How focused are you on your company culture? What do you believe your role is on impacting the desired culture? Has your company identified its desired culture?

These are some questions that I often ask clients when starting an engagement with the executive or senior team, or for clients looking to me to help them strengthen employee engagement.

You may have heard the quote by Peter Druker –

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

What does the above statement say to you?

Many, if not all, companies are focused on strategy, which is important, but when culture is overlooked, it’s hard to achieve great things. Why is this? Because a healthy culture impacts employee engagement, and it’s challenging to achieve your best results if your employees are not bringing their best selves to help you drive the results.

Taking time to identify your desired culture, clearly define it, and share it with your employees in a way that helps them understand what it means and why they are an important part of shaping the culture, will engage them in new and in different ways. They can 1) buy into it, and 2) they can feel a sense of pride in helping to form the desired culture.

It’s important to recognize that an organization’s culture can change over time, and, if it is moving in a less than desirable direction, it will take intentional focus and communication to move it in the desired direction. It helps to have culture champions and it’s important to understand this is not something that gets implemented, but rather, it builds overtime. It’s not something you can necessarily “see” but is something that can be experienced – and the experience moves beyond the internal employee experience. It flows to the “customers” and impacts the customer experience and can flow out to the broader community as well.

When companies started working differently in 2020 – many that changed from all in-person to remote and or hybrid – a new challenge on how to “maintain” an organizational culture came to light. Is maintaining the culture what is needed when significant changes occur, or is that a time to look at how the culture may best evolve?

These are ongoing areas of opportunity which require focus, intention, and conversation.

How is your current organizational culture serving you? Is there clarity on the desired culture and how it aligns with your mission, your values and your vision? How involved in shaping the culture are you or your employees? Curious to learn more about driving a healthy organizational culture and engaging your employees? Let’s  connect.

“A hallmark of a healthy creative culture is that its people feel free to share ideas, opinions, and criticisms. Lack of candor, if unchecked, ultimately leads to dysfunctional environments.” – Ed Catmull