Strategy to Implementation: Building a Team Culture from an HR’s Perspective
Managing a Team Culture- From Strategy to Implementation
When an organization is growing rapidly, certain questions are raised, which are often discussed and questioned during strategy sessions. These often demand immediate answers but encourage nebulous responses- what is the culture of the organization? How do we retain and reinforce it? What is the best way to ensure success?
No matter the outcome and consensus of these sessions, one fact remains true- the culture of a company is only through actions, not words or ideas. The way that the team is treated and guided, each and every day, is the true culture of a company and what will dictate the path that it takes.
As someone working in the HR Operations department, it is up to me and my team to figure out how exactly these ideals are translated toward action with Hevo. From onboarding to exit, the particulars of how we implement these ideas are crucial for the Hevo employee experience.
Understanding the Team
The crux of the main focus of the HR team is employee happiness. It is down to us to understand exactly what form this takes, and how it can be improved. Being a growing organization, there is a large difference between creating the culture and policies from scratch, versus maintaining or upgrading already existing ones. The foundation that we lay at this point in time sets the stage for the organization in perpetuity.
This understanding of employee happiness is usually reached through surveys. At Hevo, we have an annual Happiness Survey that lets us know exactly what is on the team’s mind. Besides this, we also have a very open policy of collecting requests and feedback and using these to gauge team satisfaction. These are the measurement criteria we use as a yardstick for employee happiness.
We have a very data-driven mindset at Hevo, and the HR team is no exception to this. After collecting adequate data on various needs and requests, these are analyzed to find out the top three priorities for a time period.
Connecting the Dots
Even with an understanding of the team requirements, this would ultimately be of no use unless we figure out how to connect the needs with the policies. This has to be done in a very careful manner to ensure a balance between employee happiness and the objectives or benefit of the organization as a whole. Implementing such policies operationally may seem straightforward, but they require a lot of thought and work behind them. Each new policy needs a thorough proposal that includes the entire plan, which is then presented to the management before it can be implemented.
As a startup, the process of laying down these policies needs to be very fast-paced, to cater to the exponential increase in team numbers, but also require thorough testing, a firmly laid out process, scalability, and in-depth thought for all the possible perspectives. This needed balance is what makes it so challenging and yet fulfilling.
Maintaining the Foundation
Of course, there are many logistical and hygiene factors that the HR Ops team needs to take care of even beyond the requests raised by the employees. These may involve compliance requirements, or simply aspects of employee experience that are expected in any well-functioning organization. These aspects are those that may not be considered much beyond the team but are worked on diligently behind the scenes nevertheless. Examples for such tasks are maintaining and updating the HRMS, analyzing attrition, remaining compliant with various legal requirements, etc.
The baseline culture of an organization- for example, a culture of good and open communication- may seem to be something that must stem organically, but in reality, even this is something that must be cultivated and encouraged. These ideals come from the founder but must be carried forward by the HR team, perhaps through acts as simple as encouraging good communication within the teams. Such intent when it comes to creating a culture can be even more important when it comes to remote working, as a cohesive culture can be even harder to come by through the online mode.
When it comes to the culture of an organization, intentional and well-planned action is a must to ensure that the gaps between ideas and implementation are successfully bridged. This is what we are trying to successfully accomplish through the growing HR Ops team at Hevo. Every decision that is taken, every action that is performed, or every conversation that is had in an organization is decided based on the workplace culture, and ultimately plays a huge role in its success as well!
