What is a REAL corporate culture and how it defines hiring?

According to the studies, the top predictor of workplace satisfaction isn’t pay — it’s the organization’s culture and values. 

Company culture refers to employees’ shared norms and expectations. It’s the “how we do things” at a workplace. Cultural norms define what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted, or rejected within a group. When properly aligned with employees values, drives, and needs, culture can unleash tremendous amounts of energy toward a shared purpose and foster an organization’s capacity to thrive.

And while thoughtfully crafted company culture is vital to define the way an organisation envisions itself, to drive employee engagement and to precise talent acquisition, it’s far more important to ensure that daily business practices actually reflect the espoused values.

One of the favourite text-books examples is Enron Corporation. Back in its prime, Fortune named it “America’s Most Innovative Company” for six years in a row. With 20,000 employees and annual revenue surpassing $100 billion in 2000, Enron seemed to have everything going for it. That is until a series of investigations in 2001 revealed that the gas and energy giant was riddled with accounting fraud — which was prompted and perpetuated by its CEO and CFO. The great irony of the Enron scandal is that Enron identified its core values as communication, respect, excellence and, yes, integrity. 

While Enron is an extreme case, its fall from grace demonstrates what can happen when a company fails to live up to its stated values. Said another way: when it comes to company culture, talking the talk without walking the walk will hurt organizational ability to recruit talented candidates — and keep them around once they are on board.

The most comprehensive analysis of lived (vs declared) corporate cultures to date, published in Harvard Business Review by Groysberg et al., identifies 8 different style dimensions, that could co-exist at a smaller or larger degree. 

• Caring focuses on relationships and mutual trust. Employees are united by loyalty; leaders emphasize sincerity, teamwork, and positive relationships.

Disney:

It is incredibly important to be open and accessible and treat people fairly and look them in the eye and tell them what is on your mind.

Bob Iger, CEO

• Purpose is exemplified by idealism and altruism. Employees are united by a focus on sustainability and global communities; leaders emphasize shared ideals and contributing to a greater cause.

Whole Foods:

Most of the greatest companies in the world also have great purposes….Having a deeper, more transcendent purpose is highly energizing for all of the various interdependent stakeholders.

John Mackey, founder and CEO

• Learning is characterized by exploration, expansiveness, and creativity. Employees are united by curiosity; leaders emphasize innovation, knowledge, and adventure.

Tesla:

I'm interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous new technology where you see it and you're like "Wow, how did that even happen?"

Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO

• Enjoyment is expressed through fun and excitement. Employees are united by playfulness and stimulation; leaders emphasize spontaneity and a sense of humor.

Zappos:

Have fun. The game is a lot more enjoyable when you’re trying to do more than make money.

Tony Hsieh, former CEO.

• Results is characterized by achievement and winning. Employees are united by a drive for capability and success; leaders emphasize goal accomplishment.

GSK:

I’ve tried to keep us focused on a very clear strategy of modernizing ourselves.”

Sir Andrew Witty, former CEO

• Authority is defined by strength, decisiveness, and boldness. Employees are united by strong control; leaders emphasize confidence and dominance.

Huawei:

We have a ‘wolf’ spirit in our company. In the battle with lions, wolves have terrifying abilities. With a strong desire to win and no fear of losing, they stick to the goal firmly, making the lions exhausted in every possible way.

Ren Zhengfei, CEO

• Safety is defined by planning, caution, and preparedness. Employees are united by a desire to feel protected and anticipate change; leaders emphasize being realistic and planning ahead.

Lloyds of London:

To protect themselves, businesses should spend time understanding what specific threats they may be exposed to and speak to experts who can help.

Inga Beale, CEO

• Order is focused on respect, structure, and shared norms. Employees are united by cooperation; leaders emphasize shared procedures and time-honored customs.

SEC:

Rule making is a key function of the commission. And when we are setting the rules for the securities markets, there are many rules we, the SEC, must follow.

Jay Clayton, chairman

This style's matrix is instrumental to define both organisational ways of working and individuals’ styles and the values of leaders and employees. Application and correct evaluation of these broad, archetypal dimensions is proven to result in a stronger fit in hiring vs direct questions (and indirect answers) on how “collaborative”, “entrepreneurial” or “open” a candidate is.

To support both companies and candidates with profound insights on cultural fit in TalentKlub we utilise the most advanced profile assessment & performance prediction tools to evaluate ways of working, motivations, values, and key competencies and to deliver an ideal fit to the organisational & team cultures. We are certified and work with best-in-class tools developed and validated by expert teams at Hogan, Harvard, MIT and Cambridge University. 

As Louis Gerstner, former CEO of IBM, said

“Culture isn't just one aspect of the game; it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.”