Company culture is the bedrock on which everything else is built. It establishes the baseline for alignment across an organisation, including its priorities, norms, expectations and rules of engagement. And while culture isn’t something tangible, it can be seen and felt by everyone that interacts with your company.
In a nutshell, culture is the core identity of your company. It is how your
- Vision,
- Mission, and
- Values
are expressed in the work that you do. Culture the social operating system that influences both how people carry out their work, and how the organisation interacts with its employees, customers and the community.
Why Is Company Culture So Important?
Every organisation develops a culture, whether this is done intentionally or not. Even if no deliberate thought or action is put into it, culture will still form and develop on its own. The danger is that an unguided, unstructured culture may do more harm than good. Culture can make or break an organisation.
Employee happiness and motivation (engagement) is built on the countless micro-experiences they encounter every day – the feeling that they have when they’re at work. When culture is strong, mental and emotional wellbeing is promoted and employees perform at a higher level.
A strong culture
stimulates engagement
which drives performance.
Read More: 3 Keys to Building a Thriving Team.
Ultimately it is your company culture that establishes the foundation for how everything else is lived out. It sets the stage for how you’ll pursue engaging your employees, and for how you’ll gauge their performance.
Culture Comes First
What all this means is that that culture is the biggest lever any organisation has to realise success. Again: culture stimulates engagement which drives performance. Engaged, high-performing team members produce quality, innovative work that wins and delights customers. In other words, by taking care of culture first, the customer experience and profits will take care of themselves.
How To Start Building A Strong Culture
The realisation of how important company culture is can make it seem quite overwhelming. Where do you start? What do you prioritise? Does your team even have the right foundations in place to build a strong, thriving culture?
The answers shouldn’t be guesses or maybes. A healthy culture is one of the most crucial characteristics of successful teamwork, but the truth is many teams have dangerous cracks in this foundation. The result is that team members become demotivated and disengaged. Leaders feel overwhelmed and under-equipped. Many leaders and employees alike are very aware of a “toxic culture” in their organisation or team, but don’t have the skills or resources to do something about it.
Want to ensure that’s not you?
Whether you’re a CEO, a manager, or a team member, the FREE Culture Foundations assessment can help you put the right building blocks in place. It will show you where your team’s gaps are and give you actionable insights that you can share across your team. You’ll learn how to be a positive change agent – the hero that helps build a healthier, happier, more successful team!
