HOW A CEO CAN FIX CORPORATE CULTURE
When corporate culture makes the news, it’s usually for all the wrong reasons. United Airlines has become almost infamous for its treatment of passengers from the viral hit “United Breaks Guitars” to the viral video of the doctor being dragged down the aisle.
But for every company whose culture results in these types of newsworthy stories, there is a Southwest Airlines, famous for its employees-first mantra and spirit of inclusiveness that inspire teams to go the extra mile for customers. There is a Quicken Loans, whose “isms” or cultural values—like “simplicity is genius” and “yes before no”—have led the company to become one of the fastest growing online mortgage lenders, not to mention one of Fortune magazine’s top ten best companies to work for.
We could examine what’s wrong with United’s culture (or any of dozens of companies famous for their awful employee engagement practices). But a good company culture isn’t just about avoiding doing the wrong things; it’s also about doing the right things.
In successful companies, culture goes beyond free yoga classes, gourmet meals, and other perks. It’s about creating a work environment based on shared values and principles—ideals so deeply embedded in the organization’s DNA that they become intrinsic to daily decisions. It is about building a business where people can collectively thrive and grow. It’s about an environment where people are driven to do good work—better work—that translates into higher customer satisfaction and better performance. Culture is the glue that binds a company together. As with most things in a business, it starts at the top.
What can a CEO do to improve corporate culture?
Listen More, Talk Less
When you’re busy running a company, it’s easy to miss what’s happening on the frontlines. Would employees at Wells Fargo have created those millions of fake bank and credit card accounts if executives had actually listened to their employees, and understood the pressures that they were under to meet sales targets? Employees live the organization’s culture every day, and if something is not quite right, they are the first ones to know—which is why it so important to tune in to what they are saying.
Website design startup Squarespace keeps its finger on the pulse of the organization by maintaining a flat, open culture where there are minimal levels of management between staff and executives. This gives employees the confidence to voice their opinions freely.
Encouraging open dialog is important. At MetricStream, I keep a stuffed elephant in my office. It is meant as a reminder that I encourage team members to “put the elephants on the table.” You could conduct surveys to collect employee feedback, talk to your staff face-to-face, or establish hotlines where people can report grievances and concerns without fear of being targeted.
As you listen, pay attention to the sub-text and non-verbal cues. Employees might be telling you one thing, but their expressions and gestures might be signifying the opposite. Are they afraid to speak the truth? If so, what does that say about your culture? Similarly, when sending out surveys, take note of how many people respond or how many questions they skipped. At team meetings, observe how people interact. Do they look engaged? Do they ask questions? These signals provide important insights into your organization’s culture and its alignment with corporate values.
Reward employees for speaking up and raising issues. Invite them to challenge your thoughts and bring diverse ideas and opinions to the table. When employees feel that they are being heard and know their concerns are noted, they will be more engaged, productive, and innovative.
Make Collaboration the Core of Your Culture
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Japanese 4x100 meters relay team pulled off an unexpected victory when it defeated North American sprinting legends to win the silver. None of the four Japanese men by themselves were as fast as America’s Justin Gatlin or Canada’s Andre De Grasse. However, what they lacked in speed, they made up for in teamwork and seamless baton changes that ultimately gave them the winning edge.
Noted leadership expert Ken Blanchard once said, “None of us is as smart as all of us.” Effective leaders understand this concept. They know that the best corporate cultures are created when people work as one unit towards common goals and values—when individual contributions come together to drive collective achievements.
However, fostering a spirit of collaboration in today’s scattered, global organizations can be challenging. Many leaders limit collaboration to specific projects rather than viewing it as the bedrock of a successful organization. There are others who understand that one of the most basic human needs is to belong; when employees feel they’re a valued member of a team that collaborates towards a meaningful purpose, they tend to be more innovative, high-performing, and satisfied.
Collaboration doesn’t happen by accident, though. It takes a strong, sustained strategy and roadmap. Begin by helping employees realize the importance of collaboration--not only in achieving the organization’s objectives--but also in fulfilling their own unique potential. Create a work environment of trust and respect where employees are free to express themselves. Invite them to work across silos with other teams and functions. Establish metrics that can measure and improve the level of collaboration.
Embrace the idea that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Encourage Risk-Taking
As someone who has spent much of her life taking risks, both as an individual and as the CEO of a company, I’ve learned that the most successful businesses are those unafraid to take chances. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki put it best when she said, “Life doesn’t always present you with the perfect opportunity at the perfect time . . . . Opportunities—the good ones—they’re messy and confusing and hard to recognize. They’re risky. They challenge you.”
The only way to realize these opportunities is to establish a culture of risk-taking where employees across the organization are empowered to experiment and challenge the status quo. At MetricStream, one of our biggest innovations yet—the M7 GRC platform and apps—is the cumulative result of teams across the organization pushing the boundaries of technology to boldly go where few, if any, companies have gone before.
A strong culture of risk-taking is particularly important in a world that is constantly changing. If you want to innovate, transform, and disrupt, your employees have to take those leaps of faith. It starts with walking the talk: when employees see their leaders taking smart risks, they will follow suit.
You also need informed decision-making. Employees have to understand the risks they’re taking. Encourage them to spend time measuring and analyzing the possible risks of their ideas so that they are prepared for the outcomes. Establish milestones, check-posts, and controls to ensure the risks don’t spin out of control. Let employees know it’s ok if things don’t always work out.
When Google’s much hyped Wave failed, then-CEO Eric Schmidt told reporters, “Remember, we celebrate our failures. This is a company where it’s absolutely ok to try something that’s very hard, have it not be successful, and take the learning from that.”
Culture is not something that just happens. Like anything worthwhile, it takes time, effort, and commitment. Take a leaf out of Asana’s book. The tech company treats culture as a product that, like any app or software, requires careful design, testing, and debugging in endless iterations. Representatives from across the company meet regularly to take stock of corporate values and identify new ways to embed them. They also collect user feedback about what’s working well and what is not. Unsurprisingly, the company was recently named among Entrepreneur’s best company cultures of 2017.
At the end of the day, companies like Asana know that culture is not just a “nice-to-have.” It is as important as the product or service you’re selling because when you have a robust, cohesive culture, you have happy employees. And when you have happy employees, you have higher productivity, happier customers, and stronger profits.