Culture - What is it Exactly?

A company’s culture is much like a fingerprint—while it may resemble others, it is unique to your business. At ServiceRocket, we're committed to creating a mindful and open culture that supports the growth of our Rocketeers every day. Our culture is reflected in our five company values: Delight the Customer, Share the Knowledge, Build Processes to Drive Outcomes and Think Team. To learn more about our company culture and values, check out our Under the Dome blog. 

A positive culture can help differentiate a company from competitors. It can also improve creativity, drive innovation and productivity. A negative culture affects everything from talent acquisition to retention and profitability. All this can severely impact the value of the company and its ability to scale.
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For more tips and best practices on building your company’s culture and guidelines to creating your hybrid strategy, check out our latest webinar on the #futureofwork titled, How Do Leaders Cultivate a Winning Culture in a Remote World.

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The Role of the CEO in Company Culture

The CEO is integral to the formation and execution of a company’s culture. Denise Lee Yohn clarifies this point in this article from the Harvard Business Review. The CEO and senior management teams are often tasked to define the desired culture and cultivate it through leadership actions. These actions include setting objectives and that prioritize culture-building. They must also design the organization and its operational processes to support and advance the company’s purpose and its core values.

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It’s clear that culture and leadership are inextricably linked. If carried out correctly, they can lead to numerous positive benefits for everyone.
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Transparency is Key for  Creating a Healthy Culture

A company that is open and honest is transparent about its plans and operations; its employees are open and honest with one another and with customers. From executives and managers to employees, everyone works to be transparent with each other.
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Transparency transcends hierarchy, departments and teams. When properly practiced, it empowers people. It also builds trust, which is  integral to any successful and positive culture.

Here are the top ways transparency impacts the business: 

Transparency helps attract amazing talent

• Be truthful and open in how you describe the organization in job postings and your website. Great candidates are smart enough to discern genuineness when they see it. .

Transparency builds trust

• CEOs who are transparent about how they communicate build trust with employees,  shareholders and  customers, as well as the community at large. 

Transparency generates better business performance

• A culture that attracts high-caliber employees has been shown to generate  33% greater revenue. More engaged and motivated employees = higher morale and increased productivity.

Transparency improves efficiency

• Satisfied employees have generated12% greater productivity than the average worker. These employees work harder, have more creativity, and often exceed expectations. In contrast, disheartened workers are 10% less productive.

When a CEO shows themselves to be an honest leader, someone who listens carefully to others, it sets a tone across the organization. The right level of transparency also sets a great example for future interactions across all employees.
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The Employee Voice - Are You Listening?

With so many workers leaving their current jobs, employers are looking for new ways to  keep their employees happy and engaged. The key way to achieve this: Make sure your employees feel heard.

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To be successful, employers must provide a safe and positive space for the employee voice. Long gone are the days where employees sat quietly and did their work, without sharing their insights, ideas, or opinions. Today’s workforce thrives on prioritizing and encouraging the voice of the employee and collaborating with others.
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What is the Employee Voice?

Workplace from Meta defines this as, “giving employees the space and opportunity to communicate how they feel about their workplace and what’s happening there. Encouraging the employee voice is vital in building open and trusting relationships between employees, leaders and managers, and helping employees feel valued.”

Doing so ensures that employees collaborate, share important details, work together to meet deadlines, and maintain the level of service that your customers expect. 
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Driving Inclusiveness as CEO

Companies that are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive culture, recruiting a diverse workforce are moving in the right direction. In order for this to work, and for everyone to reap the benefits of diversity, CEOs must make a conscious effort to shape an inclusive culture, one that reflects their daily behaviours.
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As part of a healthy company culture, inclusion means that everyone feels involved, valued, and respected. They are treated fairly, and firmly invested in the culture. Empowering all employees and recognizing each person’s unique talents and contributions is key to creating an inclusive company.

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The Impact of Culture on the Bottom Line

During the Pandemic, organizational culture was severely upended. As a result, long-ingrained norms and habits have shifted to remote and hybrid teams. Leaders who work to maintain resilience in fast-changing working conditions have an increased sense of purpose. They know that an inclusive culture matters more than ever and allows individuals and organizations to thrive. A positive culture is a vital aspect of running a business; a healthy corporate culture is essential for a company to survive.
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Even before the Pandemic, the connection between financial performance and a thriving culture was complex and widely misunderstood. 74% of CEOs said their company’s culture was not a top driver of financial results, highlighting a lack of understanding around the critical role that culture can play in supporting business performance. With the growing focus on culture as employees return to the office and navigate hybrid work environments, it is more important than ever that companies create a culture that generates  the greatest benefit and highest impact possible.

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Workplace from Meta brings people who work together into one digital location where employees can interact, share upcoming events and updates, and create teams or social groups. All of these allow employees to get to know one another better. Because workers can collaborate on work-related topics and share their interests and personalities, Workplace creates a more tight-knit community and bridges the gap for remote employees.

Workplace elicits conversation, connects people throughout the organization, can be used to drive company culture, and makes the workplace more social, all of which increase employee happiness and productivity.

Workplace differentiates itself from enterprise social networks by connecting employees on every level of an organization to more effectively collaborate. Organizations that use workstream collaboration platforms, like Workplace, see a 21% gain in productivity and report a higher success in meeting business collaboration needs.

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Smart CEOs Get Involved in Culture - Let Workplace Amplify your Efforts
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With the pandemic forcing organizations to radically change how they work, creating a positive workplace culture has become an urgent priority for businesses everywhere. Cultures are dynamic. They shift, incrementally and constantly, in response to external and internal changes. Workplace moves with you and with timelines of projects. Workplace from Meta opens the possibility that culture change can be managed as a continuous process rather than through big shifts (often in response to crises).The culture of the organization should always be learning and developing.

Workplace is the #workstreamcollaborationplatform that provides the kind of holistic, nuanced view of organizational culture that is needed by leaders in order to truly understand their organizations — and to have any hope of changing them for the better.