Building a Healthy, High-Performance Culture
Culture is the character of a company. It’s a composite of:
· Shared values – What people think is important
· Beliefs – How people think things should be done
· Behaviors – The habitual patterns of the organization
· Systems – The written and unwritten policies and behaviors
· Role models – The people who show others what behaviors are valued
Research indicates that healthy cultures are predictors of high-performing companies. So how do we go about building healthy cultures? And how do we transform unhealthy cultures?
The answer: every single organization is a reflection of its leadership.
Leaders need to clearly communicate, model and reinforce the culture they intend to build. But these are not waited equally. What leaders model is 3x more important than what they communicate; what leaders reinforce is 10x more important.
For organizations to thrive, leaders must communicate a clear vision, mission and purpose. Every person in the organization should be fully aware of the organization’s goals and how they are personally contributing to reaching them.
Leaders should be aligned on the mindset, values, behaviors and business practices that will create cohesion and drive results. They must model these values and behaviors in their day-to-day interactions to achieve buy-in from their employees.
And they must reinforce these values and behaviors through the systems they build throughout the employee lifecycle: recruiting, onboarding, learning & development, rewards & recognition, performance management, etc.
A few best practices to reinforce your culture and values throughout the employee lifecycle:
· When hiring new employees, ask questions to gauge whether a candidate is a culture fit who prioritizes the same core values.
· When onboarding new employees, ask company leaders to share stories that reflect the company mission, purpose and values. Then have new hires reflect on how your organization’s values align with their own.
· When designing training for leaders and individual contributors, ensure the content is customized to your culture and reinforces your core values.
· When recognizing employees, tie the recognition to a company value and express how the specific behaviors contributed to company goals.
· When correcting an employee, tie the correction to a company value and express how the specific behavior inhibited company goals.
Interested in learning more?
Contact Elsey Consulting Group to design a roadmap to help you build a healthy, high-performance culture.
