“The energy you project is the power others receive. Live in a positive space.”
― Andrew Pacholyk

Company culture has been one of the main topics in recent years and we know that a successful business will always have a culture which supports its employees in the best way it can. However, the immediate question which arises here is how to get to the point you really do have one in place. Company culture is an aspect brought by the leadership which controls, influences and inevitably creates said culture, whether they’re aware of it or not, or if they like it or not. To clarify this influence, even a passive behavior which doesn’t have a goal of impacting a company culture does exactly the same as if it were an active task. It’s always best if the leadership is aware of that fact and is actively conscious of it lest creating any negative connotation in regards to company culture. So basically, company culture is promoted with a top-down method with a series of active or passive behaviors beset by the executives. How exactly does that look like when converted into steps and what is the best possible approach to a successful company culture? Let’s dive in.

Top-down transference

As described in more than one article on this blog, leadership represents a set of behaviors which will positively impact and build the company culture. Top management in any company, or just any manager in general for that matter, should (and inevitably will) always lead by example. Even if not actively working on this task as mentioned above, the subtle etiquettes such as „role model“, „mentor“ or „leader“ will always be a passive job description, cause or effect of any top manager in any activity in business. That means that their working effect is constantly under microscopic observance which automatically tries to be absorbed by other people’s identity, behavior or just a simple subordinate. How they set up a meeting, how they greet another in the morning, how they address matters or colleagues in e-mails, how they structure the organization as whole etc. are all simple to complex parameters which all cause and build a company culture upon which employees will take on set type of behavior. When put in this kind of context, you then see just how difficult a job of a top manager in particular is. Granted, not everyone’s agenda includes this as a priority, but considering the time we’re living in and arising new generation eras which require far more maintenance than their predecessors, they should do well to include that in their active tasks.

How to avoid confusion in passive narrative

What’s particularly important here, when we’re discussing the general behavior which is passed down the hierarchy, is the fact that the leadership has to decide and keep the narrative ongoing without changing it too much. If there are mixed signals concerning the message, the employees can become confused and even disgruntled by not knowing what the standard in this type of agenda is. There is no dancing between being too friendly or being too corporate, for example. Top management has to decide on one thing and keep at it to gain respect, recognition and authority. Obviously, it’s best to choose the balanced out version which will hold down the line and thus give a clear and concise picture on what the company culture should and would be. Even if there are situations in which this proves to be difficult for top management or any manager to handle, control or manage, the HR department has to step in and guide them through it to achieve the best possible result.

Possible negative outcomes

I always like to emphasize the fact that HR sphere is very broad and all its ideas don’t guarantee success. The simple reason for that is the fact that we’re dealing with people, with a lot of different viewpoints, different emotions and different thought processing. Because of that, in this case, the most important and obvious negative outcome would be employees leaving the company. Even if all the necessary steps are followed, the positive outcome isn’t guaranteed because of aforementioned. Thus, in any case, it’s still better to follow the pattern which statistically leans more to the positive than negative than to just not have any influence on it.

Takeaway

With seemingly more important mental health as an aspect of wellbeing, a company culture is sure to propagate it throughout the company. It’s important to note that any kind of behavior and work influence starts from the top and everyone else or below follows, just like a crew on a ship would follow the captain, so to speak. It’s of no surprise then that the management is responsible for a good and sustainable company culture which will ensure employee retention and stability.