Name: The Culture Engine
Rating: 4 (41 reviews)
Author: S. Chris Edmonds

What’s in it for me? Transform your organization’s culture into something you can be proud of.

Nowadays, culture has become a mystical and elusive ideal for all organizations. Fix your culture and all will turn to gold!

Of course, you can’t just snap your fingers and overhaul your organization’s culture from one moment to the next, but when you consider companies like Zappos, it’s clearly a goal worth pursuing. After all, Amazon paid big bucks for Zappos, and it’s no secret that part of what they were buying was Zappos’s unique culture.

As you’ll see in these blinks, research backs up the importance of organizational culture: Great company culture helps companies last longer and be more successful. It makes for more engaged employees, more loyal customers and more creative offices. So how do you start transforming your culture? Read these blinks to find out.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

why Zappos pays new hires to quit;
how a mission statement can help you outlast your competitors; and
a five-step method for addressing people who resist the new culture.

Revolutionize your work culture with an organizational constitution.

Want to revolutionize your work culture and transform your business? Start by writing an organizational constitution – a formal document that sets out the core principles of your company or team.

Here’s how it works:

Organizational constitutions lay out specific rights for employees and standards for them to follow. Think of it like the rules of the road, guidelines you use to navigate an ambiguous situation and govern your behavior.

For instance, when arguing with a colleague, it’s easy to go too far and insult them. But if your organizational constitution includes a zero-tolerance policy for rude conduct between co-workers, you would likely choose your words more carefully.

But an organizational constitution should also answer important questions: What are our company goals? What performance targets can help us meet them? And what are our standards for how we treat each other?

For example, when Tony Hsieh founded the online shoe store Zappos, his intention was for the company to have a fun, familial atmosphere. To facilitate this, he defined ten values that would form the basis of the company culture.

Here’s why an organizational constitution is essential for your business:

Without an agreement to guide it, your company will struggle to develop a good work culture, and your organization’s culture has a huge impact on its success.

Take Zappos’ renowned customer service. Since Zappos’ employees like their jobs, they’re full of enthusiasm, which they then pass on to their customers. The customers then associate this enthusiasm with Zappos, which is a big plus for the company. In fact, Amazon cited Zappos’ great office culture as a major incentive for purchasing the company in 2009.

Zappos owes their culture to their constitution, because when there’s a formal agreement governing how people are treated, everyone feels safe, respected and engaged with their work. And engaged employees are better employees: a 2013 Gallup study found that engaged workers are more productive, with less turnover, fewer accidents and better customer satisfaction.

Before looking at your organization, look at yourself.

When designing the rules that’ll govern your organization, it’s important to first decide the values you’ll hold yourself to. Inspiring a culture as revolutionary as Zappos’s also means looking at your own capabilities.

Remember, as a leader, all eyes are on you. You need to be a living example of the rules that guide your company and its culture. Everything the person in charge does affects the team culture for better or worse.

Use the same strategy to set your company’s purpose, values and behaviors.

Now that you’ve written your personal constitution, use the same techniques to write your organizational constitution. Start with your organization’s purpose statement, then define its values and assign each value a behavior that will help put it into practice.

When writing your company’s purpose statement, make it captivating and inspiring, but also be sure to explain what your company does, for whom and why. Remember, this will be the mission statement for your organization.

Ensure your organizational constitution is adopted by nipping resistance in the bud.

So, you’ve designed your organizational constitution and are excited to revolutionize your company culture, but when you introduce your ideas they’re met with some resistance. How can you handle employees who don’t support your approach?

Start by understanding that resistance comes in many forms.

Key ideas in The Culture Engine

About the Author

Chris Edmonds is the founder and CEO of an organizational culture consulting firm called The Purposeful Culture Group. He is a prolific author and an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Business.

©[S. Chris Edmond: The Culture Engine] copyright [2014], John Wiley & Sons [Inc. or Ltd. as applicable] Used by permission of John Wiley & Sons [Inc. or Ltd. as applicable] and shall not be made available to any unauthorized third parties.