Member-only story
How to Design a Successful Culture
Can workplace culture be designed? That’s the question I always get when I tell people what I do for a living. People still think that culture is something that just happens organically.
A recent study by Glassdoor shows that companies with a strong culture outperform the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, delivering almost twice the gain. Glassdoor also declared 2020 as the beginning of a culture-first decade for organizations.
Every company has a culture, either by default or by design. However, successful cultures don’t happen by accident; they are purposefully designed and built. Here’s how:
1. Take a user-centered approach to culture design
Design Thinking revolutionized the way organizations solve problems and develop new products and solutions.
The reason for its success? According to the Harvard Business Review, it provides superior solutions, lowers risk and costs and facilitates employee buy-in. Company culture benefits from a user-centered approach, too. Intentionally designing what your organization stands for requires starting with the user in mind: your employees.
Most leaders miss an opportunity when they try to define their culture on their own. They fail to get early buy-in by not getting employees involved in the…
