Posted On: June 1, 2022
Why is organizational culture important? For starters, company culture impacts performance, media perception, employee health, and the overall health of your company. Let’s look at seven reasons why organizational culture is so important.
- Establish Your Identity
Organizational culture defines your company’s internal and external identity. Here’s a thought exercise: write down five attributes that describe your organization’s culture. You might write something like “good work-life balance” or “lots of meetings” or maybe “team-oriented.” Now, spend a few minutes thinking about why each of those attributes is important to your organization. Why is it significant that your company has a good work-life balance? What makes these cultural attributes valuable to your customers?
In other words, your organizational culture will reverberate across all aspects of your business because it represents the way you do business. It’s simultaneously your identity and your image, which means it determines how your people and customers perceive you. - Living your core values
Your culture can be a reflection (or a betrayal) of your company’s core values. How you conduct business, manage workflow, interact as a team, and treat your customers all add up to an experience that should represent who you are as an organization and how you believe a company should be run. In short, your culture is the sum of your company’s beliefs in action.
If your espoused values don’t match your culture, it could mean that your ‘core values’ are a list of meaningless buzzwords, and your people know it.
A strong organizational culture keeps your company’s core values front and center in all aspects of its day-to-day operations and organizational structure. The value of doing so is incalculable. - Your culture can transform employees into advocates (or critics)
One of the greatest advantages of a strong organizational culture is that it has the power to turn employees into advocates. Your people want more than a steady paycheck and good benefits; they want to feel like what they do matters. And when your people feel like they matter, they’re more likely to become culture advocates—that is, people who not only contribute to your organization’s culture but also promote it and live it internally and externally. - A strong organizational culture helps you keep your best people
It should come as no surprise that employees who feel like they’re part of a community, rather than a cog in a wheel, are more likely to stay at your company. That’s what most job applicants are looking for in a company.
Ask any top performer what keeps them at their company, and you’re bound to hear this answer: the people. It’s because a workplace culture focused on people has profound appeal. It helps improve engagement, deliver a unique employee experience, and make your people feel more connected. - A well-functioning culture assists with onboarding
Organizational culture also has the potential to act as an aligning force at your company. This is particularly the case with new hires who, more often than not, have put some considerable thought into the type of culture they’re entering into. The culture at your organization is essentially a guiding force for them, so it must start with onboarding. - Your culture transforms your company into a team
A successful organizational culture brings together the people at your company and keeps them aligned. When your culture is clear, different perspectives can gather behind it with a common purpose. The culture at your organization sets expectations for how people behave and work together, and how well they function as a team.
In this way, culture can break down the boundaries between siloed teams, guide decision-making, and improve workflow overall. On the flip side, a toxic organizational culture can do just the opposite. - Culture impacts performance and employee wellbeing
Reports show that organizational culture has a direct impact on performance and, more importantly, your employees’ well-being. A healthy culture addresses both areas by finding an appropriate balance based on company values.
Does your company stress performance to such a degree that you feel like your physical and mental health are being overlooked? There might be instances when that may not be a problem, but for most cases, it’ll hurt your company.
These are just a smattering of reasons why organizational culture is important, but they’re a good starting point to get you thinking about what your organization brings to the table. What’s important at your company might be different depending on the situation.
So, what are your next steps? Find out what aspects of your organizational culture are most important to your people and think about performing a culture audit. Your goal is to discover what your people value most and support that. Congratulations, you’re one step closer to creating an extraordinary workplace!
When you’re crafting a strategy to help your business grow, prioritizing your organizational culture is crucial. Contact us to learn more about how to differentiate yourself in the HVAC industry.