The culture of any organization is the sum total of the behaviors of the individuals within that organization. It is not a function of what the executives want the company to be or what they claim it to be on posters on the wall. Rather, it is what people do.
Once a culture has been defined and the behaviors clarified that bring it to life, six things must be considered, all of which are, or can be, significantly influenced by HR.
- Executive alignment. The organization’s executives must clearly be committed to speaking about the culture, reinforcing it, and, most importantly, demonstrating it through their actions.
- Line management support. Frontline leaders to whom the organization reports must be committed to exemplifying the culture in terms of the way they behave, coaching their employees when necessary if individual behavior is not in line with the culture, and indicating that the culture is a priority and not an option.
- Training. Individuals need to be trained on the appropriate behaviors expected within a culture and guided in how to respond to day-to-day situations where the culture should be evident.
- Communication. There must be ongoing communication within every corporate vehicle that continues to stress the importance of culture, the impact of successfully living it, and the consequences it has on corporate results and customer satisfaction.
- Measurement. The culture’s results show up in various ways, including efficiency measurements, performance results, and customer responses. These need to be captured and shared within the organization.
- HR alignment. This area is most often overlooked, yet it is crucial to the successful implementation of a culture transformation or the reinforcement of an existing culture. To understand the importance and nature of the HR function as it relates to bringing a culture to life, one needs to understand the HR Cycle.
The HR Cycle
Every position begins with either a recruitment into a position from outside or a promotion from within. The next step is to onboard the individual and identify if there are any immediate training needs. The next aspect of the cycle is to ensure that feedback is given regularly, ideally on a formal level every quarter, followed by identifying any additional training needs. The next aspect of the HR cycle includes a review of compensation to ensure that individuals are effectively compensated.
The cycle then moves to a different phase where three distinct aspects need to be followed. The first is recognition, where individuals who demonstrate the culture and are strong performers are recognized accordingly and even identified as demonstrating best practices. The next is career planning, where individuals can apply for postings and training that they feel will further their careers. The third and last area is succession planning, where the organization identifies individuals to be put on a track for possible promotion to ensure positions are filled.
The cycle then repeats with positions opening up and being filled either by someone within or without the organization.
The Link Between the HR Cycle and Culture
When considering this cycle, it becomes clear that each aspect plays a vital role in promoting and reinforcing the culture.
Recruitment. Hiring individuals from without or promoting individuals from within is an excellent opportunity to ensure that job candidates demonstrate the behaviors and character the culture requires in addition to their professional qualifications. This ensures that there’s limited work to do to align the individuals with the culture once they have moved into a position. This puts significant responsibility on those making the hiring or promotion decisions. They must ensure that candidates fully understand and exhibit the behaviors that the culture requires.
Onboarding. This is the first, and perhaps the most important, opportunity to clearly articulate what the culture is and what behaviors are expected. This needs to be done not only at the time new individuals join the company but should also be addressed after each promotion. The expectations of leaders and more senior people change with added responsibility, and it becomes increasingly important for them to demonstrate the culture and know how to do so in their new role.
Feedback. This can certainly occur on the job on an ongoing basis but should occur formally at least once a quarter. Giving feedback should be an opportunity to discuss the individual’s on-the-job performance and interactions with colleagues and evaluate the degree to which they demonstrate the culture and proactively contribute to it. This aspect of feedback is often missed when performance is reviewed, but it is an excellent opportunity to reinforce the importance of cultural norms and guide those struggling with some aspect of it.
Training. Typically, training within an organization falls into three categories: professional training (for example, marketing), personal training against identified needs (for example, time management), and corporate training (for example, policy and procedures). This last category is where attention needs to be given to training around the culture. Clarify what is expected in terms of interactions with one another, with leaders, with customers, and relative to on-the-job behaviors, such as safety and quality. This training needs to be formal and effective for the culture to be demonstrated at every level consistently truly and is an excellent forum for experiential learning.
Compensation. While it is difficult to link compensation directly to behaviors related to culture, it is important to ensure that those who are receiving increases or promotions are the ones who clearly demonstrate the culture. Compensation is, in part, a way to reflect that.
Recognition. Often, the communication function within an organization falls to human resources, but whether it does or not, there needs to be a focus on recognition led by the HR group. This is an opportunity to celebrate those who have demonstrated the behavior that the culture espouses. For example, if the culture encourages innovation, then those who were innovative should be recognized accordingly. If the culture reinforces safety, then those who proactively contribute to ensuring a safe environment should be recognized. One of the most effective ways to recognize an individual or team is by sharing best practices, where the rest of the organization can learn what behaviors occurred and the result of those behaviors. They are then able to model themselves accordingly.
Career planning. Career planning is an opportunity for people to look at what other positions they may wish to fill within an organization and identify the requirements to be considered for those roles. As they seek to fulfill those requirements, it should be clear that demonstrating the culture is a nonnegotiable requirement for every position. At the more senior positions, the level of involvement in bringing the culture to life increases; people in those positions are expected to model behavior and coach others in doing the same.
Succession planning. This is perhaps one of the most important areas that human resources can focus on when seeking to reinforce the culture. It is imperative that individuals not be promoted into positions of increased responsibility if they fail to demonstrate the culture in meaningful and tangible ways. Failing to be successful with these criteria will make it clear to the company that promotion does not require living the culture, so cultural priorities will be seen as merely lip service and not something substantial. When those individuals who are models of the culture are promoted, then the importance of the culture is reinforced.
Conclusion
HR plays a significant role in company culture. When HR aligns its actions within the components of the HR cycle, it becomes easier to focus on those components and determine what behavior is appropriate for each aspect of the cycle. In the process, HR can optimize its meaningful impact in bringing a culture to life.
