Research Suggests Culture Drives Profits
There is significant research to suggest that businesses with a strong and positive corporate culture see much greater long term profits.
However, the values in this corporate culture do not just have to be advertised, they actually have to be lived by. Employees need to perceive a real culture of integrity in order to see their own performance improved. Integrity needs to be the norm of behavior within a company, meaning that everybody is able to trust each other.
One thing that has been found through research is that a strong corporate culture is needed in order to facilitate change.
“We found that those cultures highly value employees, customers, and owners and that those cultures encourage leadership from everyone in the firm.” Does Corporate Culture Drive Financial Performance?
This basically means that when a customer requires change, the company is able to seamlessly change their practice in order to meet those needs. A strong corporate culture empowers employees to do this, as well as empowering management to lead this by example. This, again, goes down to trust and integrity: employees need to know they can trust their leaders, and leaders need to know their staff can do the work for which they were hired.
Employee Engagement
Any good corporate culture, whether that is one that focuses on employees, clients, communication, business processes, ethics or all of these, will only function properly if there is also a strong sense of employee engagement.
“Engaged managers and employees are much more likely to remain in an organization, fueling growth and cutting attrition levels.” Can Corporate Culture Drive Performance and Profitability?
Having engaged employees means that there is higher employee continuity. In other words, people won’t jump ship as soon as a different job offer comes along. This, in turn, means that businesses have to spend less money on recruitment processes, which can equate into very significant savings. It is also known that engaged employees create higher degrees of customer loyalty. They are committed to their products and services, and this is translated to the customer. This, again, leads to higher profits overall.
Culture Has to Be Company Wide
One mistake that too many companies still make is that a separate culture is defined and identified for different parts of the organization. For instance, different rules apply in the finance team compared to those in the sales team. This can cause rivalry, leading to disengagement of employees.
“Allowing an area to set up their own culture can affect the performance of the employees deployed elsewhere in the company.” Organizational Culture & Employee Performance
It is very important, therefore, that the culture is company-wide. This should be clear from the moment people are brought in to the organization. During interview processes, HR professionals should make sure that they immediately determine whether or not a potential candidate has the same values and ethics as those described within the company culture. This will ensure they will fit in and help the company reach greater heights, instead of being a burden and difficulty.
The characteristics of a strong business culture are evident and well defined. The first is that every individual within any business is completely unique—each with their own life experiences, values, opinions, beliefs, attitudes and interests. The DiSC Profile can help all businesses assess and understand their existing culture. Assessing your corporate culture is always the first step to understand and improving it.
We have compiled an ultimate guide that includes all of the info needed to assist businesses, organizations, trainers, coaches and individuals in making informed decisions on their needs to understand their culture.
Learn More From The DiSC Profile Ultimate Guide
“This potent combination of values, character, rituals and beliefs creates a deep bond with employees, making their work unusually meaningful and rewarding.” Performance Culture
The second key element, however, is that everyone has a set of behaviors that they foster and believe in. Patterns of behavior have to be consistent and well-defined, and everyone has to believe in them. This is what true company culture is and by getting it right, everybody will be engaged to make sure they perform as well as they can, leading to increased productivity and higher profits.
About Steve Giles
Co-owner/Co-founder of Intesi! Resources. Educated as an architect I transitioned to technology during my career in architecture. Intesi! Resources was founded in 2004 and my focus is everything Web/eCommerce related from the design and development of our site to all the marketing activities involved. I also provide significant support for our clients on all our products and how they are used to deliver assessment-driven learning solutions that develop self-awareness and interpersonal skills.
