In the past, developing the culture of an organization – i.e., the social order and norms as to what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted, or rejected – was not a high priority when compared to business development, operational efficiency, and profitability.
Today, cultural impact has shifted to the forefront, with companies investing energy in aligning culture with employees’ personal values, drives, and needs. When aligned properly with corporate strategy and leadership, culture can unleash constructive energy toward operational excellence. Employees of small to medium-sized companies often worry that company growth means losing the family feel of a smaller organization.
While this preconceived notion of a cold, corporate environment may cause anxiety, growth does not automatically mean the decline of positive culture. However, it does force a discussion about creating a path to not only preserve company culture, but to also improve it.
Construction employees’ expectations are beginning to demand an improvement in culture. The beliefs and behaviors influencing how employees and leadership interact with both internal and external customers sharply affect how business decisions are made and, by extension, the company’s reputation. When implemented and nurtured correctly, culture holds employees accountable to the core values of a company, creating a positivity that each team member strives to emulate.
Accepting that a strong culture is important kicks off a complex, yet essential, endeavor. Within the next seven years, the population of Millennials in the workforce will likely exceed 75%. The demands of this generation differ widely from previous generations in their need for feedback and desire over control of their professional growth, requiring a culture that is vastly different from what many companies currently have in place. Some of the key components of cultural evaluation and implementation are discussed below.
Evaluate the Current State
As with any type of business process improvement, a comprehensive evaluation of the current state is important to procure. While an evaluation of culture may seem daunting, there are several important sources of information to consider. What is the mission or vision statement of the company? Can your employees cite these or the core values when asked? If they can, consider this a step in the right direction. If your employees are already practicing them, you’ve already made great strides.
In most organizations though, the staff is unaware of mission, vision, and values statements. Instead of these statements representing the company as a mantra by which it lives, they merely become empty words on paper.
Current leadership culture can be determined by using evaluation tools for qualitative and quantitative review of company leaders from the perspective of superiors, peers, subordinates, and even vendors and customers. Also, performing exit interviews for both voluntary and involuntary separations from the company, followed by root cause analysis to establish patterns of turnover, helps to analyze culture from within. Additionally, one of the most effective methods of determining culture is to have open, honest conversations with employees and gather opinions on company culture.
During the assessment phase, care should be taken to recognize that an employee’s perception of the company’s culture is how they really feel, regardless of how the leadership perceives it. If gaps exist, it is necessary to commit to change and follow through. Anything less would break trust and confidence in the leadership of the organization and could harm team performance.
Define Cultural Best Practices
If a company determines that its culture is need of improvement, take steps necessary to ensure it does not become a top-down initiative. If implemented from the executive level down, it may be perceived as “an order” instead of a desired collaborative effort. Although one could argue that culture is lead from the top, determining the needs or wants of the employees should never be assumed.
If clarification of the mission, vision, and values of the company is needed to ground and center the culture initiative, then a team representing multiple work groups from field leadership through executive management would be best equipped at determining the most desired and relevant core values. The opinions of all focus group members should be taken into consideration, ensuring that there is adequate discussion and process documentation.
Communicate & Publicize
Once an agreement has been reached, the effort can then shift to communicating the culture and utilizing the subject matter experts who were involved in casting of the new “normal.” This method allows for highly effective peer-to-peer training to take place as the next step, which is also a priority for Millennials. When training and mentoring begins, subject matter experts should introduce why the initiative has been given such importance, who was involved in casting the new definitions, and how each employee plays a role in the support, mentoring, and accountability of others.
Many companies are turning to promotional videos to discuss company culture, allowing clarity behind such initiatives to come to life. Employees are able to see that staff at all levels were involved, ensuring that their opinions and ideas were considered, and that leadership is not only behind the initiative, but is wholeheartedly endorsing it. Videos can also be used in the recruitment and hiring process, as culture is a key element of potential employees’ decision-making.
Additionally, the mission, vision, and values statements must become a large part of the working mantra. They should be displayed around the office and at jobsites, mentioned regularly in meetings and company gatherings, and serve as company values when interacting both internally and externally. This is how leadership can practice what they preach and set the example for all to follow.