Who drives the culture of an organisation? The leaders of course! Hunt Scalon Media’s ‘Building a Modern Corporate Culture’ report rightly states that leaders are responsible for establishing and promoting the culture of the organisation. If positive changes need to be brought about in the organisation’s culture, it is again the leaders who must take the initiative and be proactive. The report says that true and lasting cultural change can only be brought about from the top. The leaders and the executives at the top of the hierarchy have to make it a priority and discuss the same at important meetings. Not only does this require careful thought on the part of the management, but also on the part of the employees. It requires a lot of open mindedness too.
A whopping 83 per cent respondents, according to a Quantum Workplace survey data, feel the leaders drive organisational culture, while 57 per cent feel the HR drives it. About 57 per cent feel individual contributors drive organisational culture, while 38 per cent say the board of directors do it. About 75 per cent respondents feel managers drive organisational culture, while 20 per cent feel customers do.
Why is an organisation’s culture so important?
Well, organisational culture makes all the difference between highly engaged and unengaged employees. When Quantum Workplace studied the perception of organisation culture by engagement level, 87 per cent of the highly-engaged employees felt their organisation had a very strong culture, while only 39 per cent of the unengaged employees felt the same way. While 89 per cent of the highly-engaged employees felt their organisation had a very positive culture, only 29 per cent of the unengaged felt so. A good 86 per cent of the highly-engaged employees felt their organisational culture positively impacted their work and daily behaviour, while only 32 per cent of the unengaged employees shared the same sentiment. Only 23 per cent of the highly-engaged employees said they would move to another organisation if it offered a better culture, a good 59 per cent of the unengaged employees said they would switch to another organisation if it had better culture. This brings us to the next question, ‘What kind of culture results in high engagement levels among employees?’ The answer is: a positive culture.
How does a positive culture benefit an organisation?
Organisations that embrace positive cultural change are able to offer their employees a more psychologically safe work environment, which forms the foundation of a healthy organisational culture, according to the report.
An Arbringer Research data reveals that a positive organisational culture has umpteen benefits the greatest of which is increased productivity. In fact, 46 per cent of respondents of the survey said a positive organisational culture resulted in high productivity, while 40 per cent said it improved retention. In 38 per cent organisations, there was an improvement in employee engagement levels, while 34 per cent organisations witnessed increased feelings of inclusion and belonging, along with psychological safety. Increased revenue was enjoyed by 32 per cent organisations, while improved communication and collaboration was witnessed by 26 per cent respondents. About 26 per cent also reported improved situational awareness, while 26 per cent saw improvement in employee accountability. Negative conflicts fell drastically in 21 per cent organisations.
Again, it is the leaders that need to bring about positive change in the organisational culture.
Leaders must understand that psychological safety makes the work environment more inclusive, allowing employees to speak openly, share new perspectives and ideas and let their creative juices flow without fear of failure or retaliation.
In a positive work culture, employees tend to view mistakes as an opportunity for growth and improvement. As a result, there is lesser number of repeated errors and effective development of new ideas. With newer generations entering the workforce, the demand for a sense of community and connection as well as a balance between work and personal lives is only growing.
Only organisations with a positive culture will embrace changes and move with the times. They are the ones that will see positive outcomes. They will also be able to attract new and quality talent.
Not everyone will agree with the organisational culture, especially if changes are made. Again, leaders play a significant role in clearly stating the reasons behind certain cultural changes and how it makes overall business sense too. They are the ones who can convince all stakeholders that the cultural changes will positively affect the overall performance and profitability. That is why senior managers need to play ‘culture carriers’.
Senior managers and leaders will have to role model the new behaviour. This way, employee will witness their leaders walking the talk and realise the importance of changes.
It is easy for employees to emulate their leaders. Therefore, leaders must lead by example. If those at the top are bullies, other managers will follow in their footsteps and behave in a similar manner with those below them. This will only give rise to a culture of remaining silent amidst injustice. It will also kill the risk-taking urge and result in a blame game. Such a culture can be no good for any organisation.
If leaders make up their mind to establish a positive culture in their organisation, they simply need to lead by example. Sure enough, the workforce will follow.