Warning! Your Company Culture Can Destroy Your Business (Unless You Understand One Thing)
Today’s “Quit Rate†– the rate at which employees up and leave their jobs – is at an all-time high. In fact, according to Gallup, it’s at the highest it’s been in fifteen years, and the number has been unchanged for the past eleven months. This makes it the longest flat-line period since the government began recording this statistic nearly two decades ago.
“What’s the biggest reason people leave?†you ask.
If you answered, “company culture,†you would be right.[1] People quit people. They quit teams. They quit bosses, and they quit organizations where toxicity is high.
Unfortunately, if you are like 83% of all individuals today, your company culture is toxic enough to create a near-business implosion. This is evidenced not just by the “Quit Rate,†which involves employees simply up and leaving the company, but by the overall turnover rates, which includes both voluntary and involuntary turnover in an organization. In case you were wondering, that number is sitting at 23% in North America,[2] (up from 14% in 2014).[3]
Here is some additional evidence you might want to consider. According to a 2018 People Acuity global study of 1,800 people at all levels in the organization, 83% are functioning at moderate or high levels of toxicity:
- So much so that the chances that people will try to proactively resolve their own situations (rather than leave) is less than 5%.
- The chances that they would feel in any way, shape, or form engaged in their work is less than 4%.
- What is equally troubling is that there is less than a 3% likelihood that people would feel any sense of belonging, loyalty, or connection to their team/organization.
If your company even remotely comes close to being among the 83% of all individuals who have concerns about toxic company culture, how long do you suppose it will be before your business becomes one of the four in ten predicted in 2018 by J.P. Morgan to fail in the coming decade? Your company culture can create this kind of a business implosion if it is not rectified.
Companies that understand this have gone to great lengths to create cultural excellence, knowing full well that the organization’s bottom line can never grow faster or farther than the company culture has grown. Culture is either an inhibitor, or a multiplier, of growth.
Evidence of this comes in the form of top-tier U.S. organizations that have won the Malcolm-Baldridge organizational excellence award (see areas of criteria below). This requires winners to have built intentional cultural excellence that is aligned to business strategy. Those notable organizations that have sustained this alignment, winning the award twice, have seen a median revenue growth of 92%.[1] This could be you.
Wouldn’t you love it if it was? What would it take to for this to become your reality? Your choice matters to your future – and your company’s.
This article has been written by DeAnna Murphy – the founder and CEO of People Acuity and principal author of Shift Up! Strengths Strategies for Optimal Living and Choose to See You – in collaboration with People Acuity co-thought leaders, Lisa Gregory and Steve Jeffs. It includes excerpts from their soon-to-be released book on Interdependent Leadership. DeAnna is a Top 100 Global Coaching Leader who has provided keynotes and leadership development experiences in 32 countries. Learn more about Interdependent Leadership and download the new Interdependent Leadership eBook - at www.peopleacuity.com.
Contact info@peopleacuity.com today to learn how you can create Interdependent Leaders today. This kind of leadership is the key to winning the hearts and minds of people, and winning in today’s new economy.
[1] https://www.gallup.com/workplace/260564/heard-quit-rate-win-war-talent.aspx?utm_source=workplace-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WorkplaceNewsletter_July_072319&utm_content=keepyourtoptalent-CTA-5&elqTrackId=5225ea3a116f4be49d3f9ad1859f732f&elq=45c43c5f4b374437b14e42322e7ae46f&elqaid=1960&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=443
[2] https://www.imercer.com/ecommerce/articleinsights/North-American-Employee-Turnover-Trends-and-Effects
[3] https://www.worldatwork.org/workspan/articles/workplace-turnover-rates-on-the-rise
Leadership, Organisational Capability and Transformation Consultant
5 年Can you delegate Culture? I don’t think you can...
Elevating Strengths for Leadership and Team Excellence
5 å¹´Great article!?
Wij realiseren groei en winst bij scale-ups door medewerker bevlogenheid. Dit resulteert in hogere productiviteit en minder verloop en verzuim.
5 å¹´Great article (again)!?
Helping entrepreneurial leaders gain clear Vision, consistent Traction, and lasting team Health.
5 å¹´Many years ago Peter Drucker said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.†The point being that when the press comment about a businesses failings (“Wrong product strategy.†“Ineffective marketing.†“Poor customer service.†“Slow to respond to competition.†etcetera), the actual reason underpinning these failings is most often a failed culture. Bad decisions bloom like dandelions when no one cares for the lawn. The flip side of your message here, DeAnna, is even scarier. The people who don’t quit — who just hang around when a company’s culture is toxic — are those who underperform. Many are “organizational terrorists†who actively work against success. Cynics and ne’er do wells who undermine a companies success. Finally, leaders/managers can lament the situation if they choose, but all of the failings are theirs to own. Everything starts with them. Complaining about “millennials†yields nothing. The culture starts at the top. “A fish rots from the head first.â€