Understanding the value of building and maintaining a consistently positive organizational culture is certainly important. But taking it a step further and actually implementing changes that provide support to employees can be a challenge, especially in organizations that operate on a global scale. In the latest piece in our series focused on organizational culture, we’re outlining how to maintain consistency, even in a global setting.
What is Company Culture?
Company culture refers to the practices, behaviors, and processes in place within an organization that influence the way team members interact with one another and external individuals. Also referred to as the identity or personality of a business, the culture shapes the work environment and level of morale among its workforce members. Additionally, culture plays a role in the overall success of a business.
The Importance of Consistency in Organizational Culture
Maintaining consistency is one of the biggest aspects of establishing the culture you desire for your business. It’s easy to make a list of dos and don’ts, but it’s a lot harder to put those things into practice and make real changes. But without consistency, employees will lose trust in the leadership team, particularly if their actions conflict with what the business culture claims to be.
A negative culture can wreak havoc on business success, often due to issues with low workplace morale, high employee turnover rates, and other struggles. By investing in your culture, you can achieve greater success while supporting your team members in a positive way.
How to Maintain a Consistent Culture in a Global Setting
Even on a global scale, your business can maintain a consistently positive and supportive culture, as long as team members are willing to put in a little effort. Review some of the best tools to ensure consistency in a global setting.
Define the core values
The first step you can take toward defining your organizational culture is outlining the core values and sharing them throughout the team. These values should emphasize what the business is trying to achieve and how it will go about reaching its goals.
Make sure that every employee is aware of the defining principles, including the core values, vision, and mission. Through training programs, new orientation processes, and internal communications, maintain consistency and transparency around the values that dictate the way employees interact with each other and those outside the business.
Foster transparent communication
When you have employees working all over the world, it can be difficult for them to stay connected to one another and to the leaders of the business. Between differing time zones and work hours, your employees may feel like they’re flying solo a lot of the time.
But communication is vital to the overall success of a strong team, so make whatever effort is needed to foster regular, transparent communication. You can invest in instant messaging tools that allow employees to chat quickly and efficiently. Consider hosting video-based meetings to see people’s faces more regularly.
Invest in cultural sensitivity training
A global organization typically has employees from all different parts of the world, and they bring their own unique cultural views and behaviors. By investing in training for all team members, your business can provide a more supportive atmosphere that respects cultural differences while adhering to the core values.
Team leaders should undergo leadership development programs that give them access to members of different cultures. These types of programs can equip managers and supervisors with the skills they need to manage more effectively, especially when leading diverse, global teams.
Host gatherings for team members in different areas
If your organization doesn’t currently host get-togethers for members of the team located in different parts of the world, now is the time to change that. When employees come together and work toward a shared goal, they tend to feel more unified and positive about one another.
Remote workforces are more prone to feel disenfranchised, isolated, and unhappy, particularly when they feel disconnected from members of the in-person workforce. In hybrid models, this can be particularly challenging, especially if two distinct organizational cultures emerge. But by hosting regular gatherings whenever possible, your company can reduce the risk of this problem, helping team members to feel a sense of belonging and common purpose.
Get buy-in from the entire team
When your organization makes changes designed to improve the culture, it’s important to know that those impacted by the shifts feel positive. Before implementing significant procedural or process changes, ask for feedback from those who engage in these situations regularly.
Recognize and reward brand ambassadors
When you have employees who embody the organizational culture, acknowledge and reward them to show your appreciation. Identify the top contributors when it comes to maintaining a consistent culture and putting the behaviors into practice that your company wants from its workforce. Implement a formal rewards program that can celebrate top performers and brand ambassadors in a visual way, regardless of where they’re physically located.
Although maintaining a consistent company culture on a global scale is a challenge, it is achievable with the right efforts. If your leaders are willing to commit to changes and better understand cultural differences, the company can achieve greater success through a more engaged and happy workforce. As a result, the culture will become more cohesive and teams can work together more effectively.
Explore how WorkforceHub, a powerful employee management platform, can help with your efforts to build and maintain a consistent culture. With user-friendly design elements and the features your business needs to track and manage team members, this solution is ideal for small-to-midsize organizations.
