What is a Company Culture?

What is the company culture within your organization’s workplace? Are people enthusiastic about collaborating with their teams and coming to work? Or, do employees actively avoid other staff members and seem disinterested? The term company culture is used in various ways, and many professionals only focus on the most critical aspect. Company culture is often used synonymously with corporate culture, organizational culture, and workplace culture. With that being said, do you know what company culture really means?

Corporate culture means the shared attitudes, standards, beliefs, and values that characterize members of a corporation and define its essence. Corporate culture is rooted in a company’s goals, strategies, structure, and approaches to labor, customers, investors, and the greater community.

A company’s beliefs and ideas affect how it does business, and its employees behave.

Organizational culture is defined as “the way things are done around the workplace.”

A positive culture can be attributed to 20-30% of the differential in corporate performance when compared with “culturally unremarkable” competitors.

Corporate culture is fascinating because it affects almost every part of a business and how it works. It’s also normally at the root of common business issues such as leadership, turnover, employee engagement, and communication. In summary, company culture can affect critical business revenue and drivers. A Community Poll asked executives and professionals, “Do you feel your organization has a positive office culture?” 31% of participants indicated no, while 69% of participants said yes. We reviewed the responses and discovered the top three factors to a positive company culture.

Group or Team Dynamics

Interactaction with colleagues and other staff members can influence an organization’s culture. Do people enjoy collaborating on important projects or goals and getting together? Group dynamics are one of the most critical areas assessed in culture because it can often be easily seen within the workplace. At the most basic level, you can visually see if a team likes working with each other. A participant in the survey said, “Sharing success, focus on teams, and team spirit is rewarded.” If a group genuinely enjoys collaborating, there is usually a sense of harmony, calm, and satisfaction.

Communication and Transparency

Is the information shared freely between different groups and departments? Do managers, executives, and professionals communicate well with other team members? Without good communication and transparency, it can be challenging to establish high trust levels throughout a company. A participant who indicated they had a positive culture said, “Candid feedback and transparency is given in a safe, psychologically positive manner.” However, a respondent who indicated their company culture was not positive said, “Information is not freely shared among the staff. People seem nervous and afraid of the CEO. Results are demanded of the employees, and if the results are not what is expected, the reason is often blamed on the person handling the task.”

Growth Opportunities

The potential for career growth is a topic that has come up a lot within our research. It is a component of what executives and professionals believe makes an Ideal Employer and a company they want to work for. Growth possibilities were also a returning theme in this company culture poll. Many employees are inspired by internal promotions and advancements within a company. One participant of the survey mentioned, “A lot of positive veteran workers show commitment and great leadership. Allows for personal employee growth. In addition, all team members are motivated by their work.”

Do you have an organization with positive company culture? What factors do you think are most important when building a company culture for your business? Respondents to our Community Poll regarding company culture were most focused on the group and dynamics, growth opportunities, and internal communication and transparency. How does your company measure up in these three areas?

Fly High Coaching is dedicated to helping you and your business succeed. We help to cut the costs of turnover and improve the performance of employees through coaching, consulting, and customized training services. Contact us today to get a FREE Strategy Call or check out our Corporate Coaching Services to learn what you can do now.