Culture is the foundation of any organization.
—Gary Vaynerchuk, businessman
What exactly is corporate culture?
Everyone feels the effects, but it can be difficult to describe them. Just as fish don’t realize they are submerged in water, culture is the organizational fish tank in which everyone swims. Vasundhara Sawhney, editor-in-chief of Harvard Business Review, says: “Culture is the DNA of an organization. These are the shared values, goals, attitudes and practices that characterize a workplace. This is reflected in the way other people behave, interact with each other, make decisions and do their jobs. It affects everything, including your happiness and your career.
Gary Vaynerchuk’s metaphor of culture as the organizational backbone isn’t just figurative. Gallup found that strong organizational culture accounts for a 50-point increase in employee engagement over a three-year period, and 85% net profit increase over a five-year period. On the flipside, poor culture costs dearly. A recent FlexJobs survey found that the #1 reason people quit their job was a toxic company culture.
Strong cultures are not born by chance. It takes wonderful leaders to build them. These leaders take the time to reflect on and explain their organization’s values. Then, they do the critical work to bring those values to life through behaviors, systems, and processes.
An example of such a leader is Joseph Shalaby, founder and CEO of E-Mortgage Capital (EMC). Shalaby has made difficult connections between corporate culture and business performance. Founded in 2015, EMC has seen significant growth and culture is a big explanation why.
Many corporations like to communicate about the quality of their corporate culture. But most do not keep their word. Only 23% of U. S. workers strongly agree that they can apply their organization’s values in their work.
Shalaby and EMC know that the secret to maintaining a terrific culture is by embedding their core values in everything that they do. EMC’s five core values spell out the acronym Se.C.R.E.T.:
When asked how EMC leaders ensure those values come to life every day, Shalavia responded, “We actively interact with the EMC network on a daily basis through multiple channels. Our instant chat formula (Microsoft Teams) allows leaders to answer questions in real-time, promoting rapid communication across the organization. We also conduct weekly educational sessions, averaging 1-2 educational sessions per day, to ensure continuous learning and development. We pay attention to internal issues and grow from within by working intensively with our frontline sales leaders and ongoing relationships. This technique is helping us to face demanding situations and improve our processes.
The application of EMC values begins on the first day. Shalaby explains: “Once onboarded at EMC, workers get a card (EMC gusto) that highlights our core values and serves as a placeholder for implementing those values every day. Our core values are also presented in our initial recruiting video, onboarding fabrics, and covered in our trainings.
In our post-pandemic world, it’s no wonder that intellectual aptitude issues in the office are expanding exponentially. In its new 2024 State of Empathy in the Workplace report, Businessolver reports that the most valuable perks workers say is helping them take care of themselves. of his intellectual aptitude is an open-door policy. An open-door policy is a way through which team members can contact managers outside of normal meeting hours (and/or hierarchical levels) to have a discussion. Such a policy encourages workers to speak up when they have problems to solve.
Businessolver found that the percentage of painters who do not follow an open-door policy (91%) exceeds even the preference for flexible work schedules (89%), as well as the incentive to take breaks from their work (88%). These effects underline the importance of an authentic human relationship between managers and painters.
Shalathrough understands that an open-door policy is imperative for a strong culture. He shares: “My business partner (President Sam Hijazin) and I maintain an open-door policy. This allows us to have a more personalized relationship with EMC employees, allowing the team to address active concerns, morale, and demanding situations. within specific roles. This helps us prioritize work-life balance at EMC. It also encourages our internal operations and sales teams to come up with concepts while still being sure they will be heard. via mail email, phone or Teams despite the magnitude of daily demands and responsibilities, Sam Hijazin promises an email response to any team member within 24 hours of sending and delivers.
In their Global Leadership Forecast, Development Dimensions International reports that one of the top concerns of CEOs today is developing the next generation of leaders. No matter how great you are as a leader, you can only reach so far as an individual. A good part of a top leader’s job is developing leadership excellence at all levels.
Shalaby strives to meet this challenge head-on. He shares, “At EMC, we are very selective about who we decide to lead, from top management to middle management. We believe that strong effects are not enough to form an effective leader. Intangibles like empathy and compassion, strong communication, and encouraging expansion are more applicable than one might expect when choosing leaders. I would go so far as to say that hard skills and comfortable skills are equally vital for leadership roles. We are expanding internally, which allows us to build and expand the leadership that most productively serves the organization and our people.
Developing and developing leadership functions does not mean seeking to impose a simple leadership style. Shalaby explains: “At EMC, we believe that you deserve to be who you are. Authentic leadership means leading with an authentic purpose and staying true to yourself. I engage in an open discussion with our team, sharing my private reports and lessons learned. This technique builds trust and encourages everyone to work fully, knowing that their unique perspectives and contributions are valued.
Shalaby’s concepts of creating a strong culture go hand in hand with business expansion. EMC has an enviable history of expansion. In their first year, they achieved $3 million in loan volume, a key metric in their industry. In 2022, EMC completed $2. 1 billion in loan volume. This amount will increase to $2. 7 billion in 2023 and is on track to reach $4 billion this year.
If you view your corporate culture as only one detail of your overall business strategy, you probably won’t see the forest for the trees. Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM, heard this:
Before joining IBM, I probably would have told you that culture is just one vital detail in the makeup and good fortune of any organization, along with vision, strategy, marketing, finance, etc. From my time at IBM, this culture is not just a component of the game, it is the game. Ultimately, an organization is nothing more than the collective ability of its other people to create priceArray.
As a leader, each and every action you take influences your culture, for better or worse.
To build your workers’ collective capacity to create value, use those 3 keys:
Not only will it help strengthen your culture, it’ll help you grow your business.
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