Recognise This! – Company culture is ignored to the peril of the organisation as a whole.
Yesterday I wrote about my passion for employee recognition in the workplace. Another topic I’m passionate about is company culture. Too many leaders think company culture is something that “just happens” and is beyond their control. Or perhaps a new CEO inherited a decades-old culture he or she doesn’t like but feels powerless to change it now.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Culture can be proactively created and managed at any stage – from start-up, to mid-stream, through succession of new leadership. Even more importantly, companies that want to succeed must learn how to not only manage their culture, but brand it as well.
Forbes recently featured an article, “The Most Successful Companies Embrace the Promise of Their Culture,” which said in part: “Their brands became symbolic after their cultural promise successfully endures through several business cycles. First, their logos represent symbols of reliability, trust and quality. Second, their consumers associate these brands as contributors to their lifestyles. Finally, these brands stand for something that is greater than themselves, beyond their core business, that symbolises their relentless dedication for the advancement of society and the consumers the serve."
It continued: “As you reflect upon the cultural promise of your organisation and yourself, there is one more thing that is embedded in the success of these brands: they seek to be significant. Your cultural promise defines your significance factor. The more your organisation dedicates itself to the promise of the culture you are trying to create, the more your people and brand look to be not only successful, but also significant.”
And that’s important from your corporate brand, to your employment brand to your employee recognition programme brand. Integrating these brands is critical as a unified brand carries your company culture, values and ethos across the entire talent management spectrum – from recruitment through succession.
Creating a culture of appreciation through strategic recognition also creates strong emotional connections for employees. And when you create strong emotional connections with your employees, you engage them, you inspire them and you keep them.
How seriously do your organisation leaders address the company culture? Is it “just what it is” or do leaders and employees alike work to create a culture in which they truly want to engage?
Derek Irvine is senior vice president of global strategy at HR software provider, Globoforce.
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