It’s a growing trend for organisations to emphasise the importance and impact of company culture. This crucial factor can either lead to a fully engaged workforce or to a gravely disengaged one, outstanding employee retention or a gravely high turnover rate.
Culture is also what differentiates high performing organisations from poor-performing ones. A good example is Netflix and their culture built on freedom and responsibility.
The world’s seventh-largest internet company was not built on a complex system for people management. Quite the opposite, the management team placed their trust in employees to use their time wisely.
It meant spending the company’s money responsibly, to use their judgement in the ways in which they conducted recruitment processes — and in the ways in which they went about their day-to-day duties.
How did this trust in employees work? It liberated employees from unnecessary rules and procedures resulting in a distinctly more creative, more productive and more effective workforce.
Culture is a vital component to organisations as it has a cumulative effect on what people do and how they do it, ultimately determining an organisation's performance.
So, who is responsible for instilling the corporate culture in a company?
Every employee plays a part in an organisation’s culture, but at the end of the day, it is the leaders who are the ones who can make or break it.
The CEO should be playing a central role in defining the corporate culture and values and ensuring that they are embodied through hiring practices, training and development, and systems and processes.
Gartner defines a high-performance culture as “a physical or virtual environment designed to make workers as effective as possible in supporting business goals and providing value.”
Let’s take a look at the five primary contributing factors of a high-performance organisational culture:
In the book: “Armstrong's Handbook of Performance Management” written by Micheal Armstrong he concisely describes performance management like this: “Performance management is the continuous process of improving performance by setting individual and team goals which are aligned to the strategic goals of the organisation…”
This definition ensures that you focus on your employees, as well as maintain strategic direction.
Performance management creates clearly defined standards and expectations. It develops transparent and honest reward mechanisms and articulates shared goals and objectives.
A team that is involved at each level - from understanding their day-to-day roles and the businesses’ own succession plan, will result in better employee retention and a more profitable employee investment.
According to research from LSA Global, “highly aligned companies grow revenue 58% faster and are 72% more profitable.”
In an aligned business, employee trust is fostered, the culture of the business is understood, and this aids strategic direction.
In a recent survey by McKinsey, 82% of respondents believed that it is important to have a purpose.
Image source: Purpose: Shifting from why to how
McKinsey suggests 4 steps to fostering purpose and making sure that it permeates the whole business. Here’s what they are:
Creating a purpose-driven culture is no easy feat, but a genuine, authentic one has the ability to increase revenue and unlock both internal and external opportunities that will help fuel growth.
Communication. A trait that contributes significantly to high-performance teams.
In fact, a great example of the benefits of enhanced communication are in the digital solution Wyzetalk developed with South Africa’s leading international platinum mining company. You can take a look at the case study 👉 here.
The solution included implementing always-on channels for employees to report incidents, reply to surveys, answer questions and engage with management when they needed to.
This solution made sure that all employees received the timeous messages tailored to their specific role whilst the feedback channels promoted better engagement and collaboration within the workplace.
The results were more than satisfactory.
In fact, the feedback received from the employees was that they felt empowered.
The 2020 Global Culture Report, highlights that by clearly communicating the meaning of an employee’s contributions, companies can see a 15% increase in organisational purpose clarity and a 27% increase in pride in the organisation.
A well trained, highly engaged frontline workforce has the ability to set your business apart.
Instilling a culture of learning among frontline employees is no small feat though. Your workforce is always busy, there may be technological, language and/or cultural barriers to consider. A one-size-fits-all approach is not the way to achieve this.
So how do you then instil a culture of learning?
Your approach needs to be collaborative, engaging and attached to specific outcomes.
You may consider a mobile application that could be compatible with almost any lower-income cell phone on the market. You could streamline communication across geographical regions and utilise the languages that are most relevant to your workforce. You could tailor communication and information sharing to align with your strategic objectives.
A report conducted by LinkedIn suggests that 93% of employees stated they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career.
The most engaged businesses recognise that setting their employees up for success is vital if they want to improve business growth over the long term.
Another critical factor to take into account when creating a high-performance culture is Covid-19. It has resulted in employees continuing to work from home. Hiring and retaining productive employees can become a challenge.
The costs of replacing an employee are high, up to 150% of their annual salary and drive productivity into the ground.
Companies that want to thrive in the post-COVID era must ensure employees feel valued, respected, connected, supported, and productive. This will prevent them from moving to competitors that have better culture.
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20 July 2021
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