Category: Align

At the heart of every successful organisation lies a compelling vision—a forward-looking statement that paints a vivid picture of the future the company aims to create. This vision serves as a guiding light, aligning every decision and action within the organisation with its fundamental purpose and objectives.

Maran, Baldegger, and Klösel (2022) conducted an extensive investigation across various industries, seeking to uncover the distinctive paths that successful leaders follow in shaping their organisations’ future. They found that clear and communicated visions, coupled with the empowerment of employees with autonomy, significantly contributed to improved team performance and goal achievement, particularly in fast-changing contexts.

If it is so impactful on team performance and goal achievement, how do you make sure you communicate your vision effectively?

• Authenticity is key. To effectively convey your vision, you must genuinely believe in it. Authenticity fosters trust and credibility among your team members, making them more likely to embrace the vision as their own.

• Storytelling is a powerful tool in this context. Sharing compelling stories that illustrate the impact of the vision can make it relatable and memorable for your employees. Stories can connect on an emotional level, making the vision more than just words on paper. See Nancy Duartes’s Storytelling Ted talk for further insight:

• Use clear and simple language. Avoid jargon and complex terminology to ensure that every team member, regardless of their role or background, can understand and connect with the vision.

• Consistency is key. Reiterate the vision consistently in various forums, such as company meetings, communication channels, and social media. Repetition helps keep the vision at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

• Leading by example is essential. Demonstrate your commitment to the vision through your decisions and actions. When employees see you actively working toward the vision, it inspires them to do the same.

• Involve your employees in refining the vision. This fosters a sense of ownership and ensures that the vision aligns with the aspirations of the entire team.

For actionable insights on how to bring your company’s vision to life and communicate it effectively, consider watching Fields Wicker-Miurin’s TED talk titled “Learning Leadership’s Missing Manual.” Although from 2009, this talk offers practical advice on leadership and vision-sharing, drawing from real-world examples of successful leaders.

Your vision is not just a statement; it’s a powerful force that can shape the future of your organisation. By communicating it authentically and engaging your team through compelling stories and clear language, you can ignite the commitment needed to turn your vision into a reality.

Reference List

Maran, T.K., Baldegger, U., & Klösel, K. (2022). Turning visions into results: Unraveling the distinctive paths of leading with vision and autonomy to goal achievement. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.

TED Talk Reference: Wicker-Miurin, F. (2009). Learning Leadership’s Missing Manual. TEDGlobal 2009.

Workplace culture significantly impacts an organisation’s performance and employee satisfaction. It reflects the collective values, beliefs, attitudes and actions that characterise how people work together. It is easy to assume that shaping a workplace culture is the responsibility of HR departments or leaders, but really, it’s everyone’s responsibility.

In this blog, we’ll delve into why the shaping of workplace culture is everyone’s responsibility the methods to evolve it, and the shared advantages of understanding each member’s pivotal role in establishing and nurturing a positive working environment.

Workplace culture comes from a combination of past experiences, events, and emotions, that form a pattern that guides our behaviour and identity and defines our roles and responsibilities. Culture shapes individuals because they have played a part in shaping it. Importantly, culture is not just something that exists on the surface, and it cannot be easily changed through quick workshops and superficial measures.

To begin shifting a workplace culture, we need to have meaningful and ongoing conversations. These talks should be careful and patient, and demand an understanding of past events and having a shared belief in a better future. Transparent, inclusive discussions are crucial with the avoidance of closed-door meetings.

Why is it in everyone’s best interest to share responsibility for the workplace culture?

Collaboration

A Harvard Business Review study found that businesses championing collaborative cultures are five times more efficient than those that don’t. Viewing culture as a collective responsibility fosters collaboration and mutual learning. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” (Mead). By actively participating in shaping the culture, employees contribute to breaking down silos and fostering a collaborative work environment that leads to organisational success.

Customer Experience

A PwC survey discovered that 73% of consumers see positive customer experiences as pivotal for brand allegiance. Engaged workers invariably offer superior service, reinforcing the connection between workplace culture and customer rapport. Tony Hsieh, Zappos’ ex-CEO, stated “We believe that customer service shouldn’t be just a department; it should be the entire company.” By actively participating in shaping the culture, employees contribute to a positive customer experience that drives loyalty and business growth.

Ownership & Purpose

Being proactive in shaping company culture enhances a sense of purpose and ownership among employees. Gallup’s research indicates that motivated employees outperform the unmotivated by 21%. As Heskett states, “Engaged employees stay for what they give; disengaged employees stay for what they get.” By taking ownership of the culture, employees contribute to their own engagement and satisfaction, ultimately benefiting both themselves and the organisation.

Ethical Foundations

A study in the Journal of Business Ethics underscores the vital link between a positive work culture and ethical behaviour. With a vested interest in culture, employees commit to ethical principles and integrity. Benjamin Franklin observed, “It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.” Acknowledging culture as a shared objective promotes transparency, fairness, and ethical decision-making, thereby safeguarding the organisation’s reputation and trustworthiness.

Workplace culture, being multifaceted, is inherently collective. It is everyone’s business because culture is formed and maintained by everyone in the organisation.

The benefits of this collective ownership range from personal welfare to elevated productivity and the overarching success of the organisation. As the proverb states, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” By recognising that workplace culture is everyone’s responsibility, we embark on a collective journey towards a thriving work environment.

Culture. Whatever you are striving for, you know what it feels like when you get it right. You will also know the profound impact on employees and the broader organisation when your ideal is not achieved.

So, the question remains: how can we improve our organisational culture?

Perch

Improving company culture requires reflection and consideration. So to begin, we must create a space that allows for us to evaluate, change and enhance. A good way to do this is to introduce the notion of ‘perch’. Think about a bird perched on a branch. Why does it do this? For rest, reflection, to take in their surroundings and to plan where to fly next. So a great way to create space is to introduce this notion of perch into your day, week, or month. Begin your day by having a perch or schedule a monthly meeting that specifically holds space for a perch, allowing time for reflection.

Let’s not focus on culture

Once you have made space for change, what if we said let us not focus on culture directly?

‘Culture is how a group does the things it does. It changes because people start doing things differently or start to do different things’ (Beer, 2021).

With this in mind, let’s turn our attention not to culture directly, but to how a company goes about doing things. How your organisation does things will be driven by your leadership team, and therefore how your company is led, managed and organised is crucial. Can you have open and honest conversations? Do you have people with the right capabilities to perform their job at a high-performance level? Are people committed? If the above statement is accurate, beginning with working on how your company does things, will then result in an improved culture as a by-product.

Belonging Cues

Another approach to enhancing company culture is to foster a sense of belonging among employees. Belonging cues, which are often subtle signals, convey acceptance and value within a group or setting. An illustrative example comes from WIPRO’s call centre in India (The Culture Code, 2018), which struggled with high employee turnover and feelings of disconnection. Their solution? Alongside the usual training, they dedicated an extra hour to help new hires reflect on personal strengths, asking, “What’s unique about you that drives your best performance?” Following this, employees received a branded sweatshirt, symbolising their inclusion. Such seemingly minor gestures had a significant impact, boosting engagement, reducing turnover, and enhancing positive company culture.

Consistently offering a stream of belonging cues can improve your employees’ sense of connection. By nurturing this sense of belonging, you pave the way for open dialogue, boost employee well-being, foster teamwork, and cultivate an environment for innovation.

Not sure where to begin? Speak with us at Tribus People, we support senior leadership teams to find the right talent, develop leadership capabilities and align teams around a shared vision for the future.

Reference List

Beer, M., 2021. To Change Your Company’s Culture, Don’t Start by Trying to Change the Culture.

Coyle, D., 2018. The Culture Code. 1st ed. New York: Bantam Books.

The heart of every organisation is its culture – a complex network of values, beliefs, and behaviours that influence how work gets done. More than just a passive backdrop, culture stands as the driving force behind performance, shaping outcomes and dictating the pace of growth.

There are numerous studies that cite the link between culture and performance. For example, companies with a positive and inclusive culture are 33% more likely to experience higher-than-average profitability (Hickman & Robison, J, 2020), or companies on their “Best Places to Work” list (which heavily factors in company culture) consistently outperformed the general stock market by nearly 116% from 2009 to 2019 (Chamberlain & Munyikwa, 2020).

What can you do, as a leader, to practically influence culture and therefore performance?

Ownership

One factor to focus on can be your employee’s feeling of ownership. Providing employees with a sense of autonomy (choice, control and freedom), combined with a supportive and safe working environment, not only promotes empowered employees but also instils a sense of ownership over roles and tasks. This deeper sense of responsibility and engagement can lead directly to enhanced individual and organisational performance (Jogannsen & Zak, 2020).

Climate

Another is to focus on crafting the right ‘Climate’ within teams to create the conditions for high performance to occur. Climate is distinct from culture and reflects the ‘mood’ or atmosphere at an individual team level.  It is heavily influenced by the leader of a team and can differ significantly throughout an organisation.

Using the ‘Performance Climate System’ model, the factors driving Climate can be grouped into two categories, Transactional and Transformational. Transactional conditions include goals, roles and processes and transformational conditions include resilience, connection and adaptability. Transactional conditions are the foundations your employees need to function, and transformational conditions are what is needed to thrive.

A team’s performance is flexible and often influenced by the conditions in which they work. As a leader, you can play a crucial role in shaping a team’s performance by crafting an environment with both the right transactional and transformational conditions.

When you combine a sense of ownership with the right conditions for high performance, alongside having the right people in your business, you maximise the potential for performance.

As a leader, do you know if you have the right conditions in your workplace to enable success and high performance?

At Tribus People, we utilise proven diagnostic tools and data that can help you understand where your Climate is today, where you need to be and the specific actions you can take to create high performance and success.

Speak with us today to find out more.

Reference List

Chamberlain, A. and Munyikwa, Z., 2020. What’s Culture Worth?

Hickman, A. and Robison, J., 2020. Is working remotely effective? Gallup research says yes. Gallup Research.

Jogannsen, R. and Zak, P., 2020. Autonomy Raises Productivity: An Experiment Measuring Neurophysiology.