Do you know what’s the secret behind Cisco, DHL Express, Salesforce, Hubspot, and Hilton’s resounding success? Why these companies are the epitome of workplace happiness? Why do they stand among the best workplaces in today's times?
Apart from the dedication and hard work put into making these companies a huge success, there’s an evident reason why these companies prove to be a cut above the rest.
It’s not that these companies are taking perks to new heights —it's because they’ve invested in thriving company culture. To put it simply, they get company culture right!
After all, the average American will spend one-third of their life at work. So naturally, you expect it a great place to be.
You might have seen it for yourself too. Much has been spoken about and written over the years about how vital values are in creating corporate identity, and even more importantly, culture.
But why is company culture gaining momentum in a modern workplace?
Why do clients and potential employees look for a company with the best culture?
If you look at the company culture of Google or any other leading organization, you will notice why they are unique from the others.
But, what’s company culture? There are many ideas for company culture and what organizations should do. However, a company’s culture is like a fingerprint — it cannot be replicated and is synonymous with your company alone.
It’s easy to clone strategies, products, marketing, and even innovations but a company’s norms and values — now that’s something that remains distinctly yours!
Yet, in business, positive company culture is, unfortunately, an exception rather than a norm.
- Establishing culture is the need of the hour today since many companies work on a hybrid work setup and have remote team members on board.
- Working on building your company culture helps in forging a brand identity, and helps in attracting and retaining great talent.
- Unites team members from different backgrounds and ethnicities through a common, underlying bond.
A company’s culture, and its personality, are the silver lining that separates a business from its competitors in the mind of its stakeholders. It’s how you attain the title of the company with the best culture.
At SJ Innovation, culture overrules everything else. We have a company culture description outlined and through which key decisions are made — from recruiting and letting go of employees to product development and growth.
After all, if you aren’t building the culture of trust and transparency required to draw in a high-performing team, you aren’t going to win and win at a game that is fair and square.
7 Ways How SJ Innovation Blends a Healthy Workplace Culture and Helps the Team Grow!
There are very clear-cut ways how SJ Innovation invests in a positive organizational culture and strives to get it right so that we move in the direction of the company with the best culture.
- Having a preset culture deck defined is a must!
For one, SJ Innovation has a company culture defined. We established a set of core values and have developed a culture deck after having brainstorming sessions and gaining feedback from team players.
- Developing core values should be the first step and it needs to be a collaborative process.
- After all, it’s the recipe for how your team is going to show up every day.
- So, for starters, begin by observing and asking what behaviors do team members exhibit that make them the ‘go-to’ team member when things need to get done? Or, what are the qualities that encourage a healthy workplace culture?
- Once an underlying company culture is established, make sure it is put together in a culture deck.
Our SJI culture deck has been set up after gaining recurring feedback from our team members. It isn’t defined by the senior management team. Everyone should have access to and view this culture deck whenever they wish to! After all, the company with the best culture has to have a transparent vision that anyone can go to whenever they need it.
- Incorporating company culture into interviewing and onboarding
The next step in your journey to becoming the company with the best culture is ingraining your core culture among your employees and communicating its values the right way.
How can you do this? Weave company culture into important people processes —hiring and onboarding.
Just because a candidate comes with the technical experience and skills that we seek, doesn’t mean they get the green light. We need them to line up with our style of working and collaborate with one another to become a company with the best culture.
- At SJ Innovation, we scrutinize whether potential candidates are going to be culturally fit during the first interview round itself.
- The management team and HR also have a culture meeting that helps keep us honest about the kind of candidates we are seeking.
- Even though a potential candidate may not imbibe all the core values we stand for, if we notice a glimpse of most of the traits in them, we understand that they are going to be culturally aligned.
It’s kind to the candidate and a wise business decision. After all, if someone isn’t a good culture fit, they automatically won’t meet the potential we set for ourselves to achieve success, and might even stifle the company’s momentum to move forward.
- Organizing culture talks for new employees so core values stay etched in memory
Employees at SJ Innovation find their coworkers to be humble and helpful with one another and everyone else. Why? Because that’s part of our core culture and we remind our team of it constantly while moving towards the vision of a company with the best culture.
- Beginning from the very first day, we carry out culture sessions to help new employees understand our core values better.
- These culture sessions need to be hosted by the senior management team and currently, are usually held by SJ Innovation’s COO, Shahera Choudhury.
- These sessions define the unique traits and characteristics that all team members must imbibe while growing in this company.
- These sessions hold the recipe for how we expect our team members to show up.
- Communicate with team members keeping culture in mind
Every company has a culture. To make sure your company stands by it, you have to be intentional. After all, defining your values only sets the bar, but to live by them, blend the culture into your success formula. It not only captivates high performers but also accelerates your business.
- Managers at SJ Innovation help to create a company with the best culture by establishing a safe environment to make suggestions and express ideas and instill the core values through everyday interactions and meetings.
- We also send emails to all of our new employees for around 30 days explaining our cultural values in detail.
- Senior employees are also reminded about core culture from time to time at different meetings so that they can in turn, also convey these snippets and takeaways to the other team members.
- Making decisions that reflect core culture
What makes a company with the best culture stand apart from the rest? A lot has been said about how companies need to put down critical values to create a corporate identity and culture. But, your company culture elements aren’t going to make much headway if it isn’t incorporated when making important choices.
- If you are wondering what is the company culture example at SJ Innovation, all key decisions are made keeping our values intact and culture in mind.
- We entwine our core culture into rewards, recognition, and performance management, keeping our culture at the heart of all our decision-making processes such as when analyzing our team’s performance, offering promotions, or when conducting disciplinary actions.
- Culture begins at the top — so senior management needs to set the tone
Powerful workplace culture isn’t something that can be built overnight. It’s a painstaking process that senior management has to practice and enforce time and time again but is definitely worth it.
- Practice makes perfect and especially when it comes to becoming a company with the best culture. You cannot just write it down on paper and hope for the best.
- Stakeholders, senior management, and HR need to embrace, implement, and encourage it every day — when interacting with people, when performing tasks, and through daily behavior.
- Never underestimate the power of mentioning it in passing throughout every work activity and task. It can all make a difference!
- Scheduling cultural sessions every month for the entire team
Radical changes occur when a group of people just sit down, are honest with one another, and talk. It's especially crucial in times of change and transformation. We saw a complete turn of events that we had to rise above with the arrival of the pandemic.
Besides the pandemic as well, communication is important for developing and evolving with the times during any other personal or professional adversity.
- At ‘SJ Innovation’, we set up a company culture-building exercise by having a culture meeting every month where the senior management conducts a presentation or sends over articles and videos so team members can read, watch, and learn.
- During the culture session, we ask our team to share their experiences and what are the lessons they learned along the way.
- They often share insightful and thought-provoking stories in the form of a personal example where we have a healthy discussion and a casual back and forth of opinion.
- We may not be the company with the best culture yet but these discussions give us an understanding of the times and instances where we aren’t putting our culture into practice.
Creating a strong culture is a journey…
Corporate culture has been a buzzword for many years, but it isn’t merely a catchphrase. Job seekers today look for the company with the best culture. Well, at least, hold it in high regard. They are screening potential employers when considering a career opportunity. They aren’t fooled. They can spot a bad company culture from a mile away and know a company with good culture when they see one.
Thriving company culture is one that everyone is a part of — right from the CEO to the newest intern. We make sure every employee understands the expectations set and acts on that account.