Work culture – what makes it valuable in a workplace

Whether it is leadership skill discussions or organizational behavior talks, we have always been faced with numerous views on “work culture”. What is it? How does it affect the working of a company or team?

Some views…

Culture can be best described as the character and personality of your organization. A culture comprises certain beliefs, values, interactions, traditions, behaviors, and attitudes which makes the firm unique in itself.

• To have a positive workplace/work culture, you must take the time to make a careful and accurate definition of your workplace as it can yield a very positive result and real impact on your bottom line.
• If you have the clarity of who you are and what you want as an organization, you can easily attract and retain the right employees. That means the team who know what you want to them from the start, can accomplish it, feel accomplished, be productive and will have a long-term association with you. That forms a crucial aspect of your leadership skill asset base.
• Several common cultural factors have a positive influence on the health and happiness of the employees as well as an organization. They include a healthy balance between life and work, a sense of control, positive and respectful relationships with superiors, peers, and clients, adequate training, a sense of fun, a sense of fairness, and access to assistance when needed.
• If you need or wish to change your work culture, which apparently, is not an easy option for success requires takes the interest, information, commitment, and consistency. But, if you take a close look at the firms who succeed and those who don’t, you will see that a good culture is a vital part of their achievements. People who constantly work to improve their leadership skills are careful to focus on this particular aspect.

A peek at the relevance of workplace culture

• A workplace culture is important because it either strengthens or undermines your business, the objectives it is trying to achieve, and it is essential mainly because it pulls talent. Before joining an organization, a potential job applicant would evaluate your organization and its climate. Thus, a robust, positive, established and well-described culture attracts the right person and talent.
• A positive work culture would surely encourage commitment and retention.
• To create a work environment that boosts employee engagement and retention, we must develop a positive work culture.
• It also brings happiness and satisfaction to the firm as well as the employees as it improves performance.
• Organizations with stronger work cultures beat their competitors in business and are known to be more successful.

Our thoughts on what affects culture in the workplace

Well, almost everything does!

A workplace gets developed because of a multitude of factors playing respective roles. Following factors will shed more light:

• A workplace culture is influenced a lot by how its leaders communicate and interact with employees, their vision for the future, how they make decisions, the extent to which they are trusted, and the beliefs and perceptions they reinforce.
• An organization with specific policies and philosophies of its own such as employment policies like attendance, dress code, code of conduct, and scheduling and philosophies such as hiring, compensation, pay for performance, and internal transfer and promotion also make up for an influential workplace culture.
• Another important aspect would be how your firm is managed. Its system, procedure, structure, hierarchy, control, objective etc. A good manager and management empower its employees.
• Employees in an organization, their personalities, beliefs, values, diverse skills, experiences, and everyday behaviors, sort of interactions between employees whether collaborative or confrontational, supportive or non-supportive, social or task-oriented, etc. all form part of a work culture.
• Communications and the manner in which it happens in your workplace the quality, nature, and number of interaction between leaders and employees and managers; the extent of transparency in sharing information and making decisions also forms an integral part of a work culture.
• Interiors in an organization also include in the work culture. For example, the objects, artifacts, and other physical signs in your workplace; what people place on their desks, what the firm hangs on its walls, how it assigns space and offices, what those offices look like (color, furniture, etc.), and how the common areas are used.

Practices such as recruitment, selection, onboarding, payment, rewards and recognition, training and development, promotion, performance management, wellness, work/life balance etc., as well as workplace traditions are equally crucial to building a positive workplace culture.