Harnessing Culture for Competitive Advantage

Having a healthy and positive company culture is an integral part of business. Not only does it provide employees with satisfaction, meaning and happiness in the workplace, but it can also be utilised strategically for competitive advantage. Take a quick look at companies like Google, Facebook, Costco and Netflix. All incredibly successful and all given the highest ratings for best company culture.

As millennials begin to overtake the baby boomer generation as the largest in the workforce (making up 75% of the global workforce by 2025 according to Deloitte), values and attitudes toward an organisation’s brand, reputation and culture are shifting. Employees are increasingly looking for a good quality of life both in and out of the office. Having a strong company culture can help employees to feel and perform their best at work. It’s an easy connection to make: the happier the employee, the better the attitude, the better the productivity.

Work culture

According to MSG, work culture embodies the beliefs, thought processes, norms and attitudes of employees as well as the ideologies and principles of the organisation. Behaving, thinking and acting is learned and shared by an organisation’s members. A work culture has a role in deciding and framing the way employees interact with each other and how an organisation functions. E.g. Four Seasons’ culture focuses on the theme of the “power of personal service”.

Advantages

Harnessing work culture can be a great competitive advantage as a real tool for productivity. If an organisation has a strong culture that can’t be duplicated and is of true value, then that culture can attract both customers and employees. To be a great company, there must be great leaders who can lay the foundations of a positive workplace culture, driving it from the top down to the employees who sustain it.

And of course being competitive in the business world will often rely on factors like price, profit, and services. But having a strong workplace culture as well can give businesses an upper hand. It is something that can be leveraged consistently and can be wonderful and unique to the organisation. It shapes a brand’s identity and inspires and engages employees. If people believe in the company, its brand, reputation and workplace culture, then they are going to be happier, more invested employees.

Example: Google

Google has been a real trailblazer for technological innovations but not only that, it has become a leading exemplar of workplace culture, and consequently named the top company for corporate culture in 2017 by Comparably. It encompasses what more and more people are wanting in an organisation; it’s different and unconventional. Apart from nice perks like free lunches, gym memberships and massages on site, Google also provides and nurtures important factors like flexibility, teamwork and collaboration, freedom for creativity, fun environments, expertise and mentorship, a growth and improvement mindset, and a focus on employee happiness.

A 2016 Deloitte survey found 82% of respondents characterised company culture as a potential competitive advantage; companies are awakening to the business value of the benefits of a strong working culture.

Harnessing and managing culture is a crucial task; it can help play strategic roles in achieving employee/customer satisfaction and financial goals. It empowers employees; it gives them autonomy, meaning, value and community. It strengthens a business from the inside out, encourages passion and articulates a clear mission and vision. A healthy work culture provides a distinguishing reputation for the brand; the stronger the culture, the stronger the brand can perform. It’s a vital and important way to build long lasting mutually beneficial relationships between management, employees, customers and brand.