When you think of organisational culture, what comes to mind?
Is it the “Google” effect such as games rooms, free childcare, free meals and snacks, time for creativity…or do you think “culture, who has time for culture, we just need to get the work done?”. Or maybe a combination of both? Or maybe you’d love to have the time to invest in building a culture.
I want to talk more about culture and share a few things with you in this post about what culture is and how that plays into your hiring and people management.
The first thing I want to share is that I hate to break it to you, but you have a culture, whether you have fostered it or not. Your organisation has a “vibe”, it has a feel, it has values, it has an employee experience. Things that make up a culture are the same whether you have tried to develop them, or they have naturally developed along the way.
Some key pieces to organisational culture, whether it’s good, bad or ugly.
✨ Values - These are the beliefs held which determine the decisions that the organisation makes. They shape your priorities. So if it is all about great customer service and getting new business, those could be your values, they don’t have to be written on the wall to be real.
✨ Beliefs and Assumptions - These are the things you hold to be true, whether they are or not. You may have found through experience that young people are lazy, this could seep into your culture when hiring and working with young people (for example - I think working with young people is amazing because they have so much energy and enthusiasm when they are passionate!).
✨ Norms - these may be just what is expected in your business - such as when you come in to work, do you stop, say hello to others, make a coffee and ease into the morning. Or is it head-down, bum-up from the moment you walk in and do you expect that of others? Things like this become organisational norms and expectations.
✨ Communication - what is acceptable speech in your business? Is swearing acceptable in the office or is it always polite and courteous? Do you allow talk about personal lives and weekend plans, or is it all business all the time? Do you have transparency in decision making and communicate as soon as an important decision is made or do you hold back? Do you have an open door policy, or do people need to book a meeting with you?
✨ Leadership - in addition to communication, how you lead others is a major factor in your culture, do you develop your people, do you give them projects, do you involve them in decision making or are decisions dropped down from the top without discussion and staff considered easily replaceable rather than critical elements the business can’t function without? Do you have regular catch ups and check ins with your team to see how they're going, if they have any struggles or challenges, if there's anything they need help with to perform their role, if there's anything in particular they need from you, or do you just leave people to their own devices?
✨ Employee Attitude - how your employees feel about the organisation becomes a part of the culture, and usually stems from how they're treated. Whether it’s positive and there’s dedication and loyalty there or it’s negative based on potentially poor decision making in the past, it’s important to face this and see where your employees are really at.
So leading on from employee attitude, understanding your organisational value has a big impact on how you need to hire in the future. If there are issues within your culture, facing them, owning them is the first step towards fixing them. If you still don’t feel you have time to deep dive into your culture (and don’t get me wrong, not taking the time does become part of the culture) then at least hiring people who exemplify the culture you would like to have is a great step forward.
So what are some of the benefits of doing the deep dive into your culture from a perspective of making great future hires and retaining your staff?
✨ Candidate Attraction - employees look to work for an organisation that lets them be their best, work in their best way. If you understand that about your business, you can so much more easily attract candidates who want to work and be in the environment you provide for that environment.
Your benefits can also align to where your values are. Example, if you are a high performing organisation, prioritising professional development of staff could be a great way to retain staff, but also an excellent way to get the most out of them too! Highlighting this in your advertising may mean you attract people who genuinely want to be developed.
Leading on from this - some of the key moments for you to share your culture in a hiring process are:
✨ Advertisement and Position Description - make sure these two important documents reflect your organisational values, weave them into the wording so that candidates will get a feel for what it’s like to work for you before they have stepped foot in the office.
✨ Authentic communication throughout the process - occasionally I will work with a Hiring Manager whose communication style is not my cup of tea, but I still encourage them to be who they are at every step of the process. It’s important that who they hire sees them for who they are, and not for something they are pretending to be in an interview, as that will only lead to disappointment. Be yourself and you’ll get the right candidate!
✨ Interview experience reflects the culture - as above, be who you are in the interview, but even more so, design questions that reflect your values. Assess how well they will align to the way you want the work done to get the best for your business.
✨ Offer and acceptance - don’t promise something when offering and accepting that you can’t live up to. If you really want a candidate, but they want something you wouldn’t normally offer, think twice about giving it to them. If you can’t commit to giving them full flexibility to work when they want to, you’re only setting them up for disappointment later on. If paying top dollar would stretch you too far, consider whether the risk is worth it.
✨ Onboarding - remember that the recruitment process is the start of your relationship, plan to onboard your new employee in a way that reflects their expectations. The highest turnover comes in the first 12 months, so getting it wrong can lead to losing someone you didn’t have to.
I hope by now I’ve convinced you that understanding your culture is critical, not only for getting the most out of your current team, but equally for hiring a great team in the future. You don’t have to have free in-house childcare or pool tables, but you should know what you have to offer and why you offer a great place to work for the right person aligned to your values.
If you want help to take your culture and recruitment journeys to the next level, reach out today for a chat!
Ash ✨