Spotting Healthy Work Cultures

Culture is the DNA of an organization. It shapes the fundamental choices a company makes in how it operates. And because it is a choice, it varies from one organization to another.

While there's no universal formula for a successful culture, certain elements can give an indication of the work environment. Strong signals of a positive and healthy work culture include employees openly expressing pride in their workplace, developing friendships with their colleagues, trusting their managers, and having opportunities to interact with the leadership team.

In this blog post, we outline ten specific indicators that can help identify healthy work cultures. We would like to emphasize however, that the "right" culture is subjective and is influenced by factors such as strategic alignment, leadership preferences, and shareholder perspectives.

1. Organization Formality

The level of formality from physical location, décor, office attire to the way employees address one another collectively give an indication of the culture the organization wants to project. Some opt for a formal atmosphere, others lean towards a casual setting. There is no right or wrong setup. The level of formality is ultimately dependent on the nature of business operations, but it does give an indication of the work ambiance.

2. Hiring and Onboarding Process

Some organizations adopt the “Sink or Swim” approach to introduce new hires, or recently promoted employees, to their new roles. Others go with a full-on structured accelerated integration. Glassdoor reviews are good source for this indicator; employees do not hold back sharing their onboarding experiences!

3. Internal and External Communication

Frequency, medium and tone of internal communications are among top culture indicators. External communication can build, or ruin, a company’s reputation in the public domain, especially at critical times.

A good case study to demonstrate the power of communication is Tony Hayward’s “I’d like my life back” comment in reference to BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The consequences were deep causing a public outcry; despite his formal apology, he was never able to redeem himself and ultimately left the organization.

 4. Decision Making

Decision-making process is a great indicator of the organizational culture. In hierarchical organizations, the final decision lies with the leader, whereas in egalitarian organization designs decisions are made by the team.

What happens after a decision is made is more important than the decision itself. The length of the approval process and number of approving bodies will determine how decisions are executed.

Healthy work cultures give employees the autonomy to execute work seamlessly. They reduce complexities, minimize repetitions and track progress to ensure agreed-upon actions are actually implemented.

5. Handling Conflicts

Disagreements are inevitable, but they need not be detrimental to the team. In healthy work cultures, debates are encouraged and when conflicts arise, they are managed in a constructive and professional manner.

Beware of organizations that boast to never have conflicts, it is an indicator of lack of trust, lack of creative thinking or that the organization is made up of "yes people".

6. Organizational Design

Organizational charts are designed to streamline workflows; some have flat hierarchy, others are webs of integrated networks. Whatever the structure, it should make it easy for teams to work cross-functionally and across geographical spread.

The organizational design should not create bottlenecks, cause delays or follow a rigid bureaucratic hierarchy hindering productivity.

7. Business Meetings

Managers spend anywhere from 35% to 50% of their time in meetings, yet executives consider over half of those meetings to be failures!

In healthy work cultures, employees are expected to attend meetings in reasonable amounts after considering alternatives to hosting a meeting. If a meeting is held to obtain a crucial business decision, only relevant personnel are invited. Employees are given an option to opt out of meetings if they sense they cannot add value and are trusted to make such judgements for themselves.

There is much work that goes into organizing a productive meeting; it includes tasks performed prior to the meeting, during the meeting and post the meeting. Often times than not, e-mails, slack channels and other internal communication tools are workable substitutes to meetings.

8. Social Events

The type of social events the organization engages in is telling of its culture. Organizations with great work culture ensure inclusiveness is in the heart of everything they do.

To foster inclusiveness in social events, organizations can consider a variety of activities beyond the usual after-work gatherings. Some ideas include:

* Sport competitions

* Game championships

* Scavenger hunts

* Group walks and hikes

* Family picnics

* Lunch potlucks

* Book clubs

* Participating in charity events

9. Performance Development

Healthy organizations take performance development seriously. In such cultures, employees have ownership of their progress and take an active part paving their career paths.

Development and succession plans are transparent and open for all to participate, not only high potentials. There is no favoritism or hidden agendas obstructing career progression.

Most importantly, healthy organizations adopt a growth mindset where mistakes are not seen as failures, but opportunities for enhancement and possible innovation.

10. Handling Employee Separation

Employees will eventually depart from an organization, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Regardless of the reason, it's paramount that the separation process is handled legally, fairly, and with compassion.

Employees departing from healthy work cultures would have great things to say about the organization. Some act as ambassadors promoting the organization to potential future hires. On the other hand, employees subjected to toxic work environments tend to leave with a sour taste in their mouths; some resort to expressing their feelings publicly on platforms such as Glassdoor, Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Google reviews.

It is worth noting that Glassdoor keeps history of all employee reviews. Organizations cannot request for these reviews to be taken down, the only thing they can do (and should do) is respond to positive and negative reviews in an objective manner.

We hope the indicators above offer insights into fostering healthy and highly productive workplaces. As a final note, it's important to remember that organizational culture is fundamentally shaped by the leadership team; it speaks to their legacy.