The link between your organisation’s culture and purpose has never been more important
Stop papering over the cultural cracks
But being a little bit direct and to the point, no number of wellbeing initiatives will change the fact that the biggest impact on the employee’s wellbeing, is their line manager. Here’s the fact. The quality of leadership in your organisation will fundamentally define the wellbeing of your employees.
There’s a worrying trend in positive psychology initiatives being used to paper over some of the cultural cracks, that actually need to be fixed, in order to create an organisation where your employees thrive. No number of yoga sessions and lunchtime massages will compensate for a culture where there is still demand for long hours, where there's an authoritative environment that removes autonomy, the sense of being able to contribute and make a difference for your employees.
Building a culture where your people can truly flourish and bring the best of themselves every single day, is the Holy Grail. And to do that your leaders have to be clear on your purpose.
Leading from the top
The first job of leadership is to set the direction and tone in the organisation. There’s never been a greater need for leaders to have their fingers firmly fixed on your organisation’s cultural pulse. The best leaders are not only connecting with everything they can within their own organisation to keep people engaged and motivated, but also across industry with collaboration that fits a deeper, broader purpose.
The leaders who seem to be thriving in these difficult times are the truly purpose driven leaders who demonstrate that there’s authenticity to their vision and values statements, as opposed to just words on a wall. Why is this important? Because organisational culture is what makes people and customer experience thrive.
In addition to showing great purpose, leaders need to really demonstrate commitment to their people. Everybody talks about a commitment to people, but demonstrating a commitment to it, when you really need to, is where you can really show your true colours and create a narrative that will determine how your employees feel about your organisation.
When it comes to purpose and values, every business has them, but the best organisations are lifting them off the page and translating them into tangible action.
Culture: what people do when no one tells them
One of the single biggest motivators for employees is autonomy. We are hugely motivated as humans by autonomy and being in control of the decisions that we make and doing fundamentally what's right in the way that we work. It is most definitely the job of organisations to build a culture that is permission ’full, that provides freedom and responsibility to inspire, set the boundaries and motivate the ways of working, to really allow people to make a difference.
This article is provided by Gallagher.
In partnership with Gallagher
Consultancy services including organisational wellbeing, culture change and internal communications.
