2020 redefined Australia’s corporate culture, businesses had to rationalise their operations,
reshuffle their structure, and reduce their operating numbers, often drastically. Australia’s economy went through an unprecedented decline, all signs suggest that culture has changed in the business landscape. Culture heavily influences a host of traits an organisation needs in order to survive and thrive in this new space, from employee engagement to productivity and sales results. Studies conducted by Harvard Business Review over the last 5 years have shown that organisations that have a strong corporate culture have seen a 4x surge in annual growth and a higher rate in employee morale and productivity.
What is it about culture that has such a great impact on employees? Shouldn’t they just come in and do the job they’re being paid to do? Having a strong corporate culture can be defined in a business as having expectations, values and habits set by
an organisation that will influence the behaviour of both employees and management. These elements cannot be replicated across other businesses or industries, culture is specific to each organisation and the goals they wish to achieve. Research suggests that the benefits from having a strong culture are endless, by instating a safe and encouraging working environment, business can stand to gain higher employee retention, a better corporate image, higher employee productivity, increased revenue and the list goes on.
So how do we instate a strong corporate culture? Research conducted by Dale Carnegie & Associates found that a study of senior leaders value 5 key focuses that form the foundation of a strong corporate culture.
They identified; providing employee training, creating a strong customer focus, trust in senior leadership, clear strategy and goals and encouraging strong relationships between employees and their managers. If these sounds overwhelming, another critical factor to note from this research is that the same senior leaders recognised that creating their desired corporate culture was an ongoing process and 35% of these leaders acknowledged they could identify room for improvement.
If creating the perfect culture in an organisation was easy, then this topic would not be of such high relevance today. It’s clear that corporate culture, now in the wake of new working and environmental conditions, is as important in the business landscape as ever. Given that culture has such a large reach in businesses, from productivity to financial performance, it cannot be avoided by leaders who wish to succeed. By making culture a priority, businesses will be well-served to survive and thrive.
Dale Carnegie is committed to seeing results for you and your organisation. Visit our resources for further insights into corporate culture.
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