Why Culture Makes or Breaks a Company
Company culture.
Perhaps no phrase gets tossed around more when it comes to the workplace. Companies with a strong culture know it’s an advantage. Companies with a toxic culture try to hide it. And, when considering an opportunity, talent wants to know what your company culture is all about.
What about company culture is so powerful? And why does it make or break your company’s success?
The power of a positive company culture
First, company culture is hugely powerful. It determines how employees are treated, how ideas and products are developed, with whom partnerships and alliances are created and even how work gets done day-to-day. It is everything you can’t see, the secret sauce influencing how your talent works together.
Simply put, a healthy, positive company culture is a competitive advantage. Think of culture as the motor driving a three-part wheel:
- Healthy culture helps you attract top talent
- The best talent fuels innovation agility and high performance
- Company growth follows, which improves topline revenue and ultimately the bottom line (profitability)
Culture’s connection to talent and success cannot be understated. In fact, a recent McKinsey report found top performers are up to eight times more productive than average ones. This productivity advantage can help companies accelerate innovation, speed time to market and gain other advantages to lift performance and improve profitability.
Millennials and company culture
There is another important angle to consider. Millennials now make up more than half of the workforce (Pew Research, 2018), and they are as a group very focused on company culture. As employees and as consumers, they examine at a deep level the values of the companies they work for or purchase from. As an article in Forbes noted, they value company culture more than any generation preceding them.
Building a healthy company culture
So, what goes into a healthy, thriving company culture? This can be a complex question to answer, but there are some simple commonalities across strong company cultures. A healthy culture is a positive one where everyone is valued and shares a common sense of purpose. Ideas and innovation are welcomed. People have opportunities to contribute, be recognized and advance. Diversity and inclusion are central to the culture, not an afterthought or a gesture for compliance or reputation.
Learn more this fall at The HRSouthwest Conference when we welcome keynote speaker Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work. The focus of his keynote—and, indeed, his career—is on what makes a company a great place to work. The Great Place to Work-Certificate™ is awarded to companies that have created a health culture and are flourishing in a competitive market. During his keynote on Monday, October 5, Michael will share why culture matters, how to strengthen it, and how renewed attention on diversity and inclusion nationally factor into determining a Great Place to Work-Certificate™ Company.
Excited to learn more? Register for HRSWC 2020 to learn more about Michael C. Bush and Great Place to Work.
DallasHR is the third largest SHRM affiliate chapter in the nation. With more than 2,300 engaged HR professionals, the Chapter has been Advancing the Value of HR since 1939 through cutting-edge education, fun networking events and opportunities to share best practices with others in the field of HR. The Chapter powers The HRSouthwest Conference, one of the largest regional HR events in the U.S. hosting more than 2,400 attendees in Fort Worth annually. DallasHR events are held in both Dallas and Collin Counties. Visit us at dallashr.org to join or hrsouthwest.com to register and follow us at #DALLASHR, #HRSWC.
