Winning Corporate Cultures

There has been a good deal of correlation between corporate culture and business performance. High performing companies understand that their employees make or break the business. And they treat employees with respect. They hire and keep the best people, paying attention to the characteristics that the best performers have: emotional intelligence, growth mindset and passion for their work. And these are learning organizations to continuously build people’s skills and knowledge.

In these best performing organizations, mistakes are ok because innovation is important to the business. People are empowered to make suggestions for improvement as they see opportunities. Employees own results and solutions. They are continuously improving and keeping up with the fast pace of change in the industry.

Communication is open and transparent with all leaders having open door policies. People are not afraid to talk to their managers and leaders even to convey concerns or issues.  And leaders aren’t hiding anything from their people even if they have to communicate information that they aren’t too happy about (think struggling/ failing initiatives etc.). Everyone in the company has the right to know what is going on across the business.

Obviously, the work environment is positive. The leaders believe in the Happiness Advantage: “Happiness is the precursor to success, not merely the result. Happiness and optimism actually fuel performance and achievement.” (Shawn Achor).

These great corporate cultures are not easy to build, and it takes work and attention to sustain and keep improving. But the businesses that are strongest in their ever-changing industries understand what it takes to have a great workforce, keeping the best and brightest happy at their company.

This sounds like a great place to work, doesn’t it? And it sounds a bit utopian but I am happy that more and more companies are understanding the value of their people. What else do you think is important in a corporate culture?