Why Workplace Culture is Crucial to Organizational Success  

Workplace culture, at times, might have seemed like a clichéd phenomenon to you. You may have repeatedly noticed—or overlooked—discussions around it. But let me tell you this: you need to dive just a little deeper than the surface to appreciate its pivotal role in organizations. Whether you’re a tech professional hunting jobs or an HR leader looking for talent, workplace culture is equally critical.  

According to a Deloitte survey, around 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a well-defined workplace culture is critical to organizational success. This survey also found that successful companies think of businesses as a two-sided ledger comprising strategy and culture.

To understand why workplace culture is so crucial, first, you need to understand what makes a desirable organizational culture. Vaguely speaking, work culture or corporate culture—as it’s also known as—is the environment that surrounds the people in an organization all the time. This environment comprises people’s attitudes, shared values, and an array of goals and beliefs that every stakeholder in the organization nurtures.

Core Components of Workplace Culture

The culture of an organization defines the way people are supposed to behave in a professional setting. Usually, the leadership within the organization establishes the set of values and behaviors. Then they make sure that these are implemented across teams and departments. Here are the most prominent elements of workplace culture. 

• Organizational mission & vision 
• People’s behavior  
• Shared values 
• Relationship with the community  

Mission & vision  

No organization can succeed without a well-defined vision and mission. A perfect mix of mission, vision, and values not just make a recipe for good workplace culture, but also helps an organization grow. Together they build the road to long-term success for a company. A mission statement usually concisely explains why the organization exists and where it aims to be. Companies that have a clearly defined mission and vision can easily communicate their individual and group responsibilities. 

People’s behavior 

Next comes people’s behavior—the most crucial element of any workplace culture. From achieving the set organizational goals to ensuring the right relationship with clients and the community, everything depends heavily on how you behave within the organization. And keep in mind that the set of behavior we’re talking about is not limited to employees. Leadership and management professionals, too, are equally responsible for ensuring the desired behavior. The clichéd phrase “leading by example” is incredibly relevant here. 

Do the people in your organization behave inherently professionally? Are they proactive or reactive? What’s their attitude toward clients and the community? These are questions corporate leaders need to address continually. At the same time, leaders must also ask themselves: Am I showing the behavior I’m expecting from my colleagues and subordinates? 

Shared values  

Values, like behavior, are at the heart of every organizational culture. Your organization must create and carefully nourish a set of shared values. Besides helping your company excel, shared values also enable employees to achieve their individual professional goals.  

For instance, at OrangeMantra, we foster a set of clearly articulated values that makes us what we are as a tech solutions company. Be it our day-to-day operations or innovative tech delivery - the values significantly impact our strategies and actions. Here are the OrangeMantra values: 

In an ever-evolving world of technology, continuous learning helps us stay on edge. By relentlessly acquiring new streams of knowledge, we're able to be always trending ready. Continuous learning also means that each one of us never stops climbing the ladder of professional development. 

Client-provider relationships that are built around transparency always yield the best results. We believe in being upfront and realistic with every client. Our values are not just about creating consensus. Instead, those are a set of strategically central beliefs nurtured by every member of the team.  

We weave these values into everything we do at OrangeMantra. Be it hiring new talent, evaluating performance, or managing processes, our shared values have critical roles in everything we do at OrangeMantra. 

Giving back to the community  

As a corporate leader, it’s your moral responsibility to share your business success with the community where your business dwells. If you’re an employee, you could immerse yourself in the community to help it while learning new things about how society works. Giving back to the community brings a unique sense of purpose among leaders and employees alike. By serving the world around you, you could explore new perspectives into your professional and personal life. 

Organizations that make giving back to the community a central part of their culture gain many long-term benefits. It does not just help you build a better brand image but also decorates your organizational culture in crucial ways. It could start with a small initiative or a big CSR program. Ultimately, it is about how you make the community an inseparable part of your organizational culture. 

Conclusion  

As the corporate world shifts dramatically toward a hybrid work model, sustaining an organizational culture would likely become more challenging. But as business leaders and executives, we need to embrace a more dynamic approach to managing people. Using a mix of evolved tech capabilities human ingenuity, we could make workplace culture coherent to people even in a hybrid work environment. For employees, it’s more crucial than ever to become part of a corporate culture that helps them excel in career. In the end, it’s the wholehearted coordination between employees and leaders that sustains the desired organizational culture.