In today’s competitive climate, it takes more than profit to propel your business to the top and keep it there.
You need a strong, cohesive team that not only knows how to work effectively together but that are invested in your organization and aligned with its goals.
That’s where a strong company culture comes into play.
Bob Baird, President of software development company Inverse-Square knows the value of company culture. “Having a strong team culture gives us a way for the whole team to operate from the same team values. If you don’t have consistent team values, what you get is inconsistent delivery from the company.”
Companies that have shared culture and shared values out perform their competitors by over 60%. So, here’s the thing about company culture, you can talk about it, or you can live it.
3 Benefits of Developing a Strong Company Culture
1. Identity, It’s Who You Are
Company culture helps you identify the values of your organization and demonstrates who you actually are. It can help you set the direction of your team, lay out goals and illustrate how those goals will be achieved.
Director of Brownsburg Parks, Travis Tranbarger has seen the results of developing company culture first-hand. “Our park system handles a lot, especially during our peak season, and by everyone working together and not having the attitude of “that’s not my area” more gets done, which ultimately benefits the community.”
2. Attract and Keep Talent
The job market is tough. Sure, a potential hirer’s skills and resume are crucial, but so is how they will fit in with your organization as a whole. Bob Baird has come to realize that, “A strong team culture helps you to identify the players that will be with you long term – who to hire, who to coach, who to exit.”
And when team members are aligned with your company’s values and are part of your tribe, they are much more likely to stay with you long-term, keeping your turnover rate down. Because much like team building, hiring employees is an investment and that investment needs to be made in the right people for your team.
When you hire people who align with your company’s culture, they are more likely to work better with other team members and stay with your organization longer. Plus, those happy long-term employees will help you attract more happy long-term employees. They’ll tell their friends and social media network about their positive experience at work which will make recruiting though their channels that much easier.
3. Build Your Tribe
A strong company culture can help beat those Monday morning blues. Organizations that have developed a culture have employees that enjoy going to work each day; they get along with their team, they see the value in their role, and they enjoy a comradery at the office.
At Brownsburg Parks, “There is a lot of laughing…. This makes the heavy workload at times a lot easier to manage.”
Having a strong company culture ensures employees across the board from company executives to administrative assistants all share the same goals and values, forging a bond that allows everyone to feel that they are working together to contribute to the bigger picture.
For Travis Tranbarger, “The biggest difference we notice in our culture is that our different divisions no longer work in silos. Our team members are great at collaborating on issues or new projects, realizing that each division – whether it’s recreation, operations, administration or communications – is affected by all decisions that are made in one way or another. Everyone pitches in when help is needed, and this contributes to individual team members feeling like they have a voice and are a part of the department’s overall vision.”
If these three benefits aren’t enough to persuade you that developing company culture is in the best interest of your organization, here are a few facts to take on board:
• A whopping 70% of workers are not engaged at work
• But companies with engaged employees make two and a half times the revenue
• And engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their company
The bottom line is this, having a strong company culture will help your organization demonstrate who you are and what your values are to your team and to your customer, it will help you hire the correct people and foster talent, and it will lay the foundation for you to build your tribe.
Vida Aventura can help your organization build its company culture just like it did for Inverse-Square and many others. “Working with Des helped us define our values and culture and her extensive experience showed us how to weave those values in to our daily operations.”
Deseri Garcia
Most leaders struggle with disengagement, dysfunction, and non-productive behaviors with their teams. We deliver training that develops leaders and engages teams to increase your company results.