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.