Talent Matters

Great culture has emerged as one of the requirements for attracting and retaining top talent. Culture is building a sense of belonging, fit, and inclusion. Creating a strong culture is not easy or quick. Culture is built on relationships, fairness, respect, and trust. Companies need to be intentional about culture and build it every day. Toxic culture is the No. 1 reason for turnover. Your culture will be defined by the worst behavior you tolerate. People join companies and they leave a manager. Leadership sets the tone for the culture. Work on it every day.

CULTURE AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Successful companies focus on the next-gen talent priorities such as meaningful work, culture/fit, clear career path, learning and development, recognition and appreciation to attract and build a high-performing team. Culture is an important area that can differentiate your company and become an ultimate recruiting tool. Every company says, ‘We have great culture’, but has a hard time defining it. Great cultures have three key ingredients: Physiological Safety, Rewards & Recognition and great Employee Engagement.

1) Physiological Safety. The first step in creating a great culture is to build Physiological Safety, which is when employees feel comfortable voicing their opinions. Employees are open to speak up without fear of punishment or humiliation. Team members feel safe to take risks and discuss failures. A good way to start is for managers to create a safe space for discussion.

Here are four ways to build physiological safety:

(1) Lead by example – ask for opinions and feedback. Then listen.

(2) Create a safe environment; a no-judgement zone where it’s ok to be vulnerable.

(3) Encourage constructive feedback – instead of criticism or blame.

(4) Establish norms – How to handle failure, conflict and new ideas.

2) Rewards and Recognition. Everyone, especially Gen-Z’ers, expects respect, feedback and recognition. What employees need more than money is recognition of their work and appreciation of their efforts. Dale Carnegie once said that “People work for money but go the extra mile for recognition, praise and rewards.” Research shows that recognition can boost the bottom line by up to 9% (From Praise to Profits, Gallup, 2023). When employees feel valued, they are better engaged, more productive, and stick around longer with your company.

Are your managers recognizing their employees? Here are some ideas to consider:

Employee Awards: Sales and growth drivers awards, operational excellence awards, years of service and career awards, achievement trips, employee of the month award, customer service award, safety awards, values and excellence awards, team or branch award, sign-on bonus, and retirement awards.

Employee Recognition Ideas: Recognitions and kudos by managers in meetings and emails, thank you letters from management (years of service, results, etc.), social media shoutout (birthday and personal achievements), flex-work or time-off for volunteering, company swag, movie or festival tickets, and best parking spot.

3) Employee Engagement. Employees who are engaged are more likely to stay and be productive. Frontline managers are the key to engagement. Engaged employees produce better business outcomes. Business units that scored the highest on employee engagement showed 21% higher levels of profitability than units in the lowest quartile. (Gallup’s Meta-Analysis). A great way to build employee engagement is to create “culture moments” through conversations, stories, and events. The following are ideas for you to think about and implement.

Food Gatherings: Taco Tuesdays or Breakfast Fridays, BBQ served by management, lunch-’n-learns, crawfish boils, pizza during high workload days, food truck for special events, customer and employee events, logistics appreciation day, ice cream in the summer, holiday party, National Donut, Popcorn, and Cookie Days.

Fun Group Activities: Halloween costume party, Super Bowl party, Cinco de Mayo, bring your child to work day, basketball after work, happy hour and Karaoke, and company picnic or movie.

Team Building Activities: charity walks and runs; hunting, fishing, golf, bowling; and community volunteering.

Another key aspect of developing a great culture is to showcase them for prospective employees. Highlight your culture, learning, and people on your website and social media platforms.

I want to close with this quote from Tony Hsieh, former CEO of Zappos: “For individuals, character is destiny. For organizations, culture is destiny.” Today is a great day to start building a strong culture!