Organisations are not static. They are living organism, so is the work culture. It takes shape every moment, gets changed and then again gets reshaped. It is iterative and complex process. It is a journey and not destination. Each small action of everyone in the organization becomes systematic. Work culture grows and shifts with the circumstances. It should be checked whether it was in right direction towards building a better culture? Frequently revisiting and reinforcing your core values and purpose helps in making it more stronger. Times have changed and today human capital expects something more from the organisations.
Work culture is not all about having fancy designations, high salaries and perks, luminated shining modern curved offices, cafeterias, pools, game tables, lunchtime yoga and chair massages etc. It is something more and deeper than that. It is all evolving around belongingness, flexibility and inclusion. It can be said as a journey towards better work culture. Post covid, employee well-being has gained centerstage. Your steps will further the cause of contributing towards building a thriving organizational culture if the steps have the inbuilt quality of excellent employee experience and capable of bringing the thought process of employees and business leaders on the same page because one of the blocks in building better work culture is the disconnect between what HR and business leaders think matters to the employees versus what actually impacts the employees. This gap needs to be fulfilled.
Building better culture is not only HR’s baby. It belongs to everyone. Believing in core values, sharing the common purpose is something that every one has to own and explicitly demonstrate in their actions. When talent gets attracted towards the organization and customers prefer your product and you command respect in society, then you can say that you have better work culture than others. For this, you need to work in certain areas. Be authentic, be ready to listen to your employees and encourage them to give honest feedback. Be a listening organization, accept mistakes and work collectively to ensure that it does not happens again. When vocal people become silent, it is dangerous. Apart from leaders, everyone should hold himself personally accountable. Leaders must build a psychological safety network around employees to enhance sense of belongingness.
We need to change the mindset towards work culture. It is to be taken as part of business strategy. Strong, transparent and positive work culture does not sustain itself and spread organically. All have to work hard to keep it growing in a desired way. Identify multiple cultural influencers and work on them.
This edition cover story is on how to build a better work culture. Corporate HR honchos, management thinkers and mentors share their experience based on first hand experience and present a blue print.
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