The pandemic has shifted the mindset of many employees, who are increasingly emphasising the values of a company, what they stand for, and how they treat their staff. Poor work culture is costing the UK economy nearly £24 billion a year. 34% of people have said they have left their job because of the culture in their workplace. Work culture is therefore becoming increasingly relevant.

Culture-first businesses are better businesses. They have a more productive workforce, higher retention of staff, and attract the best people. Retention and Recruitment are key challenges for all firms and a strong culture plays a large role in addressing these issues.

This article shares highlights from the session where guest speakers, listed below, joined Lucy Parr and David Malthouse to discuss how to get a culture-first organisation.

Guest speakers include:
Lisa Lister, Co-founder of Culco
Jane Slimming, Co-founder of Culco
Lisa Leighton, Managing Partner at BHP
Fiona Wieland, Coach and Project Manager at NHS Skills Development Network Yorkshire and Humber
Danielle Heath, Co-founder of Innovate Enterprise Solutions

You can watch the recording of the forum by clicking the button below.

Benefits of a culture-first organisation

• Improve business culture and happiness, and in turn, increase productivity and retention
• Create a place where people feel valued and do their best work to be their best version of themselves
• Staff that are a better fit for the business are more likely to have increased morale and go the extra mile
• Staff that are a better fit for the business attract the right clients for the business

What is culture?

Culco define workplace culture is the character and personality of an organisation. It is made up of leadership, values, traditions and beliefs, and the behaviours and attitudes of the people in it. They should be the foundation of the people a business hire, promote and let go.

To gain culture:

1. Invest time into developing values
2. Communicate these in the right way and do not stop
3. Recruit, promote and let go based on these values
4. Constantly engage and measure staff based on these

Finding your values

• What do you do already?
• What do your staff think?
• What’s your vision statement?
• What do your customers think?
• What are you trying to achieve?
• Do the values help you achieve your proposition?

When you have the right ones and live by them you get the right people, doing the right thing. The company values should be a clear path of what is needed in order to achieve company greatness.

Communicating them

• Launch event
• Display them wherever you can – physically/digitally
• Promote them externally to find and work with the right clients
• Continue to do it – NOT launch and leave
• Find ways to bring them to life and help them with the behavioural change
• Positivity Day
  • Creative exercises
  • Honest discussions

Recruit, Promote, Let Go

• Use the values in interviews. Ask candidates to demonstrate the behaviours
• Use them in appraisals, shouts outs and when communicating someone has been promoted. Reward them openly
• Let staff and customers go when they can’t demonstrate them

Deciding on a programme to promote culture

• One size doesn’t fit all
• Has to embody values
• Has to either motivate/energise or increase positivity
• Get inspiration from anywhere

The programme is an ongoing commitment. Constantly evolving, changing and improving it does not have to be (and will not be) right the first time. Ask staff how they are feeling and allow them to make comments anonymously. Listen to feedback and act on it.

Responsibility/launch

• Depending on how big the programme is, staff will be needed to help you deliver it
• Seniority does not matter, anyone from any level of the business can help implement
• Let people choose what they want to take responsibility for
• Then launch it. Make an event out of it, communicate how important this is and how much of an investment the business is putting in

Delivery

• Keeping momentum is key
• If you cannot deliver it do not start it
• Set aside dedicated time to go over it
• Start small and grow it
• Make it count and make it important

Measurement

• Ask what is working and do more of it
• Ask what is not and stop doing it
• Re-do surveys to see the effect on the staff
• Ask staff for suggestions and implement them

Marketing

• A strong culture helps recruit the best staff and clients so share it where possible
• Doing activities that enforce a business’ culture provides a huge amount of content for social media
• Put evidence on display for when clients come into the office
• PR activity
• Share values as part of the pitch process

Click here to find out more about our Leadership Lunch and Learn sessions and to book your place on future sessions.