“Culture” is what separates a good company from a great company. We need to understand that VC is an entity. In order to grow the entity and its components(i.e. Employees, funded companies) the culture has to be set right. There has to be a growing environment. There are lots of examples and case studies which show how a company with a good work culture beats the company with a moderate/bad work culture in longer terms in most of the areas. The “work culture” part is the most underrated one. Most of the companies don’t even think about it as they treat this subject as least important. Even experienced top management sometimes neglect this aspect. “Bad Work Culture” has been one of the top reasons for a company’s declining performance, decadent reputation and so on. This blog will cover the What, Why & How aspect of a company’s culture. Moreover, we will do in-depth analysis on how to improve the company’s culture and boost up its declining performance.
“What does Culture mean” – Culture is nothing but the environment provided in the workspace, also it includes how the top management behaves with their employees and what they encourage them to do. It also includes the behaviour of employees among each other. A non-trained eye may miss out on these small & meticulous details. These details are extremely important to track in order to know how the company along with its employees would shape in future.Most of the companies are starting to focus on improving their organisational culture. Google , Twitter & Zappos are few big companies which are flag bearers of good organisational culture. If we look company as an living entity, then we can easily say that if the entity is not provided with good nourishment & care|(referring to culture) either it would die soon or would have a decently bad growth rate.
The main problem in the companies is that top management have a wrong perception of what company culture is. It is not only about bonuses/incentives, ravishing parties and other fancy stuff. It is more about peer-to-peer connection, innovative environment, supporting management and many other factors. It is extremely important to understand that boosting up an employee’s morale during tough times is as important as remuneration. I know that the remuneration example may sound a bit exaggerated but it is not. Humans are emotionally attached species and nowadays millennials prioritise good culture above high packages. According to New Survey: Company Mission & Culture Matter More Than Salary – Glassdoor Blog – “Glassdoor’s Mission & Culture Survey 2019 found that over 77% of adults across four countries (the United States, UK, France, Germany) would consider a company’s culture before applying for a job there, and 79% would consider a company’s mission and purpose before applying. Furthermore, over half of the 5000 respondents said that company culture is more important than salary when it comes to job satisfaction.”
“Why do we need good company culture” – The world has changed drastically in the 21st century. Millennials have taken over the workforce and are the dominating age group in the global workforce. Three in Four Adults Would Consider a Company’s Culture Before Applying to a Job, According to Glassdoor Survey(Culture Over Cash? Glassdoor Multi-Country Survey Finds More Than Half of Employees Prioritize Workplace Culture Over Salary). The reason for striving for good organisational culture is quite evident from this glassdoor survey. First, people used to look for high package companies and they used to prioritise salary over toxic culture. But the dynamics of this prioritisation has drastically taken a u-turn with millennials coming into play.
The million dollar question is “Why, on earth, has this u-turn taken place?”. The answer lies behind the words Self-awareness & Self-love. People nowadays have become more self-aware of their needs and their needs have drastically changed. More and more employees are preferring internal happiness over materialistic happiness. This indeed a great change in the workforce behaviour. Lookin at all of this trend, companies have to evolve their culture in a good sense. If they lack a good culture they would lack in attracting great minds. We know for a fact that “The employees are the driving force of the company”. Most of the companies are updating their age-old obsolete human policies and environmental framework to fit in this new generational demand.
“How can Companies build good culture”- It was extremely important to provide the reasons on why a company needs good organisational culture. Now that we know it we can hit one notch higher. There has to be a determined- plan on how to shift the toxic culture to a relatively healthy one. Let me remind my readers that it is not a one or two day task rather it requires years to get into shape. Think of it as a muscle-building process. You can’t build a muscular physique in one or two days, it requires years of effort. Similarly the culture will evolve slowly and steadily if all the good factors come in together. Yes, it is also true that the process can be boosted up but that sometimes may backfire. You might have heard this phrase that “ Direction is more important than speed”. Those who focus more on speed may meet with a deadly accident in the longer term. Those who focus more on direction are the ones who ultimately achieve the set goal.
Some key aspects to look at during this work culture improvement phase are- Good & Supportive Top Management, Involvement of Top to Bottom Employees, Not-so Strict Rules, Focus on Growth & Innovation. All the employees have to show the willingness to change for good. Top Management needs to build the environment where anyone and everyone can present their views(for or against) without any hesitation. Honesty has to be appreciated at each and every level of the company.
There has to be a friendly environment between seniors and juniors so that there is no space for fear. If most of the things are followed then the companies will observe that with time the learning and curiosity curve of the employees are moving up due to the censorship-resistant environment. This in-turn will enhance and boost up the overall performance of the companies in their respective sectors.
This blog has tried to bring in precisely the most important aspects related to the company’s culture. This blog would have helped readers in many forms like – Choosing a good cultured company over toxic one, Building a Good Organisational Culture and so on. One needs to have a basic knowledge about the culture of the company before becoming its part.