I’ve experienced firsthand how a healthy and robust company culture fuels organizational excellence. But I’ve also seen how a toxic and siloed culture can sabotage growth at every opportunity. I came on as the CEO of Nevada Donor Network (NDN) when its culture, and therefore results, were at an all-time low.
We have worked diligently in the decade since to continuously improve our organization and our reputation, and the results speak to the culture we’ve established. Let’s look at a few key reasons why every organization should prioritize establishing an intentional culture.
The ability to successfully execute your purpose depends on culture.
As a leader, you get to decide what your company’s culture is like. All workplace cultures are different, and it’s important to craft a culture that couples well with the organization’s purpose.
For example, at NDN our mission was to provide transplantable organs, eyes, and tissues to as many patients as possible while providing care and comfort to heroic donors and their courageous families. But in auditing our culture, we could see clearly how the way we were doing things was actually getting in the way of us fulfilling our purpose to the best of our ability, given its toxicity at the time.
Reflection for growth: Is your current culture facilitating your purpose or hindering it?
Your Culture Becomes Your Reputation
Whether you announce it or not, after a while, a company’s culture becomes apparent to its stakeholders, both inside and outside the organization. Your culture influences how others perceive and interact with the business. It can affect your ability to find and retain top-tier talent, as well as whether outside partners want to work with you.
When we set out to completely rebuild NDN’s culture from scratch, I publicly committed to improvement and welcomed feedback of all kinds. This was scary because it meant we were publicly accountable for our actions. But it also let others know what they could expect from us moving forward. If we weren’t living up to our promises, we encouraged stakeholders to readily give us that feedback. You can only continuously improve in an environment of unabashed transparency.
Reflection for growth: What do your stakeholders think of you? What does this tell you about the current health of your culture?
It’s Not Just About Fixing the Broken Things
Part of purposefully improving company culture is defining your big, beautiful goals. The goal of “fixing all our problems” is not motivating. It focuses on what’s gone wrong and doesn’t give stakeholders a picture of the future they are working towards.
Supportive company culture is about inspiring others to create something great together. Of course, you must address what’s not working, but that isn’t the overall goal. The goal is to create a better culture for everyone and be more effective in accomplishing your mission.
Reflection for growth: What is the ideal outcome of your new culture? Paint the picture of how you want things to be, and focus on creating that.
A Strong, Healthy Culture Requires Investment
Culture isn’t something you can address once and forget about. To establish a great company culture takes time. It took us over three years to understand what our organization needed culturally, create a plan to establish what that would look like, and then execute said plan.
Today, I’m very proud of the culture we’ve created, and I’m vigilant about making sure that it stays healthy. An outstanding culture is tracked and recalibrated often to ensure it’s in alignment with the organization’s purpose or as I like to call it, true north. Another key to maintaining your desired culture is to ensure that all new hires fit the culture requirements as well as being qualified candidates on paper.
Reflection for growth: How often do you focus on culture? In what ways can you currently measure the health of your culture?
As you can see, culture truly is the lifeblood of any organization. If you neglect culture, it will be left to create itself, which often results in chaos. Intentional, transparent cultures not only improve all stakeholder relationships but also have a direct effect on the success of the business. Take the time to assess your culture and make a plan to keep it healthy.
