Return On Culture

A healthy, winning and happy organizational culture = strength, growth and high engagement!

Most organizations believe that a well-established organizational culture = great business performance!

However, the data to quantify how investments in culture generate profits is light and limited at best.

One of the biggest mistakes when establishing a culture, is making assumptions. And when done improperly, inauthentic cultures create disparity between leadership, their teams and effectively missing business targets.

75% of executives say their organization has defined values that are communicated and understood.

Sadly, only 33% of employees agree. 

So what exactly is culture? To keep it simple, it is the persona of your organization/brand. It is your differentiator, it's what makes your business exceptional; a set of values, beliefs and attitudes. There is no doubt that a positive culture attracts great talent, fosters positive engagement, increases happiness, performance and ultimately profits.  

While all organizations have a company culture; few are intentional about it.  Stop and think about your health for a moment. We all know that great health is vital to living a long and prosperous life, however, how many of us are really intentional about every lifestyle decision that impacts their health?

What would happen if all your intentions, decisions and actions were purposely connected to your values and central mission?

My earlier analogy of health really pertains to how an individual can live purposefully – the success or failure really comes down to three choices:  

1.    Be Proactive

2.    Be Reactive

3.    Do Nothing

Allow me to explain:

A proactive strategy is an investment! Investing in a positive workplace culture will achieve; engagement, high-morale, and enable transparency. When you invest in prevention and are truly connected to your people’s needs and wants, you are building assets, your people are your organization’s assets! You are investing to prevent pains in your business.

Public companies with extremely healthy cultures are 2.5 X more likely to report significant stock price increases over the past year.

Example:

Regular Exercise (an investment in a gym membership) + Eating Healthy (investment in healthy groceries and seeing a nutritionist) + Positive Mental Health Habits (investment in meditation + yoga) = Healthy Lifestyle, Increased Energy, Longevity of Life

Transparent & Consistent Communication (an investment in training your leaders to be effective and provide an open environment) + Living your Organizational Purpose (practicing your mission, vision and values) + Having Fun (events, charitable work and recognition) = Healthy, Happy & Winning Workplace Environment

A Reactive Strategy is an unexpected cost! Being reactive is harmful to your organization and bottom-line, you are not as equipped with the tools and foundation to overcome an issue. You are spending time correcting vs. looking to the future for greater achievements. It generates low-morale, high-turnover, absenteeism and complacency.  

49% of employees would be willing to take a lower-paying job for a better culture.

Example:

Physiotherapy (time and pain) + Surgeries and Medication (anxiety + pain + time to heal + unnecessary toxins in your body) = Correcting Things That Could be Prevented

Recruiting (high-turnover and complacent employees means more money spent hiring) + Low Morale (poor work outputs and ethics is costly to your businesses livelihood and overall culture) = Troubled and weak Workplace Environment

Do Nothing Strategy is a Death Sentence If you are looking to kill the spark and joy out of your business, your teams and the potential of a growing future, then do nothing. Disengagement, frustration and lack of curiosity is a recipe for a do-nothing strategy and is a guaranteed death sentence.  

Executives say culture is important, but 69% of companies don’t measure culture.

ROI = Net Profit / TotalInvestment *100

ROC = Net Workplace Happiness (surveys, feedback and measuring turnover) / Investments in Culture (events, speaking engagements, technology, activities) *100

When you actively invest in culture, you are actively removing uncertainty!

Being intentional about your culture will take you places within your organization that you could only ever think about, once you put the wheels in motion, you will start to apply these thoughts into real-life practical actions and achievements.

‍