Company culture has become a central concept to consider in employee attraction, retention and growth. Gone are the days of culture being represented by bean bags, pool tables and free snacks. Workplace culture has transitioned from standard benefit schemes to a set of values and shared behaviours ingrained into a company’s DNA.
What is Company Culture?
The process of developing company culture often starts out as a strategy, which highlights what it is a company wants to achieve, however executing how you will carry out the culture is the key. In recent years, companies prioritising the “how” has become more prevalent.
Employees are more commonly investigating a company’s culture before they join. There is a growing interest in this topic with many wanting to align their values before starting a new role. Employees are now asking questions about company culture at interview stage and are expecting that the interviewers across the table can define what their culture is and explain how it came about.
Cubic is in the middle of a cultural transformation, a process which all organisations must go through at one time or another. This transformation can be likened to the evolution of a person as they transition from child to adult. The change of a company is no different, as what makes you successful in the early years will not guarantee wins in the future – you need to evolve your behaviours as you grow, much like that of an organisation.
How do you align your company’s organisational culture?
In order to instil the right company culture, it must come from the top down. It is essential that a company’s senior leadership team lead the culture and the behaviours associated with that culture. Once the top team are aligned it will make it easier for the rest of the organisation to lead from example.
Leaders must constantly communicate with employees about the behaviours that are required by the business to be successful and call out behaviours that are not in line with the company culture.
In Cubic there is a dedicated People Team, that focus continuously on employee experience, wellbeing and employee development. This paves the way for people to be successful and will nurture the development of leaders. The values in Cubic are ingrained in all people, processes and practices. There is nothing worse for an employee than joining a company based on the values portrayed to them during the interview phase only to find the company is not living them. It damages the relationship irreversibly and does not set the preface for a positive experience for both the employee and the organisation. This can ultimately lead to disengagement.
How were Cubic’s company values agreed on?
The process of deciding Cubic’s values consisted of gathering employee feedback and meeting with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) at an offsite location to assess what was working and what wasn’t. From the two-day session, it was established what behaviours were important to maintain and what values were not being addressed. Cubic’s four key values were then chosen:
1.Enthusiasm
This first value is already ingrained into Cubic’s ethos. As an Irish company growing at a rapid pace, it is important to focus on hiring people that are passionate about all things technology and are willing to grow with the business. Cubic focuses on hiring individuals who love what they do and are passionate about the field that they are in.
2. Helping others
For me, this is the pillar of the organisation that holds arguably the most important value. If people come into work every day with the intent of helping others their day will be better and more productive. By advocating this value, we can ensure we build a company culture of supporting one other.
3.Results- focused
Being results-focused is imperative for a business in a high growth phase. Progress is important to people, with most employees aspiring to make a positive impact or difference. By tracking results, employees can see their efforts come to fruition, which in turn increases motivation. If there is no visibility or tracking of results, the task at hand can often feel like hard work. We focus on our KPI's and goals, which equal our succes.
4.Being thorough
Cubic is a small business growing at a rapid pace, being thorough ensures standards are being met and most importantly, improved. At Cubic we ensure that our work is complete and accurate, that we carefully prepare for meetings and we follow up to ensure commitments have been fulfilled.
In summary, focusing on people is at the heart of Cubic’s company culture. Helping others, personal development and empowering employees is truly valued at Cubic. This is demonstrated through various initiatives such as facilitating people management courses, regular wellbeing activities, a quarterly bits and bobs day and flexible working hours. Cubic employees advocate our values and behaviours by making small everyday wins and celebrating these wins. These consistent changes are the key ingredient to developing a positive company culture.
