by Patrick Sackner Christensen
Who is driving the culture in your company and do they have a license? Did you know that a thriving company culture leads to more than four times higher revenue growth?
Future of work, LMS, digital fit, thought-leadership, servant leadership, way of working, flexible working hours, 4 days work-week, remote working, covid adjustments,… and many other subjects are being mentioned in today’s discussions in newspapers, social media, established companies, startups, and many more places. It is all very interesting subjects and important for you, me and others for sure. For all this and much more the culture is and will always be the driver – and whom are you having to drive the culture within your company? Do they have a license to drive?
Perhaps you are thinking, what does he mean by “who is driving”, but as you know “culture eats strategy for breakfast” (Peter Drucker), which is why I want you to consider 1) who is driving the culture within your company and 2) do they have a license?
Presented in the report; State of the American Workplace, only 33% of employees were engaged in their work. This is why we must act differently.
For many years I have got the opportunity to work with project managers certified within Adkar, IPMA, CSM(Scrum), PMP, Prince2, and many more – and I do hear many companies working with an Agile setup – with Agile coaches – taking care of the “road” making sure the setup is followed. But what they all have together is, that people are only one of many factors they are looking at – and this is usually not their specialty (people). Why I am mentioning project managers is, that most companies have certified project managers but very few have someone hired to only taking care of the culture, the passion, the employee experience which I believe is also why many companies don’t succeed as good as they can or want to.
Employee motivation is 17 to 33 percent higher when profit is not the primary focus. Goals can be achieved in many ways, it’s a matter of how you do it.
While working on this article I have been looking at job sites too, as they often give an understanding and view of, what companies are looking for (a bite of it at least, and then I have followed up by personal interviews).
First, I have experienced that when companies want to hire employees to HR/People & Culture roles, the job description is only partly about culture, as there is much more included such as laws and regulation, recruitment, administration and much more. With these divided tasks, it is impossible to focus on the most important task – the passion and energy of the employees. Second, I often see roles such as CEO, CFO, CCO, COO which of course are very important roles- but where is the Organizational Developer, or the Culture Coach? Those roles who solely need to take care of your employee’s happiness – making sure your employees are motivated, engaged, and filled with energy?
93 percent are more committed when you as an employee experience a high degree of meaning in your working life. Furthermore, 74 percent don’t believe that they fulfill their full potential at work.
Employee motivation is 17 to 33 percent higher when profit is not the primary focus.
According to new research of more than 600 US businesses with 50-500 employees, 63.3% of companies say retaining employees is harder than hiring them.
Still, most companies don’t dare to leave the KPI’s behind and letting KBI’s (Key Behavior Indicator) be the drivers – why is that?
In my research, I was told by my wife to look into Linda Hammarstrand –former Director of Passion and part of Clarion Hotel’s management team. She was responsible for the corporate culture and for making Clarion Hotel the Nordics region’s most attractive employer. Again Petter Stordalen has dared to do something different and with huge success. In a major long-term study, companies that had the best corporate cultures, that encouraged all-around leadership initiatives, and that highly appreciated their employees, customers, and owners grew 682 percent in revenue.
During the same period of evaluation— 11 years — companies without a thriving company culture grew only166 percent in revenue. This means that a thriving company culture leads to more than four times higher revenue growth.
Still, thinking about who is driving your culture? Still, thinking about why you should be looking more into making sure that your employees are happy and motivated? Okay here goes:
