Paul Sinkevich: President, Dale Carnegie Training of BC
My definition of corporate culture: culture describes and guides the way owners, leaders and employees think, feel and ultimately how they act. It's like an internal brand. What do your employees think about the company? Are they proud? Are they passionate about what they do? Are they enthusiastic? Are they connected to where your company is going?
If you know the answer to these questions, to me, you now know what your true culture is.
Now you can ask yourself the question, does your culture need an adjustment?
It's all about leadership and communicating a clear vision to your team members. Once you create a shared vision and it goes viral throughout the organization, empowered behaviour catapults you to the next level. People stop viewing their role as task-oriented and instead become result-oriented.
Empowered behaviour is driven by a shared vision, but neither is possible unless the vision is clearly communicated. Effective communication is the foundational skill of building effective teams, creating a unified sense of purpose and moving your organization to the next level. Culture is management's responsibility. It cannot be delegated.
Mandy Whiting: Acting vice-president, human resources, Vancity
The first thing to recognize is that your business already has a culture, whether you intentionally set it or not. Where culture exists at its deepest level is in the shared assumptions and beliefs of your employees. Collectively these form "the way things are done around here" and will reflect in employees' behaviour. How did your culture come about? The primary answer is that employees learn a lot by observing the actions of their leadership team.
To identify whether your culture should be reset, you can begin by asking, "Is the way we do things supporting or hindering the achievement of our current business goals?" If those goals have shifted over time, it's possible your culture may be lagging behind.
At Vancity, we evolved from a culture of responsibility – defined as a personal feeling of obligation – toward a culture of accountability, where employee role outcomes and accountabilities are clearly defined and aligned to our organizational goals. Decision-making authorities are also described. Implementing the framework provided greater clarity for our employees, in terms of who does what, and the ability to get things done more efficiently and effectively to the benefit of staff themselves as well as our members.
Heather Claridge: Vice-president, human resources, Omicron Canada and BCHRMA member
An organization's culture results from a set of attitudes, actions and behaviours that guides the way things get done. Every organization has a culture. The issue is whether it helps or hinders your organization's success. You need to pay attention to your organization's culture for three main reasons:
•Business performance. Companies that align their culture with their strategy financially outperform companies that don't.
•People. People want to belong to an organization that fits with their values, respects their contributions and allows them to contribute in a meaningful way. Having an intentional culture attracts the type of people who will fit with your culture, and it encourages them to stay because they feel they belong.
•Brand. A strong culture that is aligned with your brand promise creates an environment where your brand can come alive internally. Externally, your employees become your brand ambassadors in an engaging and authentic way because they're experiencing the brand every day through your culture.
Culture is not an intangible, feel-good initiative. When done right, it is the "secret sauce" that is hard to replicate and provides a distinct competitive advantage.
