In the current “Great Resignation” environment, business leaders are trying all sorts of incentives to attract new talent for their many open positions.
Yet here’s the thing. Incentives may get candidates to sign the offer, but it’s leadership and company culture that determine whether they’ll stay.
So, what exactly is company culture, and how do you go about creating a “best-place-to-work” caliber of culture when there’s so much other stuff to get done?
First of all, a great culture is more than fun after-work events, casual dress, and catchy slogans. It’s how employees, customers and the outside world perceive an organization based on its attitudes and behaviors. It’s where all employees feel valued, connected, challenged, and recognized. And it stems from leadership behavior at all organizational levels.
To build a great culture, start by becoming really clear about who you are as a leader. Are you demonstrating the behaviors you want to see in your employees?
The next steps are:
Be sure everyone understands the Vision and Mission of the organization. Define them. Communicate them. Post them. Refer to them in employee meetings and other communications.
Establish and communicate clear Values. Model them with employees, customers, vendors, job candidates, everyone. Recognize employees who go above and beyond to model the values.
Ensure that expected leadership behaviors at all levels align with the Vision, Mission and Values. Coach leaders who do not meet these expectations.
Develop and communicate a clear and consistent definition of the culture. Make it easy to describe. Make it real. Test the definition with employees, with customers.
Recruit and hire great people who fit the culture. Use your tested definition in job postings and interviews. As part of your hiring process, determine what a “fit” is, and what it isn’t. Train hiring managers, and develop behavioral interview questions that will help determine fit.
Ask for feedback and adjust accordingly. Once you feel you’ve developed a great culture it’s easy to get complacent. But workplace cultures can shift – changes in leadership, business downturn, overly rapid growth, or external pressures, etc. Do a periodic check-up to ensure that all parts of your culture are healthy and if not, review, adjust and get back on track.
How would you currently rate your company culture? Here’s an idea: Interview a cross-section of your employees and see whether they all describe it the same. If not, go back to the steps above.
Till next time, keep it real.
Karen
