Creating An Innovative and Authentic Workplace

I had the pleasure of presenting to the North Carolina PRSA chapter during its annual workshop in Raleigh last week. I was thrilled to be on the agenda — not only to share my thoughts on workplace culture — but it gave me a great reason to visit with my friends in the area.

No one can deny the value of “workplace culture” but how many of us have actually taken the time to define what that means for our own organizations? This past spring, as I was interviewing candidates for an open position at the agency, most everyone asked me about our culture. In all my years of hiring no one had ever asked me that question. I know what I THINK it is, but could I articulate it in a way that made sense to someone walking into our office for the first-time.

As I was pulling my presentation together, I found some interesting tidbits regarding culture, none of which should surprise you:

• 94 percent of executives and 88 percent of employees believe a distinct workplace culture is important to business success, that it is a signal of how well a company is doing, and that it generally outranks compensation, benefits and titles when it comes to employee satisfaction (this might explain why I was getting asked the question during the interviews).
• The more effective a company culture, the more engaged the workforce, the better the reputation, the greater the company success, and the stronger the ability to attract talent. People will seek employment in a company with a good reputation and will want to stay (always a good thing).

Here’s what your employees say when you ask them about culture:

• I would like my manager to trust me and to really “know me”
• I want to have pride in my work
• I want to enjoy going to work everyday
• I would like flexibility

The employer says the following:

• I want my team to give their personal best
• I want my team to work together
• I want to create an environment where people are trusted and valued
• I want to create an atmosphere of innovation

What does it take to create an atmosphere of innovation? Giving groups of people the opportunity to work in concert with each other to grow and share opportunities.  You must challenge your team to think more critically and see through to continuous improvement. This means you and your team need to adopt an entrepreneurial attitude and be a risk taker.

The truth is workplace culture should be in everything you do – from the artwork on your walls to the tone of your marketing materials, if your culture is as strong as you think, everyone on the team will not only tell you what it is but will live it every day.

Every single day is an opportunity to create and sustain your company culture . Are you up for the challenge?