Niagara Casinos

The world of work has changed at warp speed. Propelled by unprecedented changes in how we work, mobile, hybrid, remote, and AI are creating new experiences and requiring new mindsets. Fueled by a retirement wave creating chasms in our talent pools and compensation markets - yet more older workers in the workforce. Driven by a new generation of workers that require meaningful, purposeful work, focused development, and flexibility, all this amid demands from our consumers for more, better, faster. 

As HR practitioners, we know the importance and value of having the right workplace culture. Great cultures that support employee engagement, customer experience, operational excellence, and, ultimately, business success. Without getting into all of the science and psycho-babble of the collapse of social institutions, generalized negativity in our media and society, and the prevalence of mental health concerns - dare I say it - post-pandemic; we have a greater need for strong, healthy cultures within our workplace communities. But it is not enough.

Culture is the beliefs, values, norms, and expectations – stated or otherwise – that guide behaviors and attitudes in your organization. Culture is built and reinforced by our systems and our actions, from how we recruit, train, and develop our employees to what behaviors and actions we acknowledge, recognize, appreciate, celebrate, and tolerate.

To create the right culture requires work. It's not words on a wall; it's not new branding or lofty vision statements. These are important and, arguably, foundational. However, the true culture is created and sustained by the leaders of the organization. Culture is the product of how every leader actualizes these totems of expectations. How they live the values and hold others accountable will create – or destroy – your culture. In a time when many organizations are struggling to rebuild, rebrand, and reimagine – how you socialize and sustain your culture will tell your team members what is actually important to your organization.

Consider Alice, a high-performing, results-oriented leader who chooses the stick over the carrot, whose toxic leadership style fosters a culture of unproductive effort spent reacting to her latest e-mail or pronouncement instead of productivity on a time-sensitive project. Yet because she is results-driven, Alice will take over the project to ensure its completion rather than developing and empowering her team. Under her leadership, turnover is high, and engagement scores are low. Then there is Charlie, a kind, compassionate leader who commiserates with his team on the unfairness of the latest change initiative or technology implementation, who uses language like “they always, they never…” without ever really explaining who they are. We can’t forget Sally, who repeatedly stays late, works hard, never misses a day, judges others who work differently than her, and eventually ends up on leave due to burnout. Would you be surprised to learn that these individuals all work for the same company with a stated culture of teamwork, trust, servant leadership, and collaboration? I'm sure you are not surprised, as many organizations have these cultural adversaries. Why do we allow them to kill the culture that has been so carefully architected to support the growth of the business?

‘Culture is the beliefs, values, norms, and expectations – stated or otherwise – that guide behaviors and attitudes in your organization.’

It starts with the leaders of leaders. What are you doing to hold your Leaders accountable for delivering on cultural expectations? Some ideas that may support strong alignment with the culture:

1. Complete a ‘culture audit.’ Do your HR systems and processes attract candidates that are the right fit? Do you recruit, assess, and hire for cultural alignment at all levels? Do your onboarding and training experiences clearly define and reinforce the culture, values, and expectations of the company and the position? How do you measure culture and values alignment? Do your performance management practices and tools assess and reward for behaviors aligned with the culture? Do your coaching practices identify how to deal with behaviors or actions not aligned with the organization's values or expectations? Do your appreciation and recognition initiatives reward the right behaviors and results, or are you rewarding the wrong people and outcomes? Do your succession planning and development opportunities focus on individuals who demonstrate the culture and actions that support the stated culture? Do the company tools and resources make clear the expectations?

2. Have a ‘culture moment.’  As we do with safety, compliance, or other important workplace expectations, we can keep the culture alive by socializing and reinforcing the behaviors and actions aligned with the expectations at every Town Hall, department meeting, or strategy session. Ask your Leaders what observable behaviors and actions demonstrate the culture is alive and well. What are some of the behaviors they are seeing that are not aligned, and how are they handling those interactions? Talk to front-line employees about the culture and whether they feel the organization is promoting and supporting the culture.

3. Read your survey results. Look at the comments – not just the quantitative scores – to identify trends or themes misaligned from your stated culture. Follow up with Leaders to understand what might be happening and why and to empower them to come up with a plan to re-align.

4. Hold leaders accountable. At the end of the day, if you want the culture to support business success, then you need to hold leaders accountable for not only the results but how they achieve them. Making excuses for individuals who do not live your values only weakens the alignment of the team and their trust in the culture. Make sure that Alice, Charlie, and Sally understand the expectations and that behaviors not aligned with the culture will not be condoned or risk that the sub-culture, the one that is not communicated but experienced by your team, becomes pervasive and your stated culture words on a wall.