A great workplace culture creates a sense of meaning
Authenticity and meaning are important for creating great workplace cultures. Find out how you can start doing this with these two steps.
1) Create an authentic and meaningful mission statement
The first step to making your culture more meaningful is to first of all have a clear and meaningful mission statement.
When people feel like they don't have meaning, they often lack motivation. But putting forth meaningful company goals makes a difference.
It pays to tell the authentic "story" of the company.
In 1957, Stanford social psychologist Leon Festinger came up with the idea of cognitive dissonance, which is when people get uncomfortable if their attitudes and behaviours are at odds. Then, Festinger said, people often change their behaviour or their beliefs so that they match up and that can eliminate discomfort.
The implication of this study for businesses, McKinsey and Co. explains, is that when people are aware of the mission of a company and they actually believe in it, they will be more willing to change their behaviours.
Google knows the value of a meaningful mission statement. On their website, they list their values of honesty, speed, quality, and, of course, having fun. Plus, they have the simple motto: "Don't be evil."
So, it pays to tell the authentic "story" of the company, including an explanation of why your employees should believe in and value the purpose of the business.
2) Choose your employees wisely
Having a clear and meaningful company culture is more than just words in a mission statement though. It's also about recruiting people who already hold your values.
The University of Queensland Business School's Professor Charmine Härtel, an expert in human resource management and organisational change, states that companies need to review their recruitment policies to increase employee engagement. Specifically, they need to review the policies to make sure that the employee's values align with those of the company.
"It's hard for a public sector organisation to encourage individuals to be more public service minded if that's not high on their list of priorities. Ultimately it needs to select people with these values in the first place," Professor Härtel says.
While telling the story of your company is important, you have to hire people who will actually be interested in hearing the story. Selecting employees who already share your values saves you the time and energy of unnecessarily trying to convince someone of why your company values are important.
Plus, hiring people who already share the values of your company results in greater employee engagement because workers feel more comfortable being themselves in the office. Dan Cable at London Business School found that employees who feel welcome to put their authentic selves out there at work show more organisational commitment, willingness to help others and greater individual performance. If you invest in getting people who feel in line with your business culture, you'll find greater productivity.
It is therefore paramount that you have a good mission statement to create a meaningful company culture that people can identify with as well as having great recruitment practises to get the right employees . Find out more about creating a meaningful workplace by consulting with Flexi Personnel's HR staff.
