Why does workplace culture matter?
Firstly, because it’s good for business. Alex Edmans, Professor of Finance at London Business School, studied the share price of America’s “best companies to work for”. He found that the shares of these culturally aware companies outperformed their peers each year for the past 28 years. Secondly, with the increasing war for talent, culture is a vital component of attracting and retaining great people who “fit” your business.
We wanted to understand how Australian business founders are leveraging culture, so we spoke in-depth to 33 founders and CEOs about purpose and culture. We discovered 3 types of businesses;
Culture Trailblazers (15%) – Understand the value of leveraging culture for business results. They deeply understand and connect with their culture in a very intentional way, ensuring employees also understand and live the principles of the culture. Across the organisation the culture is valued and protected.
Culturally Aware (55%) – Have some good elements of culture in place and are seeking to leverage it further but are often unsure of how to go about it. Whilst they connect with their culture at a personal level, they aren’t always able to clearly articulate it to their people.
Culturally Complacent (30%) – Often consider they have a “good culture” but haven’t really considered the possibility of leveraging it to maximise business results.
From this research and our experience in facilitating cultural transformation, we believe there are 7 steps to building the kind of workplace culture that positively impacts a business in measurable ways.
Download the complete guide - with the 7 steps we discovered, and full of inspiring stories from the founders and CEOs we spoke to.