3 Steps to Jump-Start Your Corporate Culture

You know corporate culture is important. Get started by understanding your current corporate culture. The first thing you need to do is honestly listen to your employees. Make sure you listen to a full representation of employees, not just recent hires or a hand-picked few from management.  Next, formalize your business values and mission with executive leadership. Finally, assess where your employees’ perceptions fall in relation to your overall vision.

1) Listen to Your Employees

Regularly survey your employees and structure your survey to cover the key aspects important to your corporate culture. If done on a regular basis, you’ll recognize trends and be able to respond to situations before they get out of hand. If an employee’s engagement score suddenly drops, it may be time to talk to the manager of that department. If turnover increases and morale drops, dig deeper to understand why. Training on coaching and mentoring can help improve engagement.

2) Formalize Your Business Values and Mission

Gain agreement with executive leadership on what the company stands for. What do they want people to think of when they think of working at ABC Company? Is customer service the number one important thing?  Or, is community involvement more important? What values does the company want to convey? Is respect and integrity the priority over short-term profits? Don’t just rely on a poster on the wall to communicate your core values and mission. Make it come to life!

3) Assess Your Employees Perceptions with Your Overall Vision

Monitor your employee survey results to ensure they’re in line with the overall corporate mission and values. Don’t rely on the outward facing Brand team, but really listen to employees who are working in the trenches with the broader internal teams day in and day out. Too many times the Brand team consists of new employees and is isolated from the internal culture by working with outside vendors. The external and internal messages and behaviors need to be consistent. Choose one or two key areas to focus on and develop training that addresses these key areas. Ensure all employees are clear on the overarching corporate values and mission. Create ongoing training that reinforces these messages.

Develop Trustworthy Leaders

Take a close look at leaders in your organization. Is there an opportunity to better align their behavior with your cultural values and mission? The Bob Pike Group has helped 95% of Fortune 100 companies with measurable training and performance solutions. There are several options to choose from:

1. Public Workshops – Experience for yourself how our instructor-led, participant-centered approach helps people learn twice as much in half the time.
2. Onsite –The Bob Pike Group will come to your company and coach your team of managers. It’s a great way to build teamwork and set clear expectations for your company’s mission and values.
3. Design Consulting – The Bob Pike Group will work with you to customize an Onsite Workshop for your team. This includes high level strategy and facilitation across functional areas to ensure corporate training objectives are defined and carried through. Team members are assessed afterwards to ensure information is retained and applied.

Learn how to write effective training objectives with this “Free Guide: 5 Tips for Writing Effective Objectives.”