If You're Not In Front of it - Then You're Behind It

Company culture, employee engagement, and employer branding are hot discussion topics and for many business leaders are as much of a holy grail as competitive advantage.  There have been many articles, blogs, webinars and books dedicated to these subjects, but few have talked about the foundation that must be addressed before you can begin to build.  I’ve put together 5 key points for setting a stable foundation to build a dynamic company culture.

I was recently at an event where I had the opportunity to network with several executives.  Of course, I drove each conversation to discuss company culture and employee engagement.  One high-level corporate HR executive shared her philosophy of employee engagement -- employees focusing on their job and doing it really well.  A VP of a global organization shared that his company focused on a culture of quality.  What I found most interesting is that I spoke to these executives independently of each other, but that they work for the same company.  While I agree a company culture of quality must include employees who do their job well, I disagree that focusing on your job defines employee engagement.  What this illustrates to me is that the company leader has not clearly defined the company culture they are trying to achieve and that each executive is creating the definition for not only themselves but for their teams.  If that is the case, how can that company enjoy fruits of competitive advantage when their executives are running after different goals?

Company culture is going to happen with or without you…so, you need to decide if you want to get in front of it…or be behind it.  My 5 key points to building a dynamic company culture are:

1.  It starts at the top.  It surprises me how many companies spend money on external branding efforts, but put little time nor effort into their employer brand. The top executive (President, CEO, Owner) must define the company vision and culture.  Once defined, the leader’s actions must be deliberate. More than words on a wall, a way of life -- they must walk the talk. A fundamental truth of human existence is our desire to believe in something bigger than ourselves.  Without getting too deep, you need only look at today’s celebrity status to know that people want to attach and aspire to something bigger than themselves. If you can build company culture, give employees something to believe and aspire to, they will follow.
2. Accountability. You know the saying, ‘birds of a feather.’  When the business leader models the behaviors he or she wants displayed in the company, like-minded individuals start to gather.  Then, the law of attraction starts -- those who aspire to be what is modeled, start to follow.  The key is accountability; from the leader, executive team, supervisors, front line managers and the general population.  Your talent acquisition efforts need to screen for “fit” not only within the hiring business unit, but also the company culture as a whole.  Every employee must have the shared values and be accountable to walk the culture.
3. Empowerment.  A dynamic company culture requires employees to be empowered -- subject matter experts within their job, to have a voice able to make changes when necessary and to be recognized for their efforts. Empowering your employees says that everyone, whether they manage a team or clean the toilet, has value and is vital to the organization. Generally speaking, employees what do a good job and be recognized for their efforts. Set the expectation of employee empowerment, give employees room to perform and give deliberate recognition for positive behaviors.  If you do, your employees will thrive and create a dynamic high-performing workforce. This requires training for managers, and development opportunities across the entire population.
4. Communication.  An empowered workforce requires open communication both down stream and up stream.  Downs stream communication must be intentional, transparent and often. When there is a communication vacuum, employees are left to fill in the void with their own story.  Communication disconnects leads to operating inefficiencies and makes productivity and profitability extremely difficult to achieve. Up stream communication needs to be open with no fear of retribution for speaking up. Provide vehicles to do this – there are many ways this can happen including the leadership walking around and talking to employees, one-on-ones with managers, on-line forums or suggestion boxes that are read and communicated.  Take communication one step further and allow your employees become internal brand ambassadors by sharing their personal connections to the company and you will create more culture converts than you would with the leader being the lone champion.
5. Scan the environment.  Your demographic is always changing, so you need to make sure that you are continually evaluating your culture model.  Just because it worked yesterday, does not mean it still works today. As the population changes, whether by age, growth, or diversity, their needs will change and evolve.  Your engagement practices will need to change and evolve to find the balance between business and population needs.

Creating company culture and driving employee engagement is deliberate business and cannot be taken for granted.  There are many studies conducted by prominent organizations that are able to clearly show the correlation between employee engagement and ROI.  Those companies that define their culture, walk the talk, hold everyone accountable, empower their employees, have transparent communication, and scan the environment are the leaders in every category – most admired, highest profit, lowest turnover and are companies that people want to perform their very best.

Does your company leader have a clearly defined culture?  Tell me about it, in the comments.