Five Strategies for Creating a Strong Company Culture

What is company culture? More specifically, what is your company’s culture? And is it a winner? Research supports the theory that companies with strong, positive cultures attract and retain the best candidates. So how can you create one?

1. Choose Your Vision. Every great corporate culture starts with a vision or mission statement, based on the company’s values, which provides its employees with a purpose. That purpose guides every decision both managers and employees make. Make it compelling, and make it simple. For example, the Alzheimer’s Association’s vision is “a world without Alzheimer’s” while Oxfam envisions “a just world without poverty.” Zappos’ vision is simply “To provide the best customer service possible.”

2. State Your Values. Your values are the core of your culture. They provide a set of guidelines for the behaviors and mindsets your employees will need to achieve your vision. Google publicly displays its “Ten things we know to be true,” which include “Focus on the user and all else will follow” and “Fast is better than slow.” Southwest Airlines, famous for their core values, boil them down to “Have a warrior spirit (work hard), a servant’s heart (treat others as you’d like to be treated), and a fun-loving attitude (take work seriously but not yourself).”

3. Put It Into Practice.  Your vision and values won’t mean a thing unless they are integrated into your company’s practices. For example, grocery retailer Wegman’s touts values like caring and respect while promising candidates “a job [they’ll] love.” And they follow through—they’ve been consistently ranked Fortune in the top five best companies to work for, nationwide.

4. Employ the Right People. No company can build and maintain a great culture without people who either share its core values or can embrace them. So make sure your recruiting policies will bring the right people on board—those who are not just the most talented but also best suited to your corporate culture. And it’s not only employers who feel this way:  one Monster.com study found that applicants who were a cultural fit would accept a 7% lower salary, while departments with cultural alignment had 30% less turnover.

5. Tell Your Story: Harvard professor Marshall Ganz, who helped structure the organizing platform for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, focuses his research and teaching on the power of narrative. Your organization has a unique history and a unique story to tell. The ability to organize that history into a narrative is a core element of culture creation. Two shining examples?  The Coca-Cola Company has dedicated an enormous amount of resources to celebrating its heritage, including a World of Coke museum in Atlanta. And Apple has always shared stories about Steve Jobs, such as how his early fascination with calligraphy shaped the company’s aesthetics-oriented culture.

At Triumph, our mission is to make sure the right person connects with the right position. Every time. We believe in quality, integrity and execution. And we’ve been putting our beliefs into practice for more than 15 years. Come and find out what we’re all about—contact us today!