The culture that exists within a company is something that many people may not pay attention to on a day to day basis. However, it is an element of your organization that should not be overlooked. It is an element that can make all of the difference when introducing your company to a potential hire. A targeted description of the values and practices your company ascribes to as it conducts business can be very illustrative, time saving, and cost effective. A lack of fit between an employee’s work preferences and goals and a company’s culture can cause an endless stream of discord. Discord leads to a lack of productivity at best, and high turnover at worst. It is easy to see the financial implications of both.
At ECI, we regularly conduct studies of organizations in our efforts to assist in the reduction of turnover. All too often the findings of these studies reveal undefined culture and divergent viewpoints among leadership. In order to avoid cultural lack of fit the first place to begin is of course, the most obvious, to define your company’s culture. Culture should be a topic on meeting agendas regularly. It does tend to evolve with marketplace shifts, other external factors, and especially changes in personnel, so it should be discussed and agreed upon biannually. An objective 3rd party study is a very effective, but not absolutely necessary, way to determine and define your organization’s culture. You can quite simply gather your leadership and have a round table discussion with your vision and mission statements as starting points. You may actually find that there is discord between your mission and vision and leaderships’ collective viewpoints of the current culture. If this is the case, the time is ripe to embark on an initiative that re-aligns your company’s culture with the values of its employees. Researchers report that companies with alignment between their mission and vision and culture are at least twice as successful as others.
One simple way to either preserve or adjust your company’s culture moving forward is through the administration of a personality assessment. Valid and reliable assessments reveal the innate motivators and drivers of individuals. You can adapt your culture by identifying what works well within your organization, then defining those traits that are common among your top performers. You can then manage lesser performers more appropriately by gaining an understanding of where, how, and why these lesser performers are inherently different. Additionally, moving forward, hiring to a profile that leads to success and aligns to your culture will create greater cohesiveness among your teams.
Skills, knowledge, and experience are rather straight forward aspects of an individual to measure and assess. These elements of a candidate are fairly easy to evaluate during an interview, reference check, or even a simple resume screen. However, it is the more personal, value-based aspects of employee and organization that determine success or failure of fit. The importance of alignment between your company’s culture and the values and goals of your employees should never be underestimated.
Filed under: New Perspectives | Tagged: Company Culture, Corporate Culture, Organizational Fit
