The Business Value of Culture.

It might well be one of the most used wisdoms in business: no business strategy in the world can be successful without the right work-culture supporting it. We all know this to be true from our own experience: teams that share strong cultural bonds and shared habits tend to get results that other less strong teams simply don’t.

But the business value of culture is not just something we all know from first hand experience, it has also been proven over and over again. Teams that feel culturally bound are not only more productive inputting to whatever business objective they are after, they are also far more (cost-)effective when it comes to attracting, growing and retaining talent.

Just think about these facts for a second. The impact of culture on both recruitment and talent development is absolutely huge. And that is why deliberately shaping the right employee culture is not only vital for effective talent management, it's also the most effective way for HR managers to positively impact the bottom line business success.

Culture: so much more than a ping pong table

Although we all see the importance of shaping strong cultures, at the same ‘Culture’ is quite an intangible concept, prone to superficial definitions and misconceptions. Sure, ping pong tables, Friday afternoon drinks or birthday celebrations are important. And sure, you have a poster hanging on a wall stating your ‘corporate values’ (that probably nobody can remember). Truly shaping an effective and strong culture simply goes deeper than that.

In fact, there lies an even more real danger in not defining what kind of a culture you want to build and nurture. Knowing that people and groups just have biases, steering on ‘cultural fit’ without having a clear and understood idea of what that means for you will only lead to hiring more of what you already have. And overtime, that is devastating. Not just for the diversity of your team, but for your overall effectiveness.