Your Path to a Better Employee Culture

Big Idea

What is the primary message to convey to readers? What is the main takeaway for the audience?

Your culture plays a huge role in your ability to attract and retain talent. If your company is struggling from a culture standpoint, here’s a meaningful approach to help you improve it.

Supporting Points

List between 3 and 5 key points that define and support the big idea/key takeaway. When possible, reference research or other online sources that provide support for the insights being shared. (Or, possibly a counterpoint that you are arguing against.)

According to learning and organizational development expert Melissa Daimler, culture is the behaviors, systems and practices of a company, which are all “guided by an overarching set of values.” A great culture happens when your behaviors, systems and practices are aligned and truly representative of your values. Here’s how you can assess your organization within this framework.

• Behavior: Essentially, this means making sure that your leaders are living your values every day. This is why it’s important to not only define your values but to also clearly communicate what each value looks like in terms of the behaviors that reflect it.

• Systems: Are your hiring practices and rewards programs in line with your culture? For example, if employee growth is a value but you don’t have clear expectations for the learning environment and how people can move to the next level then you’re not creating systems that work together and build from one another.

• Practices: Is your organization still relying on practices (here Daimler defines practices as “everything from company events, running meetings, feedback processes, to how decisions are made”) that are no longer relevant to your organization? Often, companies put practices in place that make sense at the time but they fail to evaluate their practices over time, resulting in inconsistent and irrelevant practices.

The true value of Daimler’s model is that it moves companies away from superficial aspects of culture, like hip and trendy perks, and forces them to do the more meaningful work that will foster a culture that delivers what we humans truly crave—clarity and consistency throughout the organization.

Relevance

Why does this matter? How will the audience benefit from a better understanding of the big idea and/or the insights being shared? Or, what are the risks of not fully considering the big idea/key takeaway?

A 2018 survey by LinkedIn finds that nearly three-quarters (70%) of respondents say they “would not work at a leading company if it meant they had to tolerate a bad workplace culture.” Culture matters tremendously—about two-thirds (65%) say they would prefer lower pay over a bad culture.