You Get the Workplace Culture You Deserve

Workplace culture just happens.  It’s automatic.  Even if you are a company of one, you will have a corporate culture.  The ingredients for culture are made up of values, purpose, disparity, trust, conflict tolerance (or lack thereof), goals, objectives, strategies, roles, responsibilities and believe it or not, customers and shareholders…  All blended together in a Petri dish called the ‘operating environment.’

And like, as any scientist will tell you, a culture develops.

You Get The Culture You Deserve

As the leader, if you are not paying attention to every aspect of it, you will get the culture you deserve.  That may sound harsh and some will even tell me that the resultant culture they have is ‘not their fault.’  That’s when I tell leaders to get their heads out of the sand or some other dark bodily orifice.

Creating a Positive Workplace Culture

The above list of ingredients sounds long and complicated and… hard. Yes, it is. But, do you want to know how to make it super simple (because it actually isn’t long and complicated)? Follow my super simple 3-point checklist:

1. Values. What are they for your business? Does anyone know what they are? How do you bring them to life every day? What beliefs do they inspire? How do you handle values violations or violators?
2. Purpose. Why do you do the things you do (beyond making money)? Is your Purpose or Mission statement short, simple and easy to remember? Does it inspire people?  For my business, my Purpose is… “Helping unlock potential in leaders and their businesses.”  It is what gets me out of bed every morning with passion and enthusiasm.
3. The people you hire and keep. Are they stark raving real life apostles aligned with your values and purpose?  Forget the crap on their CV’s. Every skill on the planet can be taught except cultural alignment. I have lost track of how many values misfits with great resumes that I have had to fire. If you think you can convert a cultural terrorist with a solid CV, you are kidding yourself.

Get the above three right and an ‘EPIC’ workplace culture will emerge (EPIC is my acronym for Engaged, Purposeful, Inspired and Customer Centric).

All the other key culture ingredients naturally flow out of the super simple 3-points above with structure and humble leadership.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, partner at Incrementa Consulting Inc., #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.

The audio version of Bob’s #1 best seller It’s Already Inside is now available on Audible.