“Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast.” This notorious quote by Peter Drucker seems more relevant than ever these days.
We recently had the chance of reading through the Global Culture Report, which identifies 6 most important aspects of a great company culture.
By improving these, companies are able to build a stimulating workplace that engages and motivates both young, entry-level employees, as well as senior, more experienced ones.
Let’s take a closer look at what the six Talent Magnets are and the lessons we can learn from them.
1. Focus on purpose, not profit
Purpose is the essence of the company. It’s something for people to identify with and be inspired by. It needs to be heard, seen, and felt inside the company every day.
However, according to the Global Culture Report, only 53% of employees find their company’s purpose inspiring or motivating.
The Millennials and Gen Z-ers, in particular, seek companies with a sense of higher purpose. They want to make an impact on the community, on the world; they want their work to make a difference.
Real-life inspiration:
An American outdoor retailer, REI, has famously promoted its outdoors-loving purpose on Black Friday by closing all its stores, giving its employees the day off to spend outdoors, and urging people to follow suit. The campaign, under the hashtag #OptOutside, got huge attention and resulted in record sales for REI.
Read also: Why Company Culture is Essential For Organizations to Thrive
2. Create opportunities for growth
Even the strongest purpose cannot be fulfilled without the company giving its employees enough opportunities for professional growth.
Based on the report, the majority of employees feel that it is very important to have a variety of responsibilities in their job and to acquire new knowledge, skills, and experience.
Especially, Millennials and Gen Z-ers are eager to do things beyond their job description. They want to explore their potential, work on special projects or take on additional roles.
Real-life inspiration:
Google’s “20% Time” initiative gives its employees an opportunity to work on any Google project of their choosing one day per week. This internal initiative proved to be a great way to brainstorm ideas and helped build products such as Gmail, Google Maps or AdSense.
3. Support success, understand failure
More opportunities give employees a unique chance to succeed. Or fail, for that matter.
Encouraging and recognizing personal success is one of the strongest motivators for employees.
As the report found out, regular 1-on-1s, assessments, and feedback sessions increase employees’ perceived feeling of success by 104%.
Failure, though, is a tricky thing to tackle. In a positive culture, leaders let their employees know it’s okay to fail sometimes and inspire them to learn from that failure. Almost 80% of employees said they would stay with the employer if they felt they are allowed to fail.
Real-life inspiration:
At Dropbox, they take failure as a chance to learn new things and develop. Their effective “You’re smart, figure it out” strategy encourages their employees to sort things out themselves instead of the leaders showing them how to do something. This has driven innovation and increased employee satisfaction.
More tips here: Why Psychological Safety is Essential for Performance in the Workplace.
4. Always appreciate good work
Appreciating success publicly is very uplifting and pushes employees forward. Recognition for a job they’ve done well lets employees know that success isn’t taken for granted.
The report shows that employees who get authentic, verbal recognition from their leaders are more motivated, productive, and five times more likely to stay in the company.
Real-life inspiration:
At Slido, we do regular silent hero sessions where everyone can nominate their personal “hero” for something impressive they have recently done or recognize them for their continual great work.
Zappos, for instance, developed a one-of-a-kind bonus program that allows employees to award an extra $50 a month to a coworker who went the extra mile or did a particularly good job.
5. Promote emotional wellbeing
Being genuinely appreciated is an important piece of a larger and more complex puzzle called emotional well-being.
We’re not talking about gym membership cards and free yoga classes here.
When it comes to the emotional welfare of employees, the report stats are not flattering: While only about 25% of Gen X and Baby Boomers feel lonely in their workplace, almost half of Gen Z respondents feel isolated and report lacking meaningful relationships.
A positive company culture makes employees happy. It fosters friendships, creates opportunities for social interaction, and enhances a sense of belonging.
Real-life inspiration:
Airbnb made the emotional well-being of its employees a priority. It allows them to work from anywhere in the world, motivates them to travel, take time off regularly and encourages them to move desks and teams from time to time to network, make friends, and think up new ideas.
Here are 5 tips to spot and prevent burnout in your team.
6. Build a strong leadership foundation
Today, more and more young employees perceive leaders as mentors rather than bosses. They should be the company’s influencers who inspire, motivate and provide guidance.
The report shows that effective leadership in a company is the cornerstone of employee experience. Employees who have a good relationship with their leader are five times more likely to stay with the company than the ones who don’t.
Building trust is very important in a leader-employee relationship. According to research, employees who don’t trust their leader have weak links to the company in general. They may even feel disconnected from other aspects of the company culture as well.
Real-life inspiration:
Adobe ditched the whole leader-employee hierarchy and put its employees in charge of projects. Instead of telling people what to do, the leaders serve only as their mentors, providing advice along the creative process.
Conclusion
The quality of a workplace culture directly affects employees’ productivity, engagement, loyalty, and, in the long run, the company’s growth and success. By interacting, engaging, and empowering employees, organizations can not only improve their bottom line but surpass it.
