Take Employee Engagement to New Heights: It’s Time to Compete on Culture

What is Compete on Culture? It’s an easy way of saying “a workplace culture that employees want to be engaged in that’s better than the competition.” Focusing on employee engagement and workplace culture is the right thing to do. Why? Because happy employees make happy customers. Here’s a stat for you: a fully engaged employee unlocks their discretionary effort and increases their performance by 40%. Not only that, your customer satisfaction significantly goes up and so does your bottom line.

Let’s first focus on your company brand. Here’s a spoiler alert: your company culture is your brand. You used to be able to put information on your website or make a fancy brochure and tell the story that you wanted to tell. In today’s world, you don’t own your brand anymore. Your employees do. Every social media post they create, every Glassdoor review they write, and every conversation they have, they are telling the story and your potential candidates are listening. And that’s just on the attraction side. On the retention side, LinkedIn makes it easier than ever for recruiters to find your employees. So now you need your employees to be so engaged in your organization that they are never actively looking for a job. Not only that, but that they would say no when a recruiter comes calling.

But what is exactly is company culture? It isn’t having office parties, giving away t-shirts or bringing in donuts for everyone. It goes deeper than that. People don’t stay because you have a great holiday party. People stay because they filled valued. People stay because they are connected to your mission and your purpose. People stay because they have opportunities to learn new things and they are trusted to get the job done. To make that happen, you must invest in your employees and actively make a great place to work.

Now let’s focus on employees who are top performers. You want to everyone to be accountable to your high standards. Anyone who continually feels valued and are accountable to that standard, then they will be a top performer. And it’s a fact that top performers attract other top performers. But to keep these top performers, you need to fully trust them and allow the flexibility they need to get things done. Think about this: how close can you get to living the statement “as long as you’re getting your work done, I don’t care how, when or where you do it?” And here’s the crux—it’s a heck of a lot easier to allow when you have nothing but top performers on your team.

So, how do you get there? It starts with leaders willing to take charge to determine and work on what’s hindering your company from having fully engaged employees. Then they must hold your team accountable yet also guide them through these high expectations. It’s truly akin to our company’s story and motto: The “Be A Buffalo” Mindset. Why a buffalo? Because unlike cows, buffalo know when you charge through a storm—instead of running away from it—you’ll get to blue skies faster. Changing your culture and figuring out a better way to do it seems like this huge, daunting task. If you just take it piece by piece, it soon will be a win-win for everyone. It’s a win for the employees because now they have a great place to work. It’s a win for the company because their employees are fully engaged in your business.

At CultureShoc, we help businesses Compete on Culture through: team building experiences; leaders, management or all employee training sessions; keynote speaking; and meeting facilitation. We unite leaders and their team members using customized and carefully planned sessions or events, focused on providing an unforgettable team experience that is guaranteed to make a difference. Our aim is to help companies achieve high levels of success by transforming your company culture with proven, sustainable processes and ridiculously engaged employees.

Start creating a workplace that employees want to be engaged in that’s better than your competition by contacting us at 844.336.SHOC or traction@cultureshoc.com or visit us at www.cultureshoc.com

(Photo and artwork courtesy of Jo Bryne)