
The world is more connected today than ever before, suggesting that it should prove increasingly easy for multi-national businesses to unite a global workforce. We know this is not the case. As governments watch powerlessly on as the people of the UK vote whether or not to identify with the wider European community, we explore the questions big businesses must ask to avoid politician’s mistakes – namely where does culture come from, how do you measure it and most importantly how do you shape it?
Where does culture come from?
When a company is founded more often than not the new culture is born from the fusion of the culture of broader society and the culture of the leadership team. Over time, as organisations grow, become international, merge with other businesses and workforces become less homogenous, this must evolve and be defined in a more meaningful way. The first challenge for a business today is to diagnose the problem and reveal the levers for building a cohesive, unified corporate identity.How do you measure culture?
In order to get robust insights you should speak to a representative cross-section of employees; across all levels, geographies, departments /vocations, tenures, ages, languages and genders. The best way to do this is with a quantitative survey across the entire employee base. The first dimension to measure is how the culture is perceived by the specific employee; both in relative terms (deemed better, the same or worse than similar businesses) and in absolute terms (agreement with possible descriptors). This will paint a picture of the strengths and weaknesses, and the amount of variation between responses will also reflect the degree of diversity and fragmentation.Read more on company culture:
- Samsung “startup reform” sounds like corporate version of the mid-life crisis sports car
- From poker chips to fish & chips: Why employers must step up and keep the workforce motivated
- Business lessons learned from Star Wars: How to become a Jedi company
How do you shape culture?
By measuring knowledge and commitment discretely you will have a good idea whether your focus needs to be education or engagement, and top-down or bottom-up. But to really move from insight to action, informing actual strategies, initiatives and behaviours, you must measure inputs and outputs of engagement in the employee survey. Analytical models can then help us to identify how to drive cultural alignment, and quantify the tangible returns of your efforts. From our experience one shared, inclusive purpose is essential for cultural unity in successful international organisations. When all employees pull in the same direction and recognise how their work contributes to this purpose your organisation is more likely to have a strong, sustainable and scalable culture.Image: Shutterstock
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