How To Improve Your Corporate Culture

How To Improve Your Corporate Culture

Honored to host a guest post by one of Canada’s top business process & productivity experts,  Adriana Girdler, PMP, President, Cornerstone Dynamics    [google-translator]

Irene Becker, Just Coach It- | 3Q Leadership Blog-25,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing!

Resolutions  allow us an opportunity to reflect on the past and decide what and how we’ll do things in the future. Yours could be losing those stubborn last 10 pounds, eating well or spending more time with family and friends. Ultimately, our resolutions are about improving the quality of our lives.

Resolutions aren’t just for individuals though. Companies can (and should) look at the quality of life of the organization. By reflecting on the past year activities, we should ask, “How is our corporate culture doing?”

Why focus on corporate culture?

A positive corporate culture lends to a more productive and happy workforce, resulting in increased efficiency in the office. Why is this important? Because increase efficiency leads to increase productivity, which ultimately improves the bottom line. Have you ever seen an organization where the culture is negative and the company is doing really well? I haven’t either.

Negativity breeds inefficiency.

When corporate culture is ignored, like a dripping faucet, it may not seem like a big deal at the moment. As time goes by, the drip becomes more annoying, particularly late at night when the dripping sound amplifies and makes it hard for you to sleep. You’re tired and cranky the next day, making it hard to function. All this from a simple little drip of the faucet.

The same can be said for corporate culture. Over time, the little things become bigger and can create a negative environment, which hurts morale. If your employee’s morale isn’t positive, productivity and efficiency are likely also missing.

In order improve your corporate culture, you’ll need to examine it and put plans in place to allow it to grow. Positive corporate culture doesn’t happen by itself.

So how can you create a positive corporate culture?

Make it a habit to review your corporate culture yearly. Every year organizations hold strategy and planning sessions for their products. They put a lot of time and attention to ensuring they’re promoting their services or products according to their strategy. Why not include reviewing the corporate culture at this time too?

Make corporate culture improvement initiative a priority. Companies say they’re improving the culture but ideas and projects for culture improvement get lost in the shuffle of day to day business. Don’t let this happen to you. For tips and tricks, read my blog on how to prioritize.

Change your mind set from “nice to have” to “need to have” regarding corporate culture. This can be hard to do, especially if your organization hasn’t examined its culture before. But everything is possible when you realize the benefits of having a positive corporate culture.

 

About the Author:

Adriana GirdlerAdriana Girdler is the President of CornerStone Dynamics Inc and an expert in business efficiency, helping leading corporations streamline internal processes to work smarter and improve productivity. Learn more about Adriana Girdler.  Connect with Ms. Girdler on twitter @adrianagirdler

More on Improving Corporate Culture?  YOU Betcha
The Individual and Organizational Imperative to DO Good
Meaningful Work:  Building a Management and Leadership Must
The Thriving Organization-Ten Powerful Steps
Ten Steps to Employee Engagement
Ten Ways to Lead Forward in Times of Complexity and Change
What is a Community of Purpose?
Leadership Means Building a Community of Purpose
7 Ways to Turn Conflict/Communication Problems Around
Good Business and Teambuilding | Our First Customers Are Our Staff and Teammembers
Three Toxic Team Members to Get Off Your Team
Optimize-Humanize-Monetize
The 3Q Leader-Building the 3Q Leadership Skills YOU Need Now

And, more…Great Read Excerpts and Reviews
Managing With A Conscience by Frank Sonnenberg
Business At The Speed Of Now by John M Bernard
The Power of Communication by Helio Fred Garcia
Full Steam Ahead by Jesse Lyn Stoner and Ken Blanchard

 

I am committed to helping smart people and organizations use changes-challenges-strengths to optimize and catalyze their potential to communicate & LEAD FORWARD.  Use changes and challenges to improve communication, management, leadership…career success?  Yes, the proof is in ten years of inspiring and outstanding results! 

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Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ |  IQ-EQ-SQ for Reach-Resonance-Results
Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training and Keynotes with a 3Q Edge™ 

Face to face and/or virtually by telephone, video conferencing or skype!
3Q Leadership Blog- 25,000+ Social Media Followers & Growing 

irene@justcoachit.com  Twitter @justcoachit
Tel: (1) 416-671-4726   Skype: beckerirene

14 replies
  1. Mark Zorro
    Mark Zorro says:

    Adriana, first of all I welcome you as a guest contributor at justcoachit.com. Irene Becker is such a dynamic giver, it leaves me breathless the kind of social energy the gal has and a great mind to boot. So I take your presence here as much an appreciation of what Irene Becker brings to social media in general, as it is a smart partnership with likeminded folk, who have a passion for change and excellence.

    It is mindboggling that I find organizations still don’t apply practical wisdom to corporate culture. It is Peter Drucker who is credited with the original expression “culture eats strategy for breakfast” – so the idea of creating a positive corporate culture should not be something new to organizations – but many it still is.

    The service you have outlined in your bio therefore is something that has great traction for organizations of all sizes and scope. Personally for me, when it comes to advising organizations I follow the Peppers and Rodgers 1-to-1 approach, which outlines BZ’s (or below zero customers) – there are also BZ’s in organizations also – and here I address cultures so bad they are toxic.

    This means that there are organizations whose cultural toxicity is beyond help, but thankfully there are so many organizations who can benefit from looking at culture this way and they represent the rule rather than the exception. One of the lessons I have learned from corporate culture is to walk away from toxic landscapes.

    This creates attention for organizations who stand to benefit from the relationship that Peter Drucker described – that indeed, that culture eats strategy for breakfast.

    Regards
    M.

    Reply
    • Irene Becker
      Irene Becker says:

      Dear Mark: Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback on Adriana’s guest post and on my work and social media efforts! Adriana is not only one of the top productivity experts in Canada, she is a woman whose IQ-EQ-SQ and integrity are outstanding. I am truly honored to know her and have her guest post on my blog. Stay tuned as Adriana and I have some inspiring, insightful, purposeful plans for a collaboration that will be of value to organizations!

      What you say about common sense is very true! We can also extrapolate corporate tunnel vision and inertia to large organizations, and most organizations being mired in patterns of learning, training and coaching that were effective in the past, but are relatively impotent today to help senior managers, emerging leaders and leaders optimize their potential and the potential of others in the face of unprecedented change, challenges, competition…and opportunities!

      I believe that dysfunctional and toxic cultures can be turned around, and this turn around starts when the leader is dedicated to resetting his/her GPS, by adopting a new perspective and new ways of communicating and leading that in turn grow vertically and horizontally within the organization. Systems theory tells is that one change in a system, changes the whole system. The imperative to stop saying change is difficult is critical (as words become our world, and create neural connections that can either further or limit our potential. Resetting the leader’s GPS, embracing a new relationship with change, challenges and strengths that optimizes potential (IQ-EQ) while using SQ (purpose, integrity, spiritual quotient) as an anchor is critical. What does not create value for others, ultimately crashes and burns. Creating value for others means developing healthy corporate cultures that align IQ (intellect) EQ (emotion) SQ (values, purpose, integrity).

      Your quote from Drucker is great, both he and William James were visionary in their respective fields! I am a huge Druckerite!

      Thank you again, Mark. I look forward to hosting many more posts by Adriana Girdler on my site!

      Very Best,
      Irene

      Reply
    • Irene Becker
      Irene Becker says:

      Thanks so much Karlene. Corporate cultures, and all systems do change. I agree that it is difficult for the corporate elephant to move forward! However, it is not impossible. Cultural change must start with the CEO not simply embracing the change but modeling it. I am so sorry that the rest of your comment cut off…Hope you will resend it.

      Very best, Irene

      Reply
  2. Adriana Girdler
    Adriana Girdler says:

    Thank you everyone on the positive feedback on my blog and the very insightful comments. First and foremost, I am honoured to be a guest contributor at justcoachit.com. Irene, you are a dynamic giver and I echo Mark’s comments with complete sincerity.
    It is very unfortunate that organization ‘forget’ about their corporate culture. In my experience, everyone is so busy trying to get things done that they do it at the expense of the organization’s culture. This is why productivity and efficiency improvements are so important. We need to stop the firefighting, which has become a ‘new’ normal for many organizations and teach them how to work smarter, not harder. Once this is done, along with buy-in from the top, corporate culture can then be examined and redeveloped. Otherwise it’s a vicious cycle and things will always revert back to old ways of working and habits.
    This is not an easy problem to fix, but it is fixable if everyone buys into the importance. Once this happens, examination of what is truly important can take place allowing all other activities to be stopped or shelved until the organization is on the right corporate culture track.
    I realize that there is so much more we can discuss on this topic and that my comments, on their own, will not solve the problem. But acknowledging there is a problem is the first step to fixing it.

    Reply
  3. Caroline Gavin
    Caroline Gavin says:

    Adriana, thank you very much for sharing this insightful post with us!

    I agree wholeheartedly that resolutions are important not only for individuals but also for organizations. It is important to nourish the roots in order to bear healthy fruit – in life, in relationships and in business as well. You share powerful “why’s” and practical “how’s” in nurturing a positive corporate culture.

    I echo you and Mark that Irene is a dynamic giver with a powerful mind and a phenomenal heart!

    Reply
    • Adriana Girdler
      Adriana Girdler says:

      Hi Caroline,

      I am so thrilled that you found my post insightful. It’s truly my pleasure to share what I am passionate about and that is to make the workplace more effective and efficient. For this to happen, positive corporate culture is critical. Thank you for taking the time to comment on it.

      Have a productive day!

      Reply
      • Caroline Gavin
        Caroline Gavin says:

        You are most welcome, Adriana, and thank you for your wonderful reply!

        Your passion shines in your words, and I appreciate your heart in making workplaces more effective and efficient.

        Thank you again, and enjoy a productive day too!

        Reply

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