Corporate events. Staff meetings. Business conventions. Often leaders of companies address company culture through occasional big bang events like these. However, this can often cause them to miss out on the simple yet effective channels which can positively influence their company’s culture.
These channels and the need for a solid company culture are becoming increasingly important with the onset of digital and distributed hybrid corporate ecosystems. We wanted to introduce you to some such channels to ensure that company culture does not become a blind spot in your organization -
Routine Presentations - Before diving into the key agendas of presentations, leaders can benefit from first dedicating some time to highlight their company culture, values, insights from the culture playbook, or even a short anecdote or story. One of our clients has an interesting way to do this - before every meeting, they recap their company values. This way the ethos of the company is reiterated before work begins. A simple slide at the beginning of a presentation should be good enough to get the job done!
The Interview Process - If the interview process of your company can demonstrate the core elements of your company culture, newcomers can be inducted into it from the get go. If “respect” is a part of your company culture, then respecting the time of an interviewee can be a good demonstration of that culture. Assessing the culture quotient of your interview process can have a lasting impact on the kind of hires who become excited about becoming a part of your firm.
All Hands Leadership - All Hands meetings are crucial because the whole workforce is listening. It is a good time to highlight employee wins and demonstrations of core values of the company culture. For instance, the CEO of an MNC began to reserve a couple of minutes in his All Hands agenda to call out stories of innovation and customer delight in the organization. If an All Hands meeting was not on the calendar, then a story with the highlights of an employee’s story were made available on the company’s intranet. A simple, informal chat with your colleagues can equip you with the information you need to spot a good employee story.
Slack - While management apps like Slack are most commonly used to assign tasks and check progress, we have found that such tools can serve a more important purpose. Through our work with clients and employees, we found that including a dedicated channel as part of a ‘Culture Diet Program’ is an extremely healthy corporate practice. This asynchronous channel helped highlight culture-specific content; anecdotes of values in action, tidbits of inspiration, and prompts for engagement. A simple posting schedule can help you set up a mode of communication that is focused on culture stories.
One on One Meetings - One on One meetings are best used by managers and employees to go beyond routine status updates; think of it as being "panoramic" about employee growth and retention. If a company promises to help employees reach their full potential, then these one on one sessions should illustrate that value. When one of our clients expressed an interest in demonstrating ‘openness’ as a part of their ethos, we introduced them to the concept of ‘radical candor’ and a simple framework to practice it in one on one meetings. These practices were encapsulated in an employee culture handbook.
Just like these five, there are a number of places in your organization which have the potential to be excellent levers, showcases, and influencers of a positive company culture. Keep an eye out for those places and build on them!
Tell us in the comments - how do you make sure your company culture continues to thrive in the hybrid workspace?