When times are challenging, it’s wise to focus on the things within your control. Establishing and cultivating a vibrant corporate culture tops that list.
If culture is something that you haven’t prioritized in your organization, it’s time to give it some thought. Why?
Nurturing corporate culture can help your people and your business thrive.
Strong, engaged company culture is essential to a happy, healthy, productive team.
As the foundation on which everything in your business rests, culture is a stabilizer that sets the tone for how you operate in good times and bad.
What’s more, your culture is your brand differentiator.
Recent insight from Fast Company speaks to what’s relevant in the workplace right now: “In periods of uncertainty such as the COVID-19 pandemic, strong corporate culture is even more important, as organizations need to leverage every competitive advantage they have. In a study of 5,000 respondents by Glassdoor, 77% of people would consider a company’s culture before applying for a job there, and over half consider it more important than salary when it comes to job satisfaction.”
Read the article here.
While a strong culture can help you attract and retain top talent, it also better positions your brand among customers and prospects.
People gravitate towards brands that share their values: 66% of consumers consider elements like company culture and employee welfare as factors that determine whether they buy from one brand over another. (Edelman, 2020)
How do you infuse and establish culture within your organization? Start by finding your “why.” As you articulate your brand’s purpose, you inherently identify those essential elements that support and define your company’s unique culture.
Use Shamrock as an example. We’re a marketing company that helps our customers grow their brands with on-line and off-line marketing strategies. But at our core, we simply out-hustle, providing greater value for our customers, employees, suppliers, and our community. And we do that through a host of specific, intentional initiatives.
Shamrock has a culture club that drives our efforts internally.
We recently launched a “40 Ways To Create Awesomeness” program that mirrors our four pillars, which include:
1. Fish (choose your attitude)
2. Gung Ho! (work as a team, empower one another)
3. Raving Fans (provide “plus-one” service for customers)
4. Community/Giving back. Read about our program here
Our Awesomeness program recognizes employees nominated by their peers as having exemplified one of our core values, like #5 – Exceed Expectations and #31 – Keep Things Fun (we focus on a different value each month). Along with collaborative video conferences, educational seminars, ongoing community service opportunities, contests, surprise WFH packages, and more, our team works every day to #30 – Create Lasting Relationships, and #27 – Spread Optimism & Positive Energy. And we do the same for our clients.
These culture-driven initiatives demonstrate that being a part of the team is something much bigger than just a job at Shamrock. I believe that our strength in culture and conviction has helped us retain our employees and turn customers into Raving Fans, even during downturns. Our purpose is more than marketing, and our people live that mantra.
One final thought: Every relationship has ups and downs, whether it’s a married couple or a manager and employee. A strong foundation, or culture, can go a long way towards getting you through the bumps in the road.
Good culture begets healthy relationships and can be the difference in retaining or losing a good employee.
If your business is seeking to refresh, realign, or establish culture from the ground up: Start with asking yourself why? What drives you? What matters most to you and your team? Why do your customers want to do business with you and not your competitor?
It’s an exercise worth spending some time on. If you’d like to bounce some ideas off of me or if you’d like some insight, reach out to me at bdegarmo@shamrockcompanies.net
Gung Ho, (means Work Together)
