6 Goals of a Superb Corporate Culture
It is always a great time to ask yourself and your organization: do you have the corporate culture in place that helps people be mentally healthy and cares for their overall well-being, or do we have a culture that is breaking them?
Research shows the staggering reality of work as it is today: an overwhelming majority of employees hate their jobs, and are deeply dissatisfied and unhappy with their jobs. Many of them can't leave. Imagine the mental health and well-being negative impact of this reality!
But the truth is that people don't hate "work", they hate their jobs or the place where they work, especially when that job or organization is, literally (though indirectly), destroying them.
People don't hate "work" when people find pleasure, enjoyment and passion in it. Just like someone said once (attributed to Mark Twain): “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
What people hate is not the act of "working" if it is something they are passionate about. They hate jobs that suck the soul of their humanity and turn them into cogs in a machine, without passion, without enjoyment, without love for the craft.
So, do jobs have to suck? Do people have to hate their jobs?
Despite the fact that in a lot of organizations work sucks, and people hate their jobs, the answer to our questions is no. Work doesn't have to suck, and people don't have to hate it. They can have a great human experience at work delivered to them through superb organizational culture.
So, how do we create work that doesn't suck, people enjoy and also makes them feel healthy and well?
Here you have six goals for the transformation of your workplace culture to create work and a workplace that people love, enjoy and thrive at, rather than one that sucks and people hate.
By the way, these goals are not meant to "just" create a people-first culture (and they do), the goals are also to create a business-oriented culture. The more of these goals you deliver, then the higher the employee engagement and job satisfaction and, thus, the higher people's productivity and performance.
Goals
Redefining the Meaning of Work
Why do people hate their jobs? Because they feel that they are disposable tools treated as cogs in a corporate machinery that considers them only in terms of their time and labor in exchange for money. Work can't be that anymore, because it won't work. Work has to be an avenue for people's progress, growth and development. People want work that helps them thrive as individuals, too. Redefining work is finding ways to help people succeed, as well.
Delivering on the "WHY"
People want to thrive and succeed at work, but they also want to know that their contributions ("time and labor" and more) help achieve and are conducive to a purpose that matters. They don't want to be cogs in a money-making machinery that only makes shareholders richer. They want to know that their work makes a positive difference in the world and other people's lives. Deliver on your organizational "why" and help people connect with it.
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Building Connections that Matter
For a lot of people, their workplaces are the sources of their social connections. Their best friends are at work and some of them even meet their partners/spouses/significant others at work. "Loving Mondays" is not just about loving work, it's also about loving what happens at work. Workplaces are not families, they are communities. Make sure you are creating the avenues for people to connect, essentially in an organic way, with others in the organization. Become a bridge!
Mastering the Craft
The day the workplace becomes a place that elevates humans through learning opportunities to excel at one's craft, that's the day work won't feel like work anymore, but as an extension of what people would normally do, at or outside work. People want to get better at what they love and are passionate about and they want to excel and master their craft. Everyone will love coming to work on Monday when they know that what they'll do helps them improve.
Receiving Support and Being Challenged
Employees love knowing that their leaders and peers want to support them with the tools at their disposal. At the same time, employees want things to get increasingly more "difficult" so that they can learn and grow. They don't want to be overly stressed, neither bored. Receiving support and being professionally challenged are two powerful tools to keep people engaged and in a continuum of growth. This is a powerful incentive to love work.
Transforming Work into an Outlet of Creativity
The workplace and work could be an outlet for people's creative potential. However, creativity and productivity (at least in the short term) are sometimes at odds with each other, and leaders are so focused on the latter that they miss the infinite value of the former. Research shows that most people are not living up to their creative potential at work. Find ways to build opportunities for people to express and voice their creativity at work.
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Seasoned Human Resources Professional | Certified Career Counsellor | Advocating for Job Seekers' Success ?? Let's Connect ??
8 个月The content they share always adds so much value to the HR community. I love how they consistently provide thought-provoking ideas and practical solutions to the challenges we face in our industry. Thank you, Hacking HR, for consistently delivering high-quality content that sparks meaningful discussions within our industry! Keep up the great work!
Human Resources Professional | Creative | Effective Communicator | Engagement Specialist | Learning & Development | Operations
8 个月I love the last point of "Transforming Work into an Outlet of Creativity." Allow employees to explore their passions in a deeper and more meaningful way and watch them soar to new levels. Bringing in creativity increases productivity and innovation, it allows for growth and also the opportunity to work through challenges, and getting through challenges produces confidence, to take your regular assignments to the next level.
Founder of ReFlame – Disrupting the fear of being jobless | High-Performance Community Leader | Demanding Dignified Job Loss | ICF Executive Coach | Speaker | Top Voice | Military bore | Dad to 1 kid and 17 animals
8 个月IMO, when companies realise that there should be a value transfer back to employees, their culture defines itself. When one truly looks at what is happening in the company when it is performing at its best (in many ways, this is when people are at their happiest and most motivated) in its current operating environment, there sits the culture that should be celebrated and replicated. It is from observing those who create the value and not about dreaming up some words and putting them on a mousemat. Have a great day everyone.
Digital Marketing || Google Ads Expert || Ads Campaign
8 个月Great !
Work shouldn't suck, so design a better employee experience!
8 个月Agree. I have seen a lot of posts recently coaching employees on tangible actions they can take to improve their experience, or re-evaluate remaining with their current employer. My opinion, if an employer is experiencing higher turnover, absenteeism or staffing issues, perhaps it's time to look inward for a bit. What kind of employee experience is being offered? My mantra to employers this week is "Try not to suck." Harsh yes. I listen to employers when they talk about their pain points and I listen to employees who are just having a miserable experience because of inept leadership, incompetent HR or an un-intentional work experience. It doesn't have to be this way.