Why Job Applicants Should Prioritize Company Culture

One important factor that job applicants need to consider is the significance of company culture that varies from one organization to another. What is culture and why does culture matter? We will demonstrate the need for collaboration skills in order to successfully attain core values.

Companies have numerous personality types in the workforce, so managers and human resources  must strive to develop the means for streamlining communications among diverse classifications of employees. The goal is to create commonality among employees – this framework addresses how employees can consistently and effectively communicate.

All companies have culture, and companies that actively seek to promote core values tend to be more successful than companies that do not prioritize their culture. Why does this trait matter? An effective culture impacts productivity, turnover, and growth rates. A great culture establishes common beliefs among all employees. Core values influence beliefs and impact the content of communications among employees.

Examples of core values include accountability, collaboration, customer commitment, honesty, and teamwork. Companies should create a core value statement that provides the foundation for direct and successful communications among employees. While coworkers tend to have different communication styles, they can agree that the purpose of an interaction is to meet some core value such as teamwork. With this in mind, applicants need to let human resources know that they have the ability to adapt their communication styles in order to successfully communicate core values with coworkers.

While there is no absolute definition of a core value statement, policy makers need to use this tool as an extension for effective and common subject matter relatable to all workers. Essentially, culture is the grouping of assumptions that influence how responsibilities get completed collectively for the success of an organization.

To be useful, a value statement will have the characteristic of being shared by employees. Values also need to be pervasive - this is not an individual experience. Truly effective value statements must also stand the test of time. For employees who have tenure, these values are shared and implicit. Long-term employees need to take on a leadership role by indoctrinating new employees to learn the necessity of core values such as honesty.

Employees will learn how to implement values through trial and error. Eventually, they will affirm these cultural norms and become a part of the group. They will learn that workplace environments tend to be merit-based, and a healthy dose of competition among coworkers will lead to positive recognition from peers and management. 

One essential characteristic of value statements strives to establish an environment that encourages creativity for problem-solving purposes among employees.  The most effective statements encourage exploration and expansiveness. Workers must be tolerant and compassionate while encouraging coworkers to aim for idealism.

This leads us to another important trait of core value statements – these values need to be realistic and attainable. It must be engrained into employees that a hierarchy of beliefs is rooted within an outcome-oriented workplace. This combination of realistic, attainable and outcome-oriented objectives will make any collection of value statements formidable.

Employment is a collective activity that needs to develop leadership skills in all employees. Workers need to learn how to be bold, assertive, and decisive when implementing values in group environments that attempt to deliver top performance from individual employees. 

The ultimate goal is higher profitability that is attained by fully indoctrinated employees. What this means is that core values must be made to significantly boost financial results. Simultaneously, core values need to induce employee retention. This pattern of churning leads to the development  of tenured employees who understand what it takes to create the best culture for a specific organization.

How should the value statement be presented to employees? Obviously, this material needs to be visible and experienced by all employees. This means that content can be published in the employee handbook. In addition, these values must be taught through leading by example. Mentors need to be empathetic communicators who illustrate the importance of teamwork.

While value statements have obvious utility for employees, human resources can benefit from core statements by asking applicants about their approach to some trait that is a part of the core regiment of the organization. This approach helps organizations to determine who will be a good fit for the employment opportunity. Essentially, an applicant needs to position himself or herself as someone who posses great communication skills that adapt to the goals of the company to attain core values.