Invest in Culture? Invest in Potential!
Organizations have already made an enormous investment hiring the people to do the work to achieve their objectives. And, it’s the people that create an organization’s culture. Their attitudes, their drive, their satisfaction and their perception of the value they are contributing - and being recognized for.
I keep hearing from leaders of growing organizations “invest in your culture”. Sometimes as a “compensation for salary”. How do you safely and confidently invest in culture and realize the benefits?
Capital investments often seem black and white, viewed through the lenses of KPI and ROI. Investments are made, “solutions” implemented and improvements might be noticeable. Regardless, the next “solution” is considered, KPI and ROI reviewed and decisions made - and so goes the cycle.
How do you invest in culture and realize the benefits of that investment?
How do you determine if you need to?
You likely already have a gut sense. The turnover is higher than desirable; recruitment costs are more than anticipated; “down-time” as you fill vacancies creates knock-on effects as the teams compensate; production quantity, quality and timelines aren’t where they should be. . . and how much laughter do you hear? (OK. WFH challenges that indicator.)
Even if you figure these KPI are just the cost of doing business, three questions will help clarify if an investment “in culture” is worth exploring.
Using a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high), ask everyone in your organization, department or team to participate, to answer the following - and ensure they know they are completely safe to answer honestly, or that the answers are anonymous (otherwise they’ll just tell you what you want to hear).
How engaged are they in their role or on their team?
How well do they feel their current potential is being recognized and encouraged?
How valued do they feel?
Their first answer provides insight into their current capacity.
The second answer indicates untapped potential.
The third rounds out the picture of their leader.
If the scores are below 4, there is room to improve!
How do you invest in culture? Invest in anyone who has someone reporting to them. People-leaders set up team environments, engage team members, recognize and expand potential, foster and champion collaboration and cohesion and value the contributions of each team members – or they don’t.
Can you evaluate the investment in leadership, like you would a capital expenditure?
You have the data - the KPI and related financial cost of current state: Rate of turnover; length of time to recruit and associated lost production time; annual cost of recruiting for replacement; success of promotions (output, productivity, turnover); speed to delivery and quality of output.
What could an investment in a well designed people-leader program do for the teams, the culture and the organization? What could be realized with fully engaged, enthused, expanding employees? How much would be saved in recruitment, and downtime with changing team members and leads? And how much risk could be mitigated with each promotion or new hire?
What is the investment in that potential worth?