Building Corporate Culture By Design, Not Default

Designing the corporate culture of a business is a crucial component of long-term success.   It’s not enough to just let it develop over time without care, thought, or purpose. You must think about how the culture should look and feel within your company.  This should not be one more thing to add to your to-do list, but instead an integral component of your company, just like your products, services, and employee choices.

Understanding Corporate Culture

Before you decide to cultivate the corporate culture of your company, you must have a firm understanding of what corporate culture is.  According to Investopedia.com, corporate culture is the “beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions.”

You can read more about the specific benefits of creating a corporate culture and how it impacts various businesses here.

Determine Foundational Values and Beliefs

Creating the corporate culture of your company should involve an open conversation between everyone in the organization from the top down, but it shouldn’t start that way.  

Begin the process by having a meeting with the leaders of  your business to develop a baseline understanding of what the foundational values and beliefs are related to

• Goals
• Strategies
• Customer interactions
• Investor relationships
• Community
• Dress code
• Business hours
• Office setup
• Employee benefits
• Hiring decisions

While there’s no guarantee that the ideas you develop during the beginning of this process will make it to the final stage of your corporate culture plan, this is a great place to start before you involve your full team.

Gain Employee Insight on Corporate Culture

After developing a foundational overview of the values and beliefs of your organization, it’s time to bring in your employees.

Depending on the size of your organization and the current culture, this can be done anonymously via a digital format, or in person by having a traditional roundtable conversation.

If your company is smaller and used to open communication, an in-person roundtable meeting might be best.  

If your company is larger, or you believe some employees might not feel comfortable giving their honest opinions in the open,  it might be best to send out an anonymous digital survey.

Whether this stage is completed in person or virtually, you must set the purpose for the conversation.  Explain why you are gathering this information. Ensure they understand the end goal and why their input is essential.  Explain to them your next steps in the process.

This helps them become fully engaged in the development of the corporate culture and allows them to respond to the questions with the background knowledge and foresight necessary to give their best responses.

Gain Buy-In

Once you have a conversation with your employees and flesh out the final corporate culture of your company, it’s time to gain buy-in.

Everyone might not be excited about the new culture you’ve set in place.  Maybe it’s because they feel the current culture is good enough. Perhaps it’s because they don’t want to see change.  

Whatever the reason, it’s crucial to gain buy-in, if only from a few employees to start.  This is because when you start a new mission or process, those who believe in it will start the domino effect of support.  These supporters will act as role models and express to their co-workers in a peer to peer conversation the benefits of this new initiative.

You might need a bit more of a boost in increasing employee engagement in the corporate culture process.  If you are seeking additional support, download a free copy of my book, 5 Tips to Improve Employee Engagement where I share best practices for getting your employees engaged in your company’s success.

Implement the Corporate Culture

Now that you have a corporate culture in place that you’ve designed, it’s time to implement it.  Setting a plan in place is the simple part. Incorporating it in your day to day business practices will test whether you can maintain this culture.

Make sure you stay focused on your ultimate corporate culture goals, and if necessary, you might need to teach and reteach your employees how to operate within this new culture.

Lead by Example

Here’s a bonus tip as you’re designing your corporate culture and expecting your employees to buy-in to the process and follow along.  You must with no doubt lead by example.

Remember that you are being watched at all times by your employees.  Everything in business comes from the top down, so your employees will follow your lead.  

If you start out strong in modeling the new culture then get lax around month 2, they will believe the initiative is not very important, and they will get lax as well.  However, if you’re serious about it and model the culture on a daily basis, they will see you and hopefully become more serious about it as well.

Make the culture a part of who you are as a leader.  Be the biggest cheerleader and supporter of the new corporate culture and hold yourself to a higher standard than your employees.  That means if you want your employees to shoot for the stars, you need to be on Neptune. It wouldn’t be the expectation that the majority of your employees land on Neptune with you, but some will rise to the occasion, others will fall short, but at least they won’t still be on planet Earth.

Above all else, remember, your energy is contagious. It’s your role to guide your employees in the design and implementation of your company’s corporate culture.

From Hire to Retire: Infusing Corporate Culture Through The Process

The corporate culture of your company should be taken into consideration in all stages of your relationship with your employees as it sets the foundation for the values, beliefs, and decisions your business will stand by.  

From the hiring process to company celebrations, to administering raises and promotions, infusing the corporate culture throughout the process helps to maintain consistencies and develop a solid belief system.

Hiring a Cultural Fit

Cultural fit is a term used frequently in the employee hiring process.  It is discussed when considering whether a potential employee would fit into the corporate culture of the company.

The official definition of cultural fit according to JobTestPrep.com is  “when a company evaluates how a potential employee may express the characteristics, language, and values that exist within the current organizational culture.”  

When a candidate’s values, beliefs, outlook, and behavior are compatible with those existing within the company, he or she is likely to be a good fit.

It’s important to have guidelines when looking for a cultural fit without creating a culture where you only hire clones of fellow employees.

If you focus too much on an employee being the perfect cultural fit, it is possible for the company to becomes homogeneous in views and ideas.  

That can create an environment that limits business growth as differing beliefs, ideas, and viewpoints, often spark conversations that lead to ideas that can change the trajectory of a business.

Incorporate Corporate Culture in the Hiring Process

When you consider the corporate culture of your company and seek a candidate who is a cultural fit, it’s best practice to advise them that it will be considered in the hiring process.

Having an open dialogue about this component of the hiring process allows the candidate to understand that they will not be judged based solely on their work experience, education, and employer recommendations.  

Incorporating corporate culture can be done through an interview, assessment, or personality test.

Examples of questions you can ask are

• Do you prefer working alone or as part of the team?
• What is your leadership style?
• How would your co-workers describe your work style?
• What do you think about regular employee gatherings?

Be sure to ask questions that speak directly to the values that are important to your company.

Cultural Fit Onboarding

When you’re onboarding a new employee into the company, having further conversations regarding the corporate culture helps to build cultural competency from day one.

You can do this by offering a company values training that occurs in person or via pre-recorded video. Cultural information should also be included in the employee handbook, though that alone is generally not enough training for a new employee.

When discussing values, be sure to offer real examples of how they can be showcased correctly and incorrectly within the company.

Offer an opportunity to have a conversation after the training has taken place to ensure all messages have been delivered clearly and to clarify any potential questions that might remain.

Continued Cultural Conversations

Beyond the hiring and onboarding processes, maintaining a positive corporate culture is vital to the success of a company.

Team Building

Planning team building activities can build a culture of connectedness amongst employees and showcase the importance placed on that component of the corporate culture.

Here are a few simple examples of team building activities, but there are hundreds if not thousands of options available.

• Put employees in small groups and give each group tape, marshmallows, and spaghetti noodles. The team with the highest structure wins.
• Put employees in small groups.  Participants begin at a starting line and run to a swivel chair.  They sit down in the chair and spin around 5 times then run back to the starting line to tag in their team member.  The team that finishes first wins.
• Put employees in small groups. Set up trash cans 5, 10, and 15 feet from the starting line.  Each “basket” has a point value associated with it. Each participant will get 5 pieces of balled up paper and will earn points for their team based on the number of shots that land in the basket.

Continued Education

Continued education regarding the culture of the company is also an essential piece of the puzzle. Just discussing it during the hiring process is not enough.  Once your employee is in the trenches and facing various situations, those cultural trainings that occurred months years ago are no longer front of mind.

There are many ways to incorporate continuing education into the organization, here are a few tips to consider.

• Make training mandatory for all of those involved in the organization. If it’s not required, many employees may not attend or might question its actual importance.
• Ask for feedback from employees regarding the cultural training. If it doesn’t connect with them, it is a waste of time.
• Use current employees to provide training when possible.  This helps to promote the skillsets of current employees.

Offer Rewards

You can also reward those who demonstrate company values consistently.

This can be done by using values as a part of the criteria when awarding raises and promotions.

You can nominate employees each month for demonstrating the core values of the company. You can present them with a certificate, or highlight their work in the company newsletter or staff meeting.

Making this information public helps to reiterate the importance of corporate culture and values in the company.

You can also acknowledge employees in simple ways by sending an email to an employee who demonstrated good values or leaving a sticky note on their desk expressing your appreciation.

One vital component of continuing cultural conversations is to discuss behaviors that are incorrect. When you see an employee demonstrating culturally inappropriate behavior, it’s essential to have a respectful, open, and honest discussion about why their behavior is inappropriate and what a better choice would be,

Fostering Engagement

Infusing corporate culture throughout your organization is vital to the corporate culture process.  Ensuring your employees are engaged in the corporate culture is a requirement if the process is going to have maximum effect. If you’re looking to improve your employee engagement, make sure you download a copy of my free book, 5 Tips to Improve Employee Engagement. It features actionable steps you can take to ensure your employees are fully engaged in all processes including the corporate culture.

Defining a Winning Corporate Culture

What is Corporate Culture

According to Investopedia.com, the corporate culture definition is  “beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions.”

The corporate culture of a business is reflected in many ways including how it structures

• Goals
• Strategies
• Customer interactions
• Investor relationships
• Community
• Dress code
• Business hours
• Office setup
• Employee benefits
• Hiring decisions
• And more

A company’s corporate culture is generally implied and develops organically over time based on the traits of its’ employees.

Since corporate culture makes up much of an organization’s viewpoint, developing a defined optimal culture can be crucial for long-term success and scalability.

Corporate Culture Examples

All businesses have a corporate culture, whether it has been identified or not. Some companies stand out as having a positive, supportive, and inspiring culture that makes it an exceptional workplace.  

Here are 3 well-known companies, that have developed a well respected and positive corporate culture according to Entrepreneur.com.

Zappos

Zappos is an online shoe store that emphasizes building a strong positive culture.  Half of the weight of the hiring process is based on the results of a cultural fit interview. It is given to determine whether a new employee would fit in with the current company culture.

They go a step further by offering any employee $2,000 if they choose to quit within the first week if they determine the job is not a good fit.

Instead of promotions and raises going to those in the top social circle, they are awarded to employees who pass skills tests and showcase improved job skills.

The corporate culture of Zappos demonstrates that maintaining a positive and fair work environment is a necessity.

Twitter

Twitter, one of the top social media platforms, has defined its corporate culture as one that is team oriented and laid back.

By offering rooftop meetings, free employee meals at the headquarters, and even yoga classes, Twitter wants to ensure their employees are happy because satisfied employees are willing to go above and beyond while on the job.

Squarespace

Squarespace has risen in popularity as one of the best website creation platforms and is regularly voted as a top workplace in New York City.

With 100% health insurance premium coverage, flexible vacation offerings, catered meals, a fully stocked kitchen, monthly celebrations, and even a relaxation space in the office, there is no wonder professionals love working at Squarespace.

The Importance of Corporate Culture

As the previous examples demonstrate, the corporate culture of a business can shape how it operates.

With Twitter’s laid-back team-oriented environment, discussing necessary changes and new initiatives is likely more comfortable to do.  

Along the same lines, interdepartmental collaboration is probably a painless process.

If the culture was one of no teamwork and being afraid to communicate, crucial conversations wouldn’t take place or would be met with so much static they would lose value.

Developing a corporate culture has three main benefits.

Define Identity

Defining the corporate culture helps a business to identify its values and identity.  Without an idea of the culture, it’s difficult to develop a set of consistent values.

Increase Retention

A company with a strong culture attracts better employees, and once hired those employees stay longer.

This leads to a reduced turnover rate, fewer new hires, and improved chemistry amongst employees because their team remains consistent.

High turnover rates are a clear sign of an issue within a business’ corporate culture.

Define Image

The corporate culture defines the image of a company. Depending on the type of business, customers and clients can see how employees are treated which can boost sales and customer loyalty.

Social media platforms showcasing parts of the company culture can bring potential customers or clients to the business because they are attracted to the culture they see.

The image is also a part of attracting high-quality employees.

Defining Corporate Culture

The concept of defining corporate culture is a very personal one.  

Not just to the management team or the CEO, but to the entire business as a whole.

No one can define your culture for you.

It should be developed after receiving input from every member of the organization from the custodial staff to the President.

Here are 15 questions you can ask to start defining the corporate culture of your company.

• How is feedback managed?
• Who gets promoted?
• What behaviors are rewarded?
• What five words describe the company?
• How does the management team support and motivate employees?
• Who fits in and who doesn’t?
• What causes conflict and how is it resolved?
• Is risk-taking encouraged?
• What’s one thing you would change about the company if you could?
• What makes you proud to work for this company?
• How would you describe the organizational politics at the company?
• Who in the organization has the power to get things done?
• What kind of flexible work arrangements are available
• How does the organization support your professional development and career growth?
• What role do company values play in hiring and performance reviews?

Just as a reminder, these questions should not only be asked to the upper management team.  Allow all employees to provide input. The more information that’s collected, the better understanding you will have of the current corporate culture, potential areas of growth, and areas that are thriving.  

A critical component of corporate culture is high employee engagement. If your employees are asking, what is company culture, it’s important to get them engaged in the process.  If increasing employee commitment is a part of the corporate culture that you need to improve, click here to download a free copy of my book, 5 Tips to Improve Employee Engagement. When you develop a positive corporate culture with fair practices and policies that engage your employees, your business has a higher chance of success over time.

Why Your Business Should Be Strategic Planning

All businesses are unique, but one thing many successful business owners have in common is the practice of strategic planning.  This plan is used to ensure they have an understanding of their vision, their goals, and the steps needed to make these ideas a reality.

A strategic plan is “a systematic process of envisioning a desired future and translating this vision into broadly defined goals or objectives and a sequence of steps to achieve them” according to BusinessDictionary.com.

All business owners should develop and frequently revisit their strategic plan.  The definition includes the reasons why it’s vital to business success, but I will break them down further below.

You Envision Your Desired Future

Have you ever gotten in a car destined to have the best vacation ever without your GPS turned on or a destination in mind?  I doubt it. Moreover, if you did, it’s unlikely that your trip was successful.

Whenever you take action, you have an idea of what you want your result to be.

When you get a haircut, you envision a specific style.

When you paint your bedroom, you know the emotion you want the color to evoke.

When you get married, you envision living happily ever after with your spouse.

Strategic planning allows you to do the same thing.

Envisioning a future for your business takes you out of the present and catapults you into the future, so your actions are working towards reaching your target.

You Develop Broadly Defined Goals or Objectives

Having a vision for your future allows you to set goals or objectives that will enable you to work towards that vision.

Setting proper goals is crucial for any business because it takes your vision and makes it more concrete.  

Real Life Example

Your long-range travel goal is to visit every continent by your 60th birthday.

How will you turn that dream into a reality?  It starts by setting broad goals. You don’t need to define every detail from the beginning, just developing a general understanding is a great start.

For example

• I will visit Europe by 35 years old.
• I will visit Africa by 40 years old.
• I will visit South America by 45 years old.
• I will visit Australia by 50 years old.
• I will visit Asia by 55 years old.
• I will visit Antarctica by 60 years old.

These broad goals alone will not turn your overarching vision into a reality, however, identifying them start to make your concept more concrete.

You Develop a Sequence of Steps to Achieve Your Goals

Now that you have an overall vision along with broadly defined goals or objectives, strategic planning calls for you to break down each goal into actionable steps that make it achievable.

Having a vision is excellent and setting goals is even better, but without the actionable steps that follow, your goal will likely never be achieved.  The steps turn it into a plan which is what every business owner needs.

Your vision, goals, and plan are the trifecta that make up strategic planning.

Real Life Example

To continue with the example that was provided in the previous section, let’s take the first goal and break it down into actionable steps.

I will travel to Europe by my 35th birthday.

What steps will make that possible?

1. Decide on a location
2. Decide on a date
3. Decide who will accompany you
4. Book your hotel
5. Book your flight
6. Plan your itinerary
7. Pack your bags
8. Set a timer the night before the trip to arrive at the airport on time

Now you have a plan that will help you reach your goal!

If you find yourself still asking, “What is Strategic Planning” or want a more in-depth explanation of what a strategic business plan is and the benefits of strategic planning you can read another blog post I wrote on this topic entitled The 5 Benefits of Strategic Planning For Your Business.

Why You Need Strategic Planning

I included a strategic planning example related to travel because we can all relate to the concept. As simplistic as it seems, that’s ultimately how simple your business strategic plan can be.  

Just remove the travel elements and replace the vision, goals, and plan you have for your business.

If you think you can travel to every continent before you’re 60 years old without goals or a plan, then by all means, maybe you don’t need to implement strategic planning in your business.

However, if you’re like the rest of the world and realize that goals and a plan help you to reach your vision faster, it’s time to implement one now.  

If you already have a strategic plan that sits in a folder on your laptop that you never refer to, it’s time to pull it up.  

A strategic plan is a living document, as your business grows and changes so should your vision, your goals, and your plan.

Develop your strategic plan, regularly revisit it and update it. That’s the key to successful strategic planning.

If your company has employees, full time or part time, it’s essential that they be up to date on your strategic plan and follow it with fidelity. Gaining employee buy-in and engagement is crucial to business success.

If you’re looking for a tool to help you improve your employee engagement, you need to download a free copy of my book, “5 Tips to Improve Employee Engagement.”  You can download your copy here.  Its features best practices for getting your employees engaged in your company’s success. Strategic planning is most beneficial when everyone is on board and committed.