Meta and Google cutting back on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) budgets and programs. Understandably, they had to cut down on budgeting spending, and clearly, DEI was not a priority for them.

But, in all honesty, the knock-on effect can seriously damage the company's culture and reputation. Never mind the step back from all the progress made in the past few years. 

So, what does this have to do with culture beginning at the top? It's about leadership and how they prioritise and model desired behaviours. If DEI is not a priority for leadership, then employees are less likely to see it as important and adopt those values in their daily work. It creates a disconnect between stated company values and actual actions taken by leadership.

On the other hand, leaders who actively promote and prioritise company culture will help drive its success throughout the organisation. They should lead by example, championing the desired behaviours and values that make up the company culture.

Speaking with Maureen Dunne, President and CEO of Autism Ventures and author of the groundbreaking book 'The Neurodiversity Edge: The Essential Guide to Embracing Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Neurological Differences for Any Organization', on how to embrace neurodiverse talent, she highlighted the importance of leadership in building a strong culture that values diversity and inclusion.

"If people see the CEO saying, "Wow, look at this amazing work our autistic employee's doing" and focusing on the strengths, other people notice that... then other neurodivergent people that no one knew were neurodivergent feel more comfortable disclosing, and then there's just a different level of conversation happening, and it just becomes more normalised, right? And then, everybody is in a position where they feel more comfortable asking for what they need or doing things in a way that's actually going to make them more productive, which translates again into even the bottom line is in the best interest of organisations where people feel like they're in a culture where they can be themselves, wanting to be there, investing themselves fully into their jobs."

Senior leadership sets the stage for company culture, and it's essential that they prioritise it and actively promote the desired values and behaviours.

Reframe Inclusivity 

On the note of DEI, during my discussion with Amy Edmondson, a leading voice on psychological safety and a renowned professor at Harvard Business School, on how to embrace failures for a thriving organisation, she made a very interesting point on inclusivity. 

We need to start reframing inclusivity if we are to build a strong company culture where people really feel included. Here is what she said:   

"It's easy for people to mistake their experience with intentions on the part of others. In other words, I may not feel included, and it is almost 100% spontaneous to then think, "Someone is excluding me". And I would say, more often than not, that is not the case. There isn't anyone who woke up that morning figuring out how to exclude you. Your experience is real and important, but as soon as we attribute it to intentions on the part of others, it becomes almost impossible to fix it.  So, if everyone could kind of pause and realise this is much more likely an ignorance problem than an intentional problem, then we can start learning together." 

This was a real eye-opening perspective, highlighting the importance of reframing inclusivity in the workplace. Instead of assuming that someone is intentionally excluding us, we should approach the situation from a place of learning and understanding. 

This shift in mindset can lead to more open and productive discussions about how to improve inclusivity within the company culture. It also helps to create a safe space for employees to voice their experiences without feeling like they are accusing others of intentional exclusion. 

Using People Data as Your GPS

At its core, you need to understand the current state of your company before you can shape and improve company culture. You need data to understand where you are, where you need to go, and how close you are to reaching your desired destination.

Nirit Peled-Muntz wonderfully shares this sentiment during our discussion on maintaining a positive employee experience and company culture during expansive growth:

"Data is a little bit like a GPS or like the light of the car. It just provides you more visibility to what is going on in the organisation, right? And I think the more the organisation is growing, it's more important, because again, when you're 25 employees or even 200, you can touch each one of them almost, right? But when you're 1,000 employees, you need to really understand the sentiment. You need to listen to them... And I think if you use the data smartly, you can be very proactive in the way that you're addressing it."

This should go beyond basic analytics, such as turnover rates and employee engagement surveys. While very useful, to gain a granular view of your company culture, an investment in advanced people analytics capabilities will provide you with a more comprehensive understanding of your employees' needs, behaviours and sentiments.

Guage your company culture with regular pulse checks, collaboration data, and advanced sentiment analysis to gain insight into the effectiveness of your company culture initiatives. It will help you track progress, identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions on how to shape a positive and inclusive workplace culture. This data is key to shaping your company culture and understanding its impact on your team's well-being, productivity and overall success. 

Have Those Difficult Conversations

Then again, one key element to effectively building a strong company culture is taking your insights and evidence-based recommendations and simply gathering the courage to have those difficult conversations with senior leaders. Because, at the end of the day, what they might want might not necessarily be for the greater good of the organisation. Cutting DEI budgets is just one example.

It requires honesty, openness, and willingness to challenge the status quo. But it's also important to approach these conversations with empathy and understanding, as resistance to change can often come from a place of fear or lack of knowledge.

This is something Heidi Manna, embodies in her daily life as Chief People Officer at Jazz Pharmaceuticals. She believes difficult conversations are essential to building a strong company culture, which she emulated when gaining buy-in from leadership to introduce a flexible work model that enhanced inclusion and employee experience. 

"Sometimes there's stuff that you need to shift, and it's not serving you well. And have the courage to ask the hard questions, the conviction to have the dialogue and sometimes give feedback that people don't want to hear, and have the accountability to pull it through. 

We do things periodically, like a culture diagnostic, and that is a way that we're basically saying, "Hey, senior leaders, this is what you're saying you want to be. Now let me tell you how your employees are experiencing the environment". And while we share a lot of great things, we home in on that part around what isn't serving us well and what do we want to do to shift that.

Without these difficult conversations, the company culture may stagnate or even regress, leading to disengaged employees and potential issues within the organisation." 

Building a Strong, Inclusive Company Culture for Success

All of the guests made some very interesting points, but what stood out to me the most was the importance of open communication and a mindset shift when building a strong company culture.

We need to understand our organisation's mission and values, gather data to inform our decisions, have difficult conversations with empathy and courage, and constantly work towards creating an inclusive environment for all employees. However, as HR leaders, we need to find ways to get senior leadership on board and truly live by these values to create a company culture that drives success and growth.

It may not be easy, but with the right evidence-based approach and a commitment to continual improvement, you can build thriving company cultures that foster inclusivity and drive success for all.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Green

Senior VP and Managing Partner, Insight222

David is a globally respected speaker, author, and consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR, and the future of work. With lead responsibility for Insight222’s brand and market development, David helps our clients create value through people analytics.

David is the co-author of Excellence in People Analytics (Kogan Page, July 2021), and the host of our Digital HR Leaders podcast. Prior to co-founding Insight222, David worked in the human resources field in multiple major global companies, most recently at IBM. He has lived in both UK and France and worked all over the world during his career. He has been a director of Insight222 since 2019. David is a keen cricket player and supporter of Liverpool FC.


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