In several past blogs, I wrote about appreciation - what is true employee appreciation, how it helps to improve employee engagement and the strategies to implement in your organization. In my Team Work survey, Appreciation was the highest ranked factor; the second highest was Company Culture.
Company culture may have different meanings depending on your position and perspective in the organization. Leadership views it as a way to impact behavior in the organization. Potential employees want to make sure that the culture is a good fit. Customers want to anticipate and sense what type of interaction they will have with employees in your organization. The culture is one way for everyone to understand the foundation and where an organization is headed.
What is company culture?
There are myriad of definitions of company culture; It may be hard to define because there are so many variables to account for.
Gallup defines it as “how we do things around here.”
Why is it important?
If leaders dismiss the importance of company culture, they risk disengaging their employees, which ultimately can affect their performance. This is why it is critical that a company focuses on creating a strong company culture.
Strong company culture helps to attract and retain employees, who are more likely to promote the company in a positive manner. There are many other benefits to having a strong company culture:
- It will attract the “best of the best” employees – people will want to work for the company.
- It will help create alignment – stimulates energy to focus on the same goals.
- It will engage employees – improves effort and collaboration.
- It will affect employee performance – metrics can be used to measure this.
As you can see, company culture plays an important role in creating engaging employees. A happy employee is more likely to perform at a higher level and will represent the company in a positive manner.
I believe this quote says it best:
“People leave when they don’t feel appreciated. That’s why we’ve made recognition a really high value. Our business is people-capability first; then you satisfy customers; then you make money.” David Novak - former CEO of YUM! Brands
In my next blog, I will discuss the third-ranked critical factor of engagement: Inspiration and Communication. Hint: Your credibility and communication style are key components.
Coach Dale