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A business starts with Business Revenue or Business Culture?
It is equally tough to answer this question as it is to reason and accept if Business Culture supports Revenue and Clients.
The nature of the workforce is changing, arguably at the similar pace as that of technological advancements. It becomes quite easy to tag company perks, freebees to the company culture. Well, nothing wrong with that, but for SMEs, it is hard to balance business culture and revenue goals. This does not mean, the leaders in SMEs do not want to focus on a strong business culture but that is just not in the priority list.
There are few symptoms which convey that the company culture needs to be seen as one of the priorities by the key stakeholders.
There can be n number of symptoms, few of them as listed below.
- Managing team: Lead, PM, and DM are only work-centric with minimal people focus
- Behavioral escalations happening between employees and management team
- Increasing attrition and loss of talent due to employee dissatisfaction on behavioral grounds
- The management team is not empathic towards their team members’ challenges – personal and professional
- Below par communication clarity between the management team and their team members
- Instances of highly aggressive, denial conversation between the management team and their team members
- Lack of open communication between Management Team and their Team members
Is there a problem? Like, actual business problem? Will these impact revenue goals? Will these impact client relations? The answer is quite evident. Still, immediate response to such situation is to summon a Management Development Program, Team Building Exercises, Workplace Communication Training, etc. Nothing wrong with these choices besides these work in silos if not tied with a strategic outlook. Seeing the bigger picture is vital. Before such symptoms sustain and hamper the Business Culture further, it must be addressed.
Business Culture?
Business Culture is a vast subject, however, the attempt here is to keep it as succinct as possible. It refers to a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that show people what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior (Chatman & Eunyoung, 2003; Kerr & Slocum, 2005). This includes an organization’s vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, beliefs, and habits. For example: while selecting a candidate, what helps to see if there is fitment outside of their skills and experience? It’s because their values, priorities, and work style match the company’s. Thus, the factors which are considered for such comparisons are the cultural attributes of a company. Company culture is something which is built by partnering with the employees and the team of managers and/or leaders, by sharing common values, beliefs, norms, and customs.
How far a company’s culture can impact its business goals?
As per [1] Deloitte’s 2016 Global Human Capital Trends survey, 82% of the respondents believe that culture is a potential competitive advantage. [2] The Wall Street Journal, research has shown that positive company culture leads to better employee engagement and supports higher revenue. At the same time, companies that succeed in revenue growth without a healthy culture eventually faces a performance decline and thus revenue growth stays in question.
Engaged employees affect key business goals.
Source: Gallup [3]
The most engaged employees have been found to have four times more successful than the least engaged employees. They perform much better than the less engaged employees by 10 percent on customer ratings, 21 percent in productivity, and 22 percent in profitability.
Where SMEs can start?
The thought of balancing culture and revenue says the whole story. This is where SMEs should finally target to build that advantage over competitors. Here, the HR’s role becomes more critical and pivotal.
- It must be on CEO’s priority list.
The C-Office must understand and relate to the culture which is critical to making a difference in their key business goals. Taking responsibility to shape the desired culture by setting examples shall suffice a good head start. [4] 80% percent of employees said they wanted to better understand a CEO’s personal values, while 73% wanted to know about obstacles the CEO has overcome, and 68% said they wanted to hear about a CEO’s personal success story.
Company culture happens, either intentionally and unintentionally. Building culture intentionally is easier than the later. All the three facets of a company’s culture should be built – values, belief & behaviour, and artifacts. Having said that, it is always better to start to make course corrections when a culture has got built unintentionally when that is not what the company needs.
- Identify company culture ambassadors
Building culture is not linear instead it is like a ripple effect which spreads 360 degrees. It’s about understanding the power of duplication. An individual gets influenced by someone who is close and they know each other. Effective ambassadors could be those who are closure to company’s frontline.
Potential ambassadors are excellent communicators and good listeners with outgoing personalities. The HR teams-up with them to practice consistent culture building interventions.
- Take hold of the Cultural Shift
HR Strategy should integrate cultural attributes. Starting from Recruitment & Selection, PMS, L&D, Compliance, and even at Separation. This can happen when the values, beliefs, and behaviors are seen as tangible components and is kept uncompromising at every stage of an employee’s life-cycle in a company. E.g. Whether it is 180- or 360-degree appraisal system, plugging in the cultural attributes helps to ensure that the cultural fitment is sustained.
- Measure Culture
Empirical tools can be used to understand employees including the management and/or leadership team’s cultural fitment. This is highly important to ensure the efforts are on track and when and where a course correction is needed.
Want to know more about how Cypax can be of assistance?
Contact:
Nishant Bhushan
L&D Consulting
Cypax Solutions LLP
nishant.bhushan@cypax.in
Cypax Solutions LLP is a Hyderabad based Learning and Development Solutions Provider. Propelled by a strong association of seasoned professionals, strategists, coaches, and mentors, Cypax aspires to become an unparalleled trusted learning partner to the clients. Rendering services to clients from varied industries including but not limited to Manufacturing, Information Technology, Education, Hospitality, Business Consulting, Real Estate, and Public Sector. Key areas of expertise include Organizational Learning Solution Suite, Organizational Culture, Professional Development, Higher Education Student Development, Life coaching and mentoring, Entrepreneurship coaching, and Innovation.
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Reference:
[1] https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-trends/2016/impact-of-culture-on-business-strategy.html
[2] https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-relationship-between-corporate-culture-and-performance-1456110320
[3] https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236927/employee-engagement-drives-growth.aspx
[4] https://www.fastcompany.com/3058630/why-employees-dont-trust-their-leadership