Financial Post
Originally published on August 17
Here is an excerpt:
A culture not built on authenticity is an illusion. But there are many things a good boss can do to influence development of the right culture:
- Live the values you set for the company. If you want honesty, courage, creativity and collaboration, demonstrate those traits every day. Make sure your entire leadership team follows suit. Employees will sense – and resent – hypocrisy.
- Make sure HR and/or your hiring managers understand and reinforce the culture you’re trying to create. Develop interview tools that identify candidates with desired characteristics. Weed out employees who don’t share these values. When employees see you tolerating people who don’t honor the culture, they will conclude that it’s not that important to you.
- Identify other organizations with cultures similar to the culture you wish to build (e.g., Design = Apple; Innovation = Google, Happiness = Zappos). Communicate regularly with your staff to show how those companies build, maintain and benefit from their unique cultures.
- Take every opportunity to restate your company’s values. If your employees can’t explain their culture using the same words you do, you’re not there yet.
- Conduct regular satisfaction surveys to measure how engaged your employees feel with the culture.
