3 Essential Elements of an Engaging Company Culture

It is common to think that the success of a work team is due only to the individual characteristics of each participant. On the contrary, much of it has to do with a winning company culture. You can sense an engaging company culture right away inside a successful business. For good and bad: the employees’ drive, the company or team results, peer cooperation, leadership and many other factors will help you identify how healthy the work environment is. Even though the culture of the company is variable and is related to the industry to which it belongs, here are 3 elements that are always present in an engaging company culture:

1.       Sense of Safety

People inside highly successful teams often describe safety as the strongest foundation a business can provide to its employees. Its typically a “family relationship feeling” in which members receive and give support even if they do not share the same interests or individual goals. It is about treating each person as unique and valued. This also means providing a clear path for their future in the business. When employees do not have this future path, there is increased fear and less productivity. The best companies provide physical safety and future security for their employees. This ability is essential to humanize the company, promoting healthy and productive communication as well as elevating the level of commitment.

2.       Shared Vulnerability

Companies with engaging culture are willing to listen to concerns of all employees. Not only that, but they also take steps to change and improve based on that feedback. Providing opportunities for feedback is essential. Building trust in this process often leads to much greater group cohesion.

Often, after overcoming a team/department obstacle, the group begins acting and thinking as a unit, as if they were all wired into the same brain. These types of group bonding events only happen when someone (usually in a leadership position) says “I need help.” This act of vulnerability lowers the walls of others and increases collaboration.

When employees demonstrate vulnerability, the sensitivity level of the corporate culture increases, allowing its participants to feel human (as obvious as this may sound). Like the need to ask for help and admit if we are not feeling well or unsatisfied. When this ability permeates the work environment, it allows employees to be honest but also deal with inconveniences, leave insecurities aside, and finish work accordingly.

Vulnerability precedes trust, it serves as a solid base to carry on and consolidate teams. It must be promoted in the first place by the leaders who are often seen as "the strongest and least vulnerable" to be imitated by all employees from any organizational level. 

3.       Constant Reminder of Purpose

When you walk into the SEALs headquarter in Virginia, the first thing you see is a recreation of the World Trade Center bombing. At PIXARs offices you see all full-sized characters at the entrance glamming up the Pixarian magic. The reason for this is people at any business should be constantly reinforced with what they stand for and how important their work is for the company’s purpose. It brings employees to focus attention and engagement on the shared goal. To do this, they create a high-purpose environment which results in live signals created to link the company’s present and a future ideal “here’s where we are and there is where we want to be”. Telling that story will positively impact every employee’s desk creating a well-defined and high-performance work environment with consistency and innovation.

There are several other important elements of company culture, but these 3 are essential. A recent study in behavioral analysis shows that two other company skills that promote culture-engages employees are: Sense of belonging, which pretty much is a result of the 3 previous skills and Creative Thank-You’s, which has to do with how companies creatively reward their employees rather than saying Thank You.

Have we missed any? What other elements are essential to company culture?

By Maria Lossada