I was working with a company once that was so customer focused they sacrificed the internal staff for the external product. Three-quarters of the people who were hired would quit after a year. Their Glassdoor reviews were terrible and the word on the street was “Stay away.” It was a culture nightmare. They knew they needed help, so they hired me to become a fractional Chief Culture Officer — and thus began the journey to uncover the areas that needed improvement.
“‘Make something people want’ includes making a company that people want to work for.” — Sahil Lavingia
Governments, hospitals, small businesses, large businesses, and non-profits are all beginning to understand that “the people are the work” within an organization. Myriad businesses have invested in new positions related to People, Culture, and Engagement — moving away from the “boss” model of leadership. This shift in people management, especially since COVID-19, gives HPA and our type of business plenty of opportunities. Because of this shift, we felt it important to spend the year taking a deep dive into practices and topics that will help businesses transform their culture.
Over the next seven months, we will introduce topics that build both a strong and effective organizational culture.
Make no mistake — if your business is concentrating on these seven areas, you are one of only 10% of businesses in America. Truly, what I have consistently found in working inside and alongside various small, medium, and Fortune 500 companies is that most businesses take on the passion of the CEO or owner.
If he/she is passionate about engagement, the company has a great engagement program. If the CEO is passionate about performance, the staff has great KPIs. Rarely though, is the CEO or HR Department concentrating on all 7 of these principles. Unless the business is investing in a Chief Culture Officer, these areas can sometime be overlooked.
Knowing all this, we’ve put together this newsletter to help act as your digital Chief Culture Officer. If you choose to make the investment to learn and apply what we are suggesting, it will make your culture the strongest attribute of your company.
Here are the seven key areas we will unpack over the next several months:
- Leadership: Leaders set the tone for the organization. Effective leadership involves demonstrating clear values, inspiring trust, and fostering a sense of purpose or direction.
- Communication: Open, transparent, and consistent communication ensures that everyone is aligned with the company’s mission, values, and goals. It also promotes collaboration and reduces misunderstandings.
- Core Values: Strong, clearly defined core values shape decision making, hiring, review systems, and behavior throughout the organization. They serve as the foundation for a company’s identity.
- Employee Engagement: Engaged employees are motivated, productive, and committed to their work. Focusing on well-being, recognition, and career development fosters loyalty and morale.
- Adaptability: Cultivating a culture of continuous improvement and an openness to pivot helps businesses remain competitive and responsive to ever-shifting market trends.
- Accountability: Creating a culture of ownership ensures that individuals and teams take responsibility for their actions and results. This fosters trust and drives performance.
- Safety-Oriented: Creating a culture where psychological safety is built into the fiber of existence will give employees the ability to speak up — opening the door to greater innovation and creativity in solving problems.
Over the course of 2025, we will dive deep into each of these seven areas giving you — our clients and friends — support, ideas, quotes, books, videos, and TED Talks that will help accelerate your success in each of these areas.
Do you have an A+ culture? It is possible and we are here to help. Let’s begin.
