4 Ways to Strengthen Your Company’s Culture

Perhaps you've heard the adage, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." While this saying may have become cliché, it holds a profound truth. Strategy alone is insufficient without a solid cultural foundation.

Even if you have a solid growth plan, the smartest people, and great products, having a toxic culture, or one that empowers low performance, can jeopardize the company's long-term viability. In such cases, culture consumes strategy instead of supporting it.

Based on our work with a wide range of companies across various industries, we have identified four key drivers of any successful culture initiative: defining desired behaviors, executive ownership, creating a movement, and aligning HR processes and policies. Let’s consider each in-turn below.

Start with behaviors and work backwards

Culture is often described as "how we do things around here." While culture certainly encompasses more than that, it is a useful starting point because it focuses on the most critical aspect—employee behaviors. How we show up at work reflects the implicit norms and values guiding how people treat each other, approach their work, and interact with customers.

For instance, we recently worked with a large enterprise client whose senior leadership team was grappling with low trust, a lack of collaboration, and a dearth of accountability. During our discussions with the executives, we observed a tendency toward blame-shifting and a lack of ownership when it came to taking responsibility for results.

To strengthen their culture, we engaged key leaders in the organization through workshops, focus groups, and interviews. We asked them to reflect on a crucial question: "What do I need from others to perform at the highest level in my role?" This exercise revealed recurring themes, which we distilled into core behaviors. We created a framework around these behaviors and achieved a high level of agreement on behavioral expectations moving forward by socializing it with the team.

This collaborative approach to culture strengthening not only ensures buy-in at the senior level but also fosters ownership and commitment from employees. As a result, employee turnover significantly decreased, and the organization consistently meets its quarterly performance goals.

Executive Ownership

Culture transformation requires more than just sponsorship from the top; it demands active ownership from the most senior leaders, including the CEO and the entire executive leadership team. In our work with enterprise clients, we have found that executive ownership is one of the most critical factors for the success of any culture-transformation effort.

To effectively promote executive ownership, leaders should consistently communicate the "why" behind culture-strengthening efforts. Town halls, team meetings, and company-wide communications can serve as venues for explaining the rationale for cultural change. By doing so, leaders help create a sense of purpose and urgency among employees, all of which fosters alignment and commitment.

Leaders can further demonstrate ownership by regularly highlighting employees who exemplify the desired values and behaviors. By showcasing these individuals as culture ambassadors, leaders reinforce the importance of cultural alignment and provide tangible examples for others to emulate.

For example, one of our clients, a manufacturing company, aimed to foster a culture of innovation. Senior leadership organized regular innovation showcases to support this goal where employees could present their ideas and solutions. By featuring these employees in company-wide communications, leaders inspire others to embrace innovative thinking and contribute to the company's growth.

The tone at the top matters because it sets the tone for the entire organization.

Create a Movement

To accelerate momentum and achieve a culture shift throughout the organization, change efforts must extend beyond senior leadership and HR and permeate the entire business. It can be helpful to envision the process as starting a movement.

Some steps include answering the "Why now, why this?" question, developing a communications and rollout strategy, assembling a core group to aid with logistics and messaging, engaging marketing professionals, and more.

During this process, we find it especially crucial to enlist the support of culture champions—influential employees in the business who are committed to the company, have been early adopters of previous initiatives, and exemplify the desired values and behaviors.

Culture champions are an invaluable resource; they play a critical role in accelerating the momentum of your culture movement.

They can lead culture sessions, share success stories, coach employees on behaviors, and serve as resources for people leaders. Their active involvement and visible commitment demonstrate that culture strengthening is a strategic imperative, not merely an HR program. By empowering culture champions, a network of change agents is created to promote the desired culture at all levels.

For instance, in our work with a healthcare client, leadership sought to enhance a patient-centric culture. They identified influential nurses and doctors as culture champions. These individuals shared stories of exceptional patient care, provided guidance on empathetic communication, and supported their peers in embracing a patient-centered mindset. This initiative resulted in greater patient satisfaction and improved patient outcomes.

Align HR Processes and Policies to Culture

Lastly, to ensure sustained cultural transformation, organizations must align their HR processes with the desired cultural values and behaviors. This includes integrating culture components into performance management systems and evaluations. By explicitly linking performance to desired behaviors, organizations reinforce the importance of cultural alignment and encourage employees to embody these behaviors in their day-to-day work.

Additionally, hiring for culture fit becomes crucial. During the recruitment process, organizations can assess a candidate’s alignment with the desired culture by evaluating their values, behaviors, and attitudes. By hiring individuals who naturally resonate with the culture, organizations can build a workforce that shares common goals and fosters a positive workplace environment.

For example, we assisted a retail company that needed to strengthen its culture around customer service. We helped design performance metrics that assessed employees' adherence to customer-centric behaviors. This involved evaluating customer satisfaction ratings, feedback from peers and supervisors, and the demonstration of empathy and problem-solving skills.

Organizations should also consider incorporating a cultural component into the onboarding process for new employees. Walmart exemplifies this. Each new corporate associate attends a “Welcome to Walmart” session where the company’s values are discussed in detail and shown how each value might play out in the work they do. It’s been years since I was at Walmart and I still remember Walmart’s four core values: respect, service, excellence, and integrity.

By introducing new hires to the organization's values, behaviors, and cultural expectations from the outset, organizations can lay the foundation for cultural alignment and facilitate a smooth transition into the company. 

Hiring for culture fit is equally important during the recruitment process. Organizations can incorporate culture-related assessments, interviews, and reference checks to evaluate candidates' alignment with the desired cultural attributes. This ensures that new hires not only possess the necessary skills but also share the organization's values and can contribute to the desired culture.

A strong company culture creates a competitive advantage and is vital for long-term success.  Defining desired behaviors and gaining executive ownership are crucial for cultural initiatives. Creating a movement involves engaging influential employees as culture champions. Aligning HR processes, including hiring and onboarding, reinforces the desired culture. By focusing on these drivers, companies can create a positive, collaborative, and thriving workplace culture that leads to sustainable growth and success.

I want to thank Megan Sprinkle for her support on writing this article. Her insights and suggestions are deeply appreciated. 

 

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About the Author

Dr. Frank Niles is Principal Business Psychologist at BSM Partners where he leads the firm’s business transformation practice. A trusted advisor to leaders and organizations around the world, he works with a broad portfolio of clients, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 50 Companies. Frank is regularly featured or quoted in the media, having appeared in Inc, Fast Company, CNN, NBC, NPR, and many more media outlets. In his free time, he climbs mountains.