Company Culture and Powerful Team – Essentials for your business growth

Company Culture

When a job seeker searches for a job these days, do you know what he / she checks to understand a company’s culture?

It’s the

• Company’s “About Us” page.
• Company’s social media pages.
• Reviews and salary info about the company.
• Getting feedback from working employees

A successful company culture is one that is bought into by everyone from the newest intern to the CEO where the company promotes curiosity, teamwork, respect and employee health.

A company’s culture should emphasize on diversity and inclusion where employees from different backgrounds and experiences can express their differences, learn from each other and feel safe while doing so. This will boost the cultural bond further boosting the productivity.

Company culture impacts every facet of your business right from recruitment to retention to performance. We have this notion that job seekers and employees look for competitive salaries and great benefits. But here are few stats that highlight the Importance of company’s culture providing general illustration of the important relationship between culture and performance-

• Forty percent of job seekers view colleagues and culture as a top priority when considering career opportunities and LinkedIn posts by companies mentioning culture receive a 67 percent engagement boost.
• Companies that actively manage their culture boast 40 percent higher employee retention.
• Employees who view their company culture as positive are 3.8 times more likely to be engaged at work. Company culture influences employee engagement, which has a direct impact on performance.
• Highly engaged teams outperform their peers by 10 percent in customer ratings, 17 percent in productivity and 21 percent in profitability. Simply put, engaged workers are productive workers, and productive workers are profitable workers.

Key points to consider for building a great company culture-

Defining and practicing the core values.

Make sure that the values are not just on the paper but its followed by the leaders well so that even the employees follow suite. Transparency, Honesty, Respect, Integrity being basic core values that each company should follow.

Nurturing Employees

A company should make sure that employee have the right attitude and productivity in following ways

– Appreciate your employees even for small good things they do. Little appreciation goes a long way.

– Providing professional and personal support so that the team know that they are valued and important.

– Providing the employees with right opportunities that motivates them so that they engage and give their best.

Following best practices

– Identify and set processes ensuring that the leaders embody these practices every day.

– Re-enforcing the type of behavior one wants to see by recognizing employees that live up to the company’s culture

– Providing honest feedback to promote healthy culture even if its uncomfortable.

Powerful Team

In today’s disruptive marketplace, every organization needs to attract, develop, and retain talent with diverse skills and perspectives. The difference between success and failure will not be in the formulation of job descriptions and compensation packages, but in the ability to articulate a higher purpose. That begins with a clear sense of shared mission and values.

There is a fundamental difference between hiring people to do what you want and hiring people who already want what you want. The value of any particular skill is likely to degrade over time. On the other hand, people who share your mission and values can acquire the skills needed to achieve your shared objectives.

Efficient teams are the hallmark of an industry-leading business. Having a cohesive, high-performing team can set your business apart within your industry and ensure the success of your organization in the long run.

But what makes a team work well toward the same goals.

Let’s know from the 14 great Team Leaders and Business Owners.

1. Inclusive Thinking

Inclusive thinking is key. When teams think inclusively, not only do people feel comfortable sharing unique perspectives but teams benefit from the value of exploring more possibilities. – Candice McGlen, The Rinker Group

2. Diversity

Diversity has always been a key to cohesive, high-performing teams. We reach levels of performance that we did not even know we had when we are challenged and surrounded by those who are different than us. Hire for diversity and create a culture that allows diversity to be appreciated and celebrated. – Lotus Buckner, NCH

3. Respect And Trust

To be a high-performing team, it’s really critical for the team to have respect and trust, be able to throw blind passes and hold each other accountable with hard candid debates and conversations to get to the best answer for the business. High-performing teams look forward to solving together, winning together and having fun together. – Rohini Shankar, CIOX Health

4. Personal Excellence

Holding ourselves accountable for showing up in excellence every day allows other high-performing team characteristics to thrive, such as deep trust, “iron sharpening iron,” confidence, and a consistent culture of excellence amongst the entire team driven by personal accountability. – Genine Wilson, Kelly Services

5. Communication

While there are many elements that make up a cohesive and successful team, communication is one of the most essential building blocks. Especially now, as so many teams are forced to work remotely, employees and managers must make an extra effort to communicate regularly using video and messaging software in order to ensure projects are completed and team unity is maintained. – John Feldmann, Insperity

6. Healthy Conflict

Healthy conflict is an essential element. Groupthink kills innovation and creativity. If the team does not have diversity of thought or individuals do not feel safe to dissent, productivity will be stunted. The status quo is maintained and real progress and higher performance are impossible. Being able to question things in a constructive way will make the outcome stronger and more inclusive. – Rebecca Baumgartner, Ogletree Deakins

7. Adaptability

The pandemic has shown the highest performing teams are those most capable of adapting to change. Businesses are forced to reimagine how work gets done. For some, that change is painful. Those managing it well have a culture built on purpose, values and collaboration rather than process. It’s about focusing on the human part of human agility, recognizing, respecting and leveraging individual strengths. – Debra Thorpe, Kelly

8. Engagement

Highly engaged teams give discretionary effort and routinely go above and beyond for the team win. To achieve this, you need a connected culture with two-way communications and sharing how each person’s role contributes to the overall result. – Cat Graham, Cheer Partners

9. Psychological Safety

Research supports the notion of the importance of a culture of psychological safety on a team. Team leaders must support and model a culture where all team members feel they can speak up freely and raise issues of importance to the team’s work. Google found that having psychological safety on the team is the critical element of team success. Underperforming teams often lack psychological safety. – Heide Abelli, Skillsoft

10. Decision-Making Flexibility

High-performing teams have the freedom and flexibility to make decisions in real-time rather than waiting for management approval. While some decisions may need to be rolled back upon review, team members who work in specific areas of the company on a daily basis are the best equipped to make processes more efficient and allowing them to do so will help the team pivot faster and perform better. – Laura Spawn, Virtual Vocations, Inc.

11. Openness To Innovation

Openness to innovative future-forward ideas is in the DNA of cohesive and high-performing teams, as evidenced during this pandemic. Remote teams, using multiple channels — text, video, chatbots, email, and phone, continue to sustain a continuously engaged and growth mindset in dealing with the challenges coming at them each day. This approach has set everyone up for success no matter what comes next! – Jay Polaki, HR Geckos

12. Ability To Surmount Challenges

Here’s a new one, 2020-style. The ability to surmount challenges thrown at us from outside the workplace now even more clearly defines a high-performing team. There are the obvious, devastating challenges like COVD-19. But challenge is constant, like yesterday’s tropical storm. When we demonstrate empathy toward team members, and even cover for them when the power’s out, that’s power in itself. – Jeremy Ames, Hive Tech HR

13. Behavioral Awareness

Behavioral awareness and understanding of team dynamics in terms of personal strengths/weaknesses is key. Overall behavioral insights (personality styles) give you a strategic advantage to position individuals within the team to best utilize those strengths to achieve high-performing results. For example, don’t place your least detail-oriented teammate to be responsible for project management execution. – Jennifer Beezer, SPHR, SHRM-CP, FOREO Inc.

14. Pride In The Company

The main characteristic that makes up a high-performing team is the fact that the team is in it for the company along with their own happiness. We, as employees, have to learn to take pride in the company we work for. Once that pride is established, it will shine and we, as people, employees and family members, will shine. This is the main characteristic that makes up a good high-performing team. – Melissa Bolton, Perlon Hahl Inc.

Thanks everyone for reading this blog. Frankly speaking I am not a great writer but as an experienced professional understanding the importance of team strength and company culture, I have articulated this blog referring and using contents from few articles which have already been published.