It seems like everyone and their dog is now touting their organizational culture and how inclusive it is. But there is often a disconnect between the PR and marketing campaigns and what employees have to say. It takes intention, strategy and vision to build great workplace cultures, and everyone needs to be involved.
The case of Soraya, the new CEO
When Soraya, the new CEO of a mid-size company told me she wanted her organization to be considered a best place to work, I asked, "When do you want to talk vision and strategy?" Her reply, "I'll introduce you to Angelina, our director of Human Resources." I said, "Before you do that, I need to ask you three questions."
- Who leads the development of the vision for the company culture?
- Who leads the direction of the organization?
- Who ultimately is responsible for overall business strategy and the financial results of that strategy?
To all three questions she answered, "I do, along with the executive team." When I pointed out that organizational culture had to be in alignment with vision, direction and strategy and that its an ongoing role of leadership, she suddenly realized that human resources alone didn't have the resources to build the great, inclusive culture she envisioned.
Are you an absentee leader?
If you lead an organization, department or team and want to build and lead an inclusive culture that lasts, then as a leader, you have take leadership. Stop delegating culture development to the human resources department, and abdicating your leadership responsibility.
Building a workplace culture that lasts: Great vs. terrible
Workplace culture is how you do business, how you engage your employees, how people work together, how leadership sets examples, and how you serve the customer. Workplace culture is what brings people together to collaborate or sets them up in silos with no mutual support or information sharing.
A great workplace culture is what makes all employees feel welcome, included and part of a community. A great workplace culture that lasts makes people want to work there and bring other talented colleagues.
A bad workplace culture shouldn't last but often does. It makes people go to work because they have to and warn their friends away. Leadership makes or breaks the culture. A bad workplace culture can make new employees have to fend for themselves, while employees who've been their longer hesitant to take time to help newcomers.
Envisioning, developing and nurturing an inclusive, innovative culture that lasts is a process. It's ongoing and needs to be embedded in every system and process.
It can't be left to one separate department, or consist of just lunch and learns, online training or potlucks. Workplace culture is a way of doing business. It's not a one-time event.
Who needs to be involved?
As a leader, you and the executive team need to lead the process. That doesn't mean it's all up to you. Everyone needs to be engaged since it's the people at the top, the middle and the lower levels that live, embrace and practice the culture.
Bring in leadership from sales and marketing, research and development, and every other department if you have them.
Make human resources your key strategic business partner. Give them more power and resources since they are the "humans" of human resources. They need to provide training, establish policies, procedures and be culture evangelists.
Note to department or team leaders: You have the power and responsibility to lead your team or department culture. The way you think and act with people who report to you can affect their degree of inclusion as well as their ability and courage to contribute their brilliance. We're often called by functional leaders like you to provide inclusive leadership coaching and advisory services.
