“Culture is not just what you say, it’s what you do every day.” – Tony Hsieh

 

Introduction: Culture as the Backbone of Every Business

Picture this: You walk into a store where employees greet you with genuine enthusiasm, eager to help, and make you feel truly valued. You leave the store not only with a product in hand but also a positive feeling about the experience. Will you return to this business? The answer is likely “yes.”

Now, contrast that with a store where the employees are disinterested, and you struggle to get your questions answered. You feel like you’re just a transaction, not a valued customer. What do you do? Most likely, you won’t return – and you’ll likely share your negative experience with others.

These two scenarios reflect two very different company cultures, and we know which one drives success. A positive company culture has the power to transform customer interactions, fuel employee engagement, and ultimately drive business growth. The link between embedding culture and customer experience is undeniable, but it’s also one that many businesses overlook.

The challenge? Culture isn’t a buzzword you can just slap on a wall. As Tony Hsieh, long-time CEO of Zappos put it, Culture is not just what you say, it’s what you do every day.”  It must permeate the very fabric of your company’s operations, shaping everything from hiring and training to customer service and leadership behaviours. And when done properly, this translates into real results: increased profitability, better customer retention, and heightened employee engagement.

In this article we explore how to translate your company values into action, ensuring that culture is not just a concept but a driving force behind your daily operations. By embedding your values into the core of your business, you can transform how employees work, how customers interact with your brand, and, ultimately, your long-term success.

 

From Values to Action: The Link Between Company Culture and Business Operations

Defining Values: The Foundation of Culture

At the heart of every successful business is a clearly defined set of values. These values shape the company’s mission, vision, and, most importantly, how decisions are made. If your values aren’t clear, they can’t be effective. It’s like building a house without a solid foundation – the structure won’t stand the test of time.

For a culture to thrive, your company’s values should guide every action, from the way your employees interact with customers to the decisions leaders make in the boardroom. Values such as integrity, collaboration, and customer-first thinking should be more than just slogans; they must become the DNA of how the business operates.

In a previous article, “Defining Company Culture: Building a Foundation for Business Success“, we discussed how these values shape the work environment and impact employee engagement. But now, we need to move beyond the abstract and explore how to turn these values into actionable steps that drive the business forward.

Turning Values Into Action

A strong workplace culture doesn’t happen by accident. It takes intention, planning, and execution. One of the biggest challenges for business leaders is ensuring that the company’s values are consistently implemented across all levels of the business. Here’s how you can start to bridge the gap between ideals and action:

• Aligning Policies and Processes: Every policy and process should reflect your company’s values. For example, if you claim to value innovation, your performance management system should reward risk-taking and creative problem-solving, not just sticking to the status quo.
• Performance Management: It’s essential that every employee understands not just what’s expected in terms of their role, but also how their behaviour should align with the company’s values. Employees need to know that living the company’s values is just as important as meeting other KPIs. A mismatch between company values and employee performance will create confusion and disengagement.
• Consistency in Leadership: Leaders must model the company’s values every day. It’s no good having a “customer-first” value if your leadership consistently ignores customer feedback or disregards customer service. Your leadership team must be the first to embody the cultural principles you want to instil in the business.

Let’s look at an example: Zappos. The online retailer is known for delivering exceptional customer service, and this commitment is embedded into every aspect of its operations. The core value of “Delivering Happiness” isn’t just a slogan – it’s reflected in their hiring practices, training, and how employees are empowered to make decisions that benefit the customer. Every employee knows they are responsible for delivering happiness, not just making sales, and it shows in their customer loyalty.

 

Aligning Your Policies and Processes with Cultural Goals

Having explored the foundational importance of company values, it’s time to take a closer look at how these values can be reflected in the policies and processes that keep your business running smoothly. Aligning your operational practices with cultural goals ensures that what you stand for isn’t just words on a wall but a tangible, actionable reality.

The Role of HR and Management

Embedding culture into daily operations isn’t just the responsibility of HR – it requires buy-in from all levels of management. HR can support by incorporating cultural alignment into hiring, onboarding, and performance management processes, but the real work happens when managers lead by example. It’s critical that managers at all levels actively reinforce the organisation’s culture in everything they do.

• Hiring and Onboarding: Cultural fit should be a key consideration during recruitment. Employees who align with your values are more likely to integrate seamlessly into your team and contribute to a positive work environment. Onboarding should also include a cultural induction, so new hires understand what’s expected in terms of behaviour, not just job performance, and assigning a mentor as a part of this programme can greatly enhance it.
• Training and Development: Regular training ensures that employees are equipped with the skills to live your company’s values. It’s essential that training isn’t just about technical skills but also about embedding the cultural norms you want to see throughout the organisation. For example, if customer service is a top priority, ensure all employees are trained on your company’s service philosophy and empowered to make decisions that improve the customer experience.

For more on these issues, see, “Building Your Dream ‘A-Team’ – Hiring A+ Talent,” “Onboarding Excellence: Unlocking the Full Potential of Your New A-Team Hires,” and “Team Development for Sustainable Competitive Advantage.”

Policies and Procedures

Your company’s policies should reflect the culture you want to create, with both being aligned with your overall strategy. For instance, a customer-first culture will likely have policies that encourage employees to go above and beyond in service, such as providing quick resolutions to customer issues or offering personalised solutions. When your policies reinforce the culture, employees understand that their actions are directly linked to the company’s success.

One example is Patagonia, which not only champions environmental sustainability but also builds it into every facet of its business – from product development to customer service. The company’s commitment to sustainability is reflected in its policies, such as offering free repairs for damaged products, supporting environmental activism, and giving employees time off to volunteer for environmental causes. This makes the values come to life in a way that’s tangible for both employees and customers.

Process Alignment

It’s not just about policies – it’s also about processes. In a company that values work-life balance, flexible working hours should be the norm, not the exception. Processes should support the company’s values, whether it’s in terms of customer service or employee wellbeing.

For example, a business that prioritises innovation may have processes in place that encourage collaboration across departments, support brainstorming sessions, and allow for risk-taking. These processes ensure that cultural values are embedded in how work gets done.

Feedback & Constant Improvement

Implementing systems for feedback and continuous improvement is essential for maintaining a healthy culture. Regularly solicit feedback from employees about their experiences and perceptions of the culture. Key metrics for success should include employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and overall cultural health.

By creating an environment where feedback is encouraged and valued, you empower employees to voice their concerns and contribute to the ongoing development of the culture.

Recognising and Rewarding Culture-Based Behaviours

Recognising and rewarding employees who embody the organisation’s values is crucial for reinforcing desired behaviours. For example, consider implementing recognition programmes that celebrate individuals or teams who exemplify core values.

Companies like Patagonia, known for its environmental responsibility, and Southwest Airlines, with its SWAG programme, have successfully integrated recognition into their cultures. These initiatives not only motivate employees but also reinforce the behaviours that contribute to a strong culture.

Communication Strategies

Regular communication about values is vital for ensuring that employees remain aligned with the company’s mission. Use storytelling to illustrate how culture manifests in daily operations. Share success stories that highlight employees who exemplify the company’s values, making these narratives part of your ongoing communication strategy.

By consistently reinforcing cultural values through various communication channels, you ensure that they remain top of mind for everyone in the organisation.

The importance of open, transparent communication in a business cannot be overstated. These articles cover this in more detail: “Leading with Confidence: Mastering Communication to Inspire and Unleash Peak Performance,” and “Mastering Difficult Conversations – the Power of Compassionate Communication.”

 

Building Accountability for Culture in Daily Operations

While policies and procedures are crucial in shaping the direction of your company’s culture, accountability is the force that ensures these values stick. Let’s examine how you can build a system of accountability where culture is actively reinforced in every aspect of your daily operations.

The Leadership Role: Leading by Example

When it comes to embedding culture into the day-to-day operations of a business, leadership must be at the forefront. A company’s values are not just something to talk about – they must be something leaders live and breathe every day. Leadership sets the tone for the organisation, and their behaviour directly shapes the culture.

The leaders must actively model the desired cultural behaviours, even in the smallest interactions. For example, a leader who consistently prioritises customer concerns, even when under pressure, demonstrates that customer service is a core value of the organisation. If leadership doesn’t actively support and exemplify the values, employees won’t believe in them either.

In the case of Southwest Airlines, leadership commitment to culture is one of the key drivers of its success. The company is known for its employee-first approach, and this is exemplified in the leadership practices. Leaders prioritise the wellbeing of their staff, which in turn empowers employees to deliver exceptional service to customers. Leadership consistently reflects the values of the company, ensuring that these values are not only visible but also felt.

Leaders must also ensure that culture isn’t just top-down but also participatory. Encourage employees to get involved in culture-building activities, provide feedback on how well values are being lived, and allow them to take ownership of their role in embedding culture into the company.

To read more about the power of accountability in business, see my articles, “The Power of Accountability in Business Success” and “The Power of Accountable Leadership.”

Setting Expectations: Culture as a Standard

If you want culture to be a driving force in your business, you need to make sure every employee understands exactly what is expected of them. This starts with clear communication around what it means to live the company’s values. For example, if one of your values is integrity, employees should know that they are expected to exhibit the utmost level of integrity in all interactions, from sales to service, and more.

However, this isn’t just about telling employees what you expect – it’s about making those expectations measurable. This is where performance management comes in. KPIs and performance reviews should not just focus on job outcomes but also how employees demonstrate cultural values in their work.

Incorporating cultural expectations into everyday performance reviews, and illustrating them in practice through recognition programmes ensures that employees understand how their day-to-day actions align with the company’s broader cultural goals. Setting expectations is about creating a shared understanding of what success looks like within the culture you want to build.

 

Overcoming Challenges of Embedding Culture into Operations

Despite best efforts to embed culture, challenges will inevitably arise, so let’s explore the typical obstacles that can hinder the smooth integration of culture into your business operations – and how you can overcome them.

Resistance to Change: Breaking Through the Barrier

One of the most significant challenges in embedding culture into daily operations is resistance to change. People are creatures of habit, and when trying to implement a new way of working, particularly if it involves shifting organisational culture, it can feel like a steep hill to climb. This resistance often comes from both employees and leadership, especially when the existing culture has been in place for a long time.

The key to overcoming resistance is patience and consistency. Leaders must communicate why culture is important and show how it will benefit both the company and the employees. This means not just talking about the ‘what’ and ‘why’, but also demonstrating the ‘how’. Employees need to see how culture will make their work easier, more rewarding, and more fulfilling.

Take the example of Netflix, which successfully underwent a major culture shift by emphasising freedom and responsibility. Initially, the change was met with resistance as it was a huge departure from the traditional top-down management style. However, with strong leadership commitment and clear communication, Netflix transformed its culture into one of the most admired in the world.

Overcoming resistance requires time, small wins, and continual reinforcement. Leaders should celebrate early successes and use these moments to build momentum, gradually shifting the culture to where it needs to be.

Misalignment Between Strategy and Culture

The risks associated with a misalignment between cultural goals and business strategies are significant. When company values do not align with strategic objectives, it can lead to confusion, disengagement, and ultimately, business failure. For instance, if a company claims to value innovation but discourages risk-taking, employees may feel stifled and unmotivated.

To prevent this misalignment, ensure that the company’s values are integrated into strategic planning. When developing business strategies, ask how each decision aligns with your core values. Encourage leaders to evaluate whether initiatives support the desired culture, making adjustments as necessary.

Regularly revisiting and revising both cultural values and strategic objectives will help maintain alignment as the business evolves. This iterative process ensures that your organisation remains agile while staying true to its cultural foundations.

Inconsistent Culture Across Departments: Maintaining Unity as You Grow

As a business scales, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a consistent culture. In a small business, everyone shares the same office, eats lunch together, and is part of a tight-knit team. As a business grows, however, departments and locations often operate more independently, and reporting lines change, which can result in fragmented cultures across different areas of the business, and often feelings of being let down in some way, too.

The key to overcoming this challenge is regular communication and alignment. Culture needs to be woven into every department’s processes, regardless of size. This can be achieved by having feedback loops, conducting regular cultural audits, checking in with employees from all areas of the business, and ensuring that all departments are aligned with the overarching company values.

For instance, HubSpot, a company known for its strong culture, ensures that every department has a clear understanding of the company’s values and goals. By holding regular meetings across departments to reinforce cultural alignment, it’s been able to ensure that the culture is consistent and strong, even as the company grows.

 

Signs of a Company that Has Not Embedded a Strong Culture

Even with the right strategies in place, some companies may still struggle to embed culture effectively. But what happens when culture isn’t truly embedded? Let’s look at some clear signs that indicate when a company’s culture is misaligned or in need of realignment.

Indicators of a Weak or Misaligned Culture

When a company hasn’t successfully embedded culture into its daily operations, there are typically several signs that become apparent. These signs often appear during periods of growth or organisational change, but they can also emerge when a company is stagnating or failing to evolve.

Here are some key indicators that culture is not being properly embedded into the business:

• High Employee Turnover: A lack of cultural alignment often results in higher employee turnover. When employees don’t feel connected to the company’s values or purpose, they are more likely to leave. This leads to a constant churn of staff, which can be costly both financially and in terms of lost knowledge.
• Customer Service Complaints: Companies that fail to embed their cultural values into their operations often suffer from poor customer service. Whether it’s slow response times, inflexible policies, or an unmotivated customer service team, the result is a poor customer experience.
• Lack of Clear Communication About Culture: If employees don’t clearly understand the company’s culture and values, they won’t be able to live them in their work. The lack of communication about company values often results in confusion, disengagement, and inconsistency.
• Inconsistent Leadership Behaviour: When leaders do not model the behaviours they expect from employees, it creates distrust and confusion. Consistency in leadership behaviour is vital for reinforcing the organisation’s values.
• Poor Employee Engagement: Low employee engagement is often a direct result of a company failing to make culture a priority. If employees feel disconnected from the company’s mission or unappreciated, they’re less likely to give their best effort.
• Toxic Work Environment: A company that hasn’t embedded a strong culture may experience a toxic work environment. This can manifest as poor morale, infighting, lack of accountability, and distrust between departments.

These signs are clear indicators that it’s time for a change. By recognising these signs early, leaders can take proactive steps to correct the course before the negative effects become entrenched.

 

The Long-Term ROI of Embedding Culture into Operations

Identifying and addressing signs of weak cultural integration is only the first step. The true value of embedding culture into operations goes far beyond immediate improvements – it delivers long-term results. Let’s now examine the substantial ROI that comes with aligning culture and business operations over time

Sustainable Growth: How Culture Drives Long-Term Business Success

One of the most significant benefits of embedding a strong culture into daily operations is sustainable growth. When culture is aligned with business goals, it lays the foundation for long-term success. Companies with a strong culture consistently outperform their competitors over the long haul, primarily due to better employee engagement, customer loyalty, and brand consistency.

Businesses that align their operations with a well-defined culture enjoy higher customer retention rates and reduced employee turnover. Customers who feel aligned with a company’s values are more likely to return, stay loyal, and even advocate for the brand. Similarly, employees who identify with the company culture are more engaged and less likely to leave, saving businesses the high costs associated with recruitment and training.

Take Patagonia, for example. Its commitment to environmental sustainability isn’t just a marketing tool – it’s embedded into everything they do, from product development to their employees’ day-to-day operations. This alignment with core values has not only built trust among customers but has also resulted in sustained business growth. Patagonia’s dedication to environmental causes has turned customers into advocates, helping them maintain a competitive edge in the market.

Higher Profitability: Culture as a Key to Increased Revenue

A well-embedded culture also leads to higher profitability. When a company’s values are lived by employees at every level, it creates an environment where everyone is working towards the same goals. This unity drives productivity, innovation, and efficiency – all of which contribute to the bottom line.

Research shows that companies with strong, purpose-driven cultures often have higher profit margins and increased customer satisfaction. By focusing on what truly matters – delivering value to customers and employees – these companies naturally attract more customers and generate more revenue.

In fact, as the O.C. Tanner survey I’ve referenced in other articles shows, a strong company culture really pays off. Companies in the study were tracked over an 11-year period, which showed that those with a strong culture averaged more than 4x the revenue growth, 7x the net income growth and over 12x the stock price growth of those without.

Culture as a Competitive Advantage

Culture is one of the few competitive advantages that cannot easily be replicated. Unlike products or services that can be copied, a company’s culture is deeply embedded in its operations, its people, and its relationships with customers. This makes it a truly sustainable advantage over time.

The businesses that understand the long-term value of culture treat it as an ongoing investment – one that yields continuous returns in the form of loyal customers, engaged employees, and sustained business growth. A strong culture creates a sense of belonging for employees, which enhances performance and strengthens relationships with customers, driving long-term profitability.

Zappos is great example, here, too. Its culture is rooted in delivering outstanding customer service, which has not only built a loyal customer base but also allowed it to charge premium prices. The company’s commitment to cultural values has driven profitability and enabled it to maintain a competitive advantage over others in the e-commerce space.

 

Conclusion: Creating a Culture that Lives and Breathes in Daily Operations

By now, you should have a clear understanding of the importance of embedding culture in your operations and the lasting impact it can have on business growth, profitability, and employee engagement. In conclusion, let’s recap the key steps to making culture an integral part of your company’s DNA, ensuring that your business thrives for years to come.

Summary: Embedding Culture is Key to Business Success

Embedding culture into your business operations is not just a nice-to-have; it’s an absolute necessity for long-term success. When culture is truly part of the daily fabric of the organisation, it becomes a driving force behind everything – employee engagement, customer experience, innovation, and ultimately, profitability. It’s what makes employees feel valued, customers feel heard, and leaders feel confident in their team’s ability to deliver outstanding results.

The steps to creating a culture that lives and breathes within your business are clear:

• Lead by example, ensuring that leadership always embodies and models the values at every level of the organisation.
• Align policies and processes with cultural goals, ensuring that everything – from HR practices to customer service – reflects the company’s values.
• Empower employees, giving them the tools and autonomy to live out the culture and contribute to a positive customer experience.
• Measure and refine continuously, ensuring that the culture remains aligned with the company’s evolving goals and that progress is monitored through feedback and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Embedding culture into daily operations lays a foundation for long-term success that’s difficult for competitors to replicate and pays dividends for years to come.

Actionable Advice: Take the Next Step

So, what’s the next step in embedding culture into your organisation? Start small but act deliberately. Begin by reviewing your current policies and practices and evaluate how they align with your company’s values. Engage with your team and get their input on how to strengthen the culture. If your company is still in the early stages of cultural transformation, focus on one or two key areas – perhaps leadership behaviour or customer service policies – and expand from there.

Remember, culture is not a one-off project, but a long-term commitment that should permeate every aspect of your organisation.

 

I encourage you to reflect on this issue in the context of your business and share your thoughts. How well is your company’s culture aligned with your day-to-day operations? Are your values truly reflected in your business practices, or is it time to take action and make culture a living, breathing part of your organisation?

What challenges have you faced in aligning culture with customer satisfaction? Let’s continue the conversation in the comments below.
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This month, we’re exploring Cultivating Company Culture, and this is the third article in the series. If you missed the previous insights, you can catch up here:

📌 “Defining Company Culture: Building a Foundation for Business Success”

📌 “Culture to Customer Experience: How a Thriving Workplace Fuels Business Growth”

 

Stay tuned for the next article in the series – or better yet, subscribe to my blog and receive the latest insights straight to your inbox. Click here to sign up or send me a note here and I’ll add you to the list.

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With over 50 years in the technology industry across three continents – including three decades in CxO roles driving exponential revenue and profitability growth – I now coach business owners and leaders to achieve even greater success.

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Related Posts

If you’d like to learn more about sales effectiveness, leadership and the areas we’ve covered here, the following articles and posts might also be of interest:

• Establishing Your Values – “Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave them all over everything you do.” – Elvis Presley
• Building Your Dream ‘A-Team’ – Hiring A+ Talent
• Onboarding Excellence: Unlocking the Full Potential of Your New A-Team Hires
• Team Development for Sustainable Competitive Advantage
• Leading with Confidence: Mastering Communication to Inspire and Unleash Peak Performance
• Mastering Difficult Conversations – the Power of Compassionate Communication
• The Power of Accountability in Business Success
• The Power of Accountable Leadership
• Does Your Business Strategy Match Your Company Culture? The Risks of a Mismatch
• Are Staff Leaving Because of Bad Management?
• “Company culture matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything for better or for worse.” – Simon Sinek
• “Happy employees lead to happy customers, which leads to more profits.” – Vaughn Aust
• Leading a Fearless Business: Boosting Growth and Profits
• Mastering Continuous Improvement: The Imperative of Effective Leadership in Driving Success
• 10 Principles for a Sustainably Excellent Culture – Beginning With “We”

 

Backgrounders

BDO UK – Successfully Embedding Corporate Culture

HBR – How Leaders Can Create a Purpose-Driven Culture

Forbes – Three Best Practices For Embedding Purpose And Values Into Culture

MIT Sloan – When It Comes to Culture, Does Your Company Walk the Talk?

• How Leaders Champion Culture: Six Essential Lessons
• How to Walk the Talk on Culture: Former HubSpot CPO Katie Burke

 

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