The Culture Disconnect
How many times have you heard “our purpose is people?” And how many times have you rolled your eyes thinking “yeah, whatever”. Culture is complex, and everyone’s definition of company culture is different, but it doesn’t have to be hard. Forbes defines culture as “the shared values, belief systems, attitudes and the set of assumptions that people in a workplace share.”
What culture is not: free snacks, ping pong tables, happy hours and pizza parties.
Someone once told me that corporate culture fundamentally changed with the death of the smoker’s lounge. That has really stuck with me throughout my career. When smoker’s lounges were commonplace, casual conversation between people who wouldn’t normally interact happened organically and that had a big and positive impact on shaping the culture.
Picture a CEO and a Coordinator talking about the weekend, challenges they’re facing, other free flowing convo in a disarming environment. Leaders in the company had first hand, authentic and real time insight into the company outside of their advisors or leadership team. How can you recreate the environment the company lounge fostered? It’s not hard, it just requires intention.
How to Address It (in a MEANINGFUL Way)
Knowing where to dive in can be overwhelming. Start by focusing on small, bite-sized pieces to begin impacting culture immediately. This month’s newsletter offers some great tips on tuning up your culture in just one week. Here are the highlights:
My Marketing Recruiter's
5-Day Team Tune-Up Recipe
MONDAY
Get your direct reports on board.
Employees are more engaged when they feel like their leaders care about more than the work. Turn 1:1s from updates into growth opportunities with this playbook.(No download required)
TUESDAY
(Re)focus your team on the vision.
• Step 1: Host a lunch to reiterate the vision + align on execution.
• Step 2: Start a standing “zero meeting” day for deeper focus
• Step 3: See meaningful results.
WEDNESDAY
Get everyone’s creative juices flowing.
Host a hidden talent show, start an employee-ran book club, and get creatively “unstuck” with HubSpot’s brainstorming guide.
THURSDAY
Start a health(y) competition.
• Team steps challenge
• Healthy potluck competition
• Yoga team building
FRI-YAY
Celebrate the people–not just the work.
• Create your own version of The Office’s “Dundie Awards” (think silly categories + trophies).
• Go on a team pizza picnic.
• Don’t forget birthdays + personal milestones– it goes a long way!
At the end of the day, the most important thing to remember is to be authentic! A lot of things can be faked, but people can instantly “sniff out” authenticity. And don’t expect culture to come from a dedicated culture team. An authentic culture is sustained by employee input and diversity of thought.
Done right, the impacts of culture are endless:
- Decreases people issues
- Increases morale and reduces burnout
- Increases attraction and retention
- Positive impact on DE&I
…which all has a direct and positive impact on the bottom line!
Leaders in organizations with strong culture live and breathe it everyday. Values are shared across the team, authenticity and vulnerability are embraced, and openness to new ideas and ways of thinking are encouraged. And of course, don’t forget to have fun and laugh along the way. That’s what it’s all really about at the end of day, isn’t it?