‘How we do things around here’ – a checklist for developing your culture

For most organisations, the external factors impacting on business are constant and growing. Some impacts are real and now, some are welcome opportunities or risks to be managed, and some are surprises. With pressure on resources, a race for talent, rising customer expectations and growing competition, organisations want a workforce with mindsets, attitudes and behaviours that are open, flexible and responsive to the challenges. They also want a culture – a ‘how we do things around here’ – that provides an engaging common purpose, enabling employees  to feel equipped to achieve goals in the most effective and efficient way.

That kind of engagement doesn’t “just happen” – it needs focus and planning like any other business outcome you want to achieve.

We’ve been working with Sainsbury’s Bank and BGL Group (owners of comparethemarket.com) to support them in their continued  success. An essential ingredient in this is ensuring that culture and values are aligned to their vision and business strategy, as well as customer expectations. This has involved working with their leadership, senior teams and employees to identify their preferred culture, refresh their values and define the behaviours that underpin ‘how we do things’.

However, developing the words or framework is not an endpoint, it is the beginning – and we’ve been working with our clients to develop the critical success factors for truly living their culture.

Checklist

When developing and embedding your approach, ask yourself Is our culture…

• rooted in purpose, vision and strategic direction
• aligned to customer and key stakeholder expectations
• led by the senior team
• co-created and owned by employees (and other key stakeholders)
• embedded into customer touch points
• embedded into employee lifecycle
• brought to life by a compelling narrative and authentic engagement
• supported by managers who are equipped and enabled
• celebrated and shared through storytelling and learnings?

If you want to take things further or need additional help and support, don’t hesitate to get in touch today. Or for more ideas about how you can develop your organisational culture, check out some examples of our recent work.