There are some deeply held myths and misunderstandings about company culture. Executives and leaders who get tricked into believing these myths tend to hold their companies back from reaching their true potential. Yes, their heart is in the right place and they’re trying to do the right thing, but a lack of understanding about what creates a truly great culture leads them in the wrong direction.
The three biggest myths that usually lead companies down the wrong path when it comes to building a culture of achievement typically are:
Myth No. 1: The purpose of company culture is to make work fun. We’ve mostly moved past the era of foosball and beer on tap in the office, but the idea that culture is purely about having fun persists. However, that’s not good enough. Company culture should be focused on creating alignment and a sense of unified purpose.
Myth No. 2: At companies with great cultures, everyone gets along and agrees most of the time. Paying attention to company culture is not about creating an “environment of nice,” what Radical Candor author Kim Scott would call “ruinous empathy.” This is not an excuse to be a jerk, but it is a rationale for creating a culture where people respectfully challenge ideas in order to push toward the best answer.
Myth No. 3: Culture is the Human Resources department’s job. Culture is about people, so most companies push whatever culture initiative they have into the HR department. This is a mistake; culture is the CEO’s job. If it doesn’t come from the top, a great culture will never fully take hold.
Implementing a well-intentioned but ill-conceived culture program checks the box, but don’t expect the program to actually help the company succeed.
Let’s dive into the nitty gritty on how to build a great culture, why it’s the CEO’s job, and what tools you need to get the job done.
What is Company Culture? Why it Matters
Just about every executive can wax poetically about how important company culture is. And just about every business publication has written ad nauseam about how important culture is.
But these executive speeches and news articles usually don’t go very deep. They don’t have the depth of knowledge of what a great culture enables the company to do, and they certainly don’t understand how to create this culture. The companies that try to implement culture without this deeper understanding typically don’t have great cultures, because they really don’t understand what they’re trying to create and accomplish.
So, let’s be clear about why company culture matters:
The purpose of company culture is to create an environment in which everyone at the company is empowered to push for the best answer to every question or challenge the company faces (and, yes, this is why our company is called The Best Answer).
A culture committed to the best answer doesn’t cut corners. It doesn’t take the lazy way out.
It pushes toward excellence every single time.
A strong and durable culture helps the business succeed on the strength of a challenged, engaged, and driven team, unified by a shared vision.
In other words, a great culture enables a company to fulfill the CEO’s vision.
What CEO wouldn’t want that?
Building Culture Is the CEO’s Job
In very basic terms, the job of every CEO is to set a vision for the company and then create the environment that allows the people who work there to fulfill that vision.
This is culture.
It seems like culture building should be done by your HR department—after all, they are charged with managing the people side of your business, and culture is about people.
But HR can’t build your culture. There are two primary reasons for this: 1) they don’t own the company vision, the CEO does, and 2) they are almost always underwater with everything else on their plate—onboarding, reviews, compliance, staff issues, payroll, benefits, etc.
If you’re a CEO who says your greatest strength is your people, you need to act like it and take responsibility for creating an environment where everyone can succeed.
But we get it—personalizing your culture for every individual team member seems daunting. In fact, it might seem crazy. However, it doesn’t have to be, as long as you have a Culture Success Platform (CSP). A CSP brings together all the key aspects of culture and makes it accessible to every employee, regardless of their communication style and personality.
Why a Culture Success Platform Is a “Must Have”
A CSP transmits the vision of the CEO and leadership team to everyone in the company in a way that works for each employee and delivers tangible business impact.
It goes beyond simply saying you embrace culture building by actively driving employee engagement, creating alignment and transparency at all levels of your company, and enhancing the core drivers of your culture and values.
A CSP is not an HRIS platform.
It augments and integrates with your HR processes and goes beyond the limitations of traditional HR systems, enabling you to create an organizational mindset for your employees to share ideas and experiment so they can achieve higher levels of success.
With a CSP, employees embrace and internalize your vision, who your company is, and what it stands for.
Facilitating a Grassroots Culture Transformation
A CSP must be instituted from the C-suite—the CEO must be on board for any culture initiative for it to take hold and it must be clear that you support the CSP. However, as CEO, you can’t spend every minute of every day transforming your company culture; you already have too many things on your plate.
Culture is a team effort. It’s activated at the grassroots level of the company and carried out by its people. Your job is to give them the tools to make the culture the best it can be.
Even if your company’s culture is already “good,” a CSP can act as rocket fuel to take it to new heights, sparking a culture transformation. By automating processes and providing deep insights, a CSP helps to promote the company’s core principles and establish a clear example for all employees.
This empowerment turns employees into culture champions, driving the daily application of your culture and inspiring others to do the same. The CSP facilitates this grassroots movement, ensuring that culture-building is a collective effort.
Building a Durable Culture and Optimizing Engagement
Culture building and employee engagement require multiple layers of diverse initiatives. Most companies do some culture-building activities, but these activities are not typically integrated; they’re siloed activities that appeal to some team members but leave out others.
Different employees have different learning and communication styles, preferences, personalities, and needs. A CSP must support them all and meet employees where they are.
Some will be inspired to give or receive shout-outs to/from fellow employees, while others will engage more with scheduled internal or external meetings and events.
Virtually all will appreciate the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback via short surveys on how to improve the company and culture. All will benefit from regular 1-on-1s with their managers, so they are heard and appreciated. And all will appreciate having access to a virtual hub where they can learn, engage, and see you “walk the walk” after your all-hands meetings.
Ensures Alignment and Transparency Across the Organization
The CEO’s Secret Weapon for Success
A CSP has the power to activate your vision and fuel the company’s success. It is the foundation of a culture where every employee feels valued, heard, engaged, and motivated to contribute their best ideas. It's a commitment to a culture where every voice counts, every contribution is valued, and every team member is encouraged to strive for excellence and seek the best answer.
You transform culture from a party planning exercise into a strategic asset.
Viewing culture as a strategic asset provides a substantial competitive advantage, making your company more agile, cohesive, and attractive to top talent.
It may seem impossible to achieve, but with a well-built Culture Success Platform, it’s possible to automate culture-building in a way that leads to sustainable success.
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At The Best Answer, we are committed to helping you to build a sustainable, high performing culture.
