Experience — The cultural side
With the rise of User Experience, we’ve seen a global shift in how organizations prioritize and develop features in their products. From smooth onboarding to a seamless application flow, a lot of effort is placed towards tailoring the right experience. Roles like User Experience Researchers and Interaction Designers are emerging because of how critical UX is.
Sadly, the same leaders working towards building these great experiences for their users, often forget to provide a pleasant experience to their employees. Experience is not related to a particular industry, a specific domain, or an individual’s persona. Experience is everywhere. This is why providing the best experience to its own people should be a top priority for any organization around the world.
At one of my previous organizations, a colleague who was working on an internal survey asked me a simple question: “What’s the first interaction of the day the office has with its employees?” I couldn’t help but think how it starts from the moment you wake up. If you wake up dreading going to work because of the culture, you’re not having a good experience. On the other side, if your organization values its people and prioritizes them, you would have a completely different experience.
What defines office culture? Well, let me tell you what it's not. Office culture is not about fancy infrastructure, onboarding presents, stipends, and gifts. It’s about how each employee is treated as a human being. How the leadership resolves conflicts, how inclusive you feel in organizational decisions, and how people talk about their colleagues when they’re not around. Gossip, rumors, and lobbying have never enabled an organization to grow organically and maintain that stature. These are just examples of what might ruin an office culture.
In essence, organizations that put people first are more prone to success and growth in the long haul because an employee who feels valued will always put in more effort than required. As I’m sure you’ve heard before:
“Take care of your people and they will take care of your customers for you”
