The Role of Culture in Employee Loyalty

The thing that cannot be replicable outside any company is culture. Positive winning company culture has a competitive advantage, particularly when it comes to sustaining high performance and talent. Culture inspires loyalty in employees and makes them want to be part of a team. It motivates people to do the right thing, not just the easy things. A distinct advantage that companies with winning cultures have been that their people not only know what they should do, they know why they should do it. So, what is needed to create a winning culture and how does it sustain rapid change? We know that every winning culture has a unique personality and blueprint that cannot be invented or imposed. The ideal culture is based on shared values, the company’s character needs to be discovered from within.

Often, the values of the founder are instilled in the organization and shape its culture going forward. A company that takes on the unique personalities of its leaders can attract people who, in turn, embrace its culture. The strongest cultures bind people together across both hierarchy and geography, guiding everyone to make the right decisions without explicit direction from the business. Employees begin to think and act like owners, taking personal responsibility for the overall business performance and display high levels of passion and commitment, which usually includes hard work.

Transforming a culture requires influencing people’s deepest beliefs and most habitual behaviors. For Dynamic Range Labs, it’s finding ways to continuously improve a system that reinforces collaboration across departments to boost results. Changing culture, however, is no easy task. Companies, like the people working for them, actively resist change. The challenge is in finding ways to motivate employees to change over time. Change often comes from necessity and companies can change their cultures, provided leaders understand that change must start at the top. Successful cultural change results from having a clear idea about what type of culture the business needs, identifying the specific attributes that go along with it, and then focusing on managing the drivers that shape and influence culture rather than trying to manage culture itself. I personally believe that winning cultures are best measured through the day-to-day activities of your frontline people. The ownership of continuous improvement by lead operators on the factory floor, the deli team merchandising the best quality at the lowest prices, the responsiveness of a bank manager to a customer’s complaint. The frontline is where sustained cultural change can have the greatest impact on a company’s performance. It takes strong leadership at every level of an organization, determination, and a willingness to make culture a top priority. The key behind a winning culture can be managed by using some practical guidelines. Culture isn’t just one aspect of the company; it is the company.