Creating a people-first company culture is a transformative journey that begins with understanding and valuing your employees. It's about fostering an environment where people feel heard, appreciated, and motivated to contribute their best. Let's delve into the process of building such a culture.
The gap between strategy and results is people
People-first cultures are rooted in a philosophy that values people over profits
- Studies show that culture-driven organizations experience 26 percent fewer mistakes, 22 percent higher productivity, 41 percent lower absenteeism, and 30 percent stronger customer satisfaction
- Employees are also twice as likely to recommend their company to a friend, making recruiting easier, and three times more likely to stay
Live Your Company Values
Core values must be an integral, living part of your business at every level, starting with leadership
Hire Well
The people you hire shape your culture
- Look beyond job skills to see the whole person
- Use core values in your hiring process
- Incorporate multiple people in the interview process to gain diverse perspectives
- Be transparent and human-centric with candidates
Empower Employees to Be Leaders in Their Roles
Leadership can be democratized when CEOs put forth the high-level mission, values, goals, strategy, and behaviors for everyone to align around
- Building safe environments for sharing ideas and opportunities to learn from failure helps people step up as leaders in their individual roles
Listen Closely to Your People
Pay attention to what you are paying attention to
- Gaining feedback at each step of your business will produce more transparent, richer conversations
- Find out what’s working and what’s not by looking to your team for answers
- Have an authentic feedback loop in place and hear with empathy what your people experience
