Millennials and Generation ‘Z’ team members are all looking for an organization where the company and the people within the business believe in the same things that they believe in. They share the same values and fit with the organization’s culture. The business appreciates the skills that they bring to the job. That they are recognized and appreciated for their contributions.
This is the new business paradigm.
In the future, and some believe the future is here, the biggest challenge that businesses will have is not a fight for customers but, a battle for talent. Finding the ‘right’ people will be the new threat that businesses have.
How then do we attract and retain the talent that we are going to need to win in this new paradigm?
The easy and the hard answer is… culture. Easy because engaged ones win in today’s world. Hard, because it takes tremendous discipline to recruit, assess, hire, on-board and develop team members that fit your values system and culture.
Every business has one. Whether you pay attention to it or not. You do, too. Anytime you have more than one person in an organization, you will have a culture. You can choose to ignore it, or you can choose to craft it in the vision of an environment that is harmonious, based on trust, comfortable with conflict, accountable and high performing. You get to choose.
It has been proven through multiple studies that culture eats ‘everything for breakfast.’ In a highly engaged one, revenue, profit and value (among many other measurables) of your business will significantly outperform the competitors that do not have an engaged one.
Culture is built upon a foundation of values. Values are a belief system. You, as the leader, need to build your team and your business upon the foundation of values and the story that they tell. Values (or beliefs) are what forms your culture. It forms the cause that you are focused on. And people will work harder for a cause than they will for a paycheque. And that is what you want to foster. If you, as the leader, are not living the values, your culture will be shit.
If you are not tuned into building a great culture, to stay alive long enough to have someone turn out the lights, start cutting costs now in order to prolong the inevitable.
Every organization has a value set. Your job is to hire and keep people that align with that values set. You also have to protect that value set above all else (even profit).
Culture is the new competitive advantage.
Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, and International Keynote Speaker. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
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Tags: Brand, Business Culture, Employee Retention, Hiring, Leadership, Values
