This is part of a series of posts exploring the employee experience, that is, creating a place where employees actually want to show up, not where they need to show up. This series will explore what I define as the three employee experience environments that all organizations much focus on which are: physical, cultural, and technological. This is a growing area that I am extremely passionate about, because it sees organizations shifting away from thinking of work as a utility to actually focusing on creating what Pat Wadors (the chief Human Resources Officer of LinkedIn) calls “beautiful experiences.”
As a starting point you can read this post on “Why The Future of Work is All About The Employee Experience.” The first post in this series looked at the physical environment, the second looked at the technological environment, and today I will explore the cultural environment.
We have all heard of corporate culture and the many ways to describe it. Some say "it's what happens when the manager leaves the room," others say culture stems from the values, attitudes, practices, and the mission of the organization, and some say culture is controlled by the CEO and the executives. Regardless of what you believe culture is or where it comes from, the one thing that is common is that culture is about feeling. If the physical environment is about the one that you can see, touch, taste, and breathe, then the cultural environment is the one that you feel; it's the "vibe" you get when you walk in the door and it's the mood and the tone that the workplace sets. It's the leadership style, the sense of purpose your employees feel, the organizational structure, and the people that make up your organization. It's not written and it's not stated yet it is one of the most important elements of creating and designing the employee experience. Typically corporate culture is what energizes us or drains us, it motivates us or discourages us, it empowers us or it suffocates us. We all experience the corporate culture of our organizations every single day, whether it be positive or negative.
I've interviewed hundreds of business leaders and employees at companies and conferences all around the world. In fact, you can see some of these on The Future of Work Show. I always ask people what's the number one thing they care about at their organization, "culture" is always the top answer, far ahead of pay or compensation of any kind. In the image above you can see some of the things that help create a corporate culture but this is by no means a comprehensive list. I've also found there is no magic formula or top five list that I can share which every single organization can follow. However, there have been a few common approaches that I have seen organizations take when focusing on culture.
Here are a few things you can do:
Define culture
As I mentioned above, culture can mean many different things to different organizations. Your organization needs to define what your corporate culture is. What does it look like, how do you know it when you "see" it? What are the things you can do to encourage it across every aspect of the organization? No two companies are going to have the same culture!
Ask employees
This is a very common theme across any employee experience environment but bringing employees into the culture process is critical. Ask employees what they value and what they care about. What sort of a culture do they want to be a part of? What can they do to contribute to your corporate culture? How do they define and see corporate culture shaping their employee experience? You will notice that you will receive a wide range of answers but quickly some common themes will start to emerge, namely around the role of leadership, open collaboration and communication, transparency in the workplace, embracing vulnerability, and others.
Balance
Oftentimes organizations must balance between creating a corporate culture that encourages productivity with one that focuses on create great employee experiences. In other words, creating employee experiences isn't just about building workspaces that look like Pinocchio's island with free food, drinks, games, and unlimited entertainment. It's about creating an environment where employees want to be a part of while balance the business priorities of the organization. How can employees be engaged and productive? How can you encourage innovation and well being? How can you blend collaboration and entertainment?
In upcoming posts I will look at some frameworks and models around designing employee experiences. In the meantime I’d love to hear from you so leave me a comment below!
Jacob Morgan is a keynote speaker, author, and futurist. To have Jacob speak at your event, see his videos, podcasts and articles, or to subscribe to his newsletter visit TheFutureOrganization.
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