Richard Ghilarducci: The Finer Points of Company Culture
Richard Ghilarducci has always maintained that a company’s culture is a cornerstone of the future success of an organization. A positive or good culture can do wonders for a company. A bad or negative culture can be enough to sink the business.
Defining “Company Culture”
What is company culture? What kind of impact does it have on new employees and existing team members? What steps can organizations take to foster and further cultivate a culture that drives results?
Richard Ghilarducci notes that company culture is the umbrella term for the shared values, attitudes, behaviors, and standards that define a work environment. It details and reflects the experience people have at their workplace and how it compares to the external brand and messaging of the business.
Company culture is what creates the day-to-day experience of employees at a company.
The Effect of a Positive Company Culture
When the business or organization has a positive company culture, it goes without saying that employees are much more likely to be engaged, committed, and excited to come to work.
It holds for brand-new employees and people working at all levels of management. On the flip side, when the culture is negative, employees, more often than not, feel like working is a chore.
A positive company culture will not only help keep talented and passionate employees happy and loyal, but Richard Ghilarducci says that it can also attract the right people for all the important jobs.
One of the goals is to have a positive company culture that goes beyond the workplace. Once this happens, the culture can resonate through and beyond the brand, as well as people’s perception of the brand. That is why many people are attracted to certain companies and prefer them over others.
A company with a positive work culture can also give employees a sense of accomplishment. Employees will feel that they’re not just there to work in exchange for a salary and other benefits. They go to work with a goal and go home feeling they have contributed something substantial to the company.
Working to Create a Better Company Culture
If you are trying to build up a brand, it’s best to start in the workplace, says Richard Ghilarducci. Branding creates several opportunities, including ideals of what the brand stands for. It can represent equality, social justice, or several other disciplines that employees can embody. Employees who strongly believe in the brand become your first line of influencers.
Nowadays, there are more modern methods of improving a company’s culture. For example, Richard Ghilarducci has always believed that technology will always affect businesses. At the same time, these effects are mostly positive.
One curious effect of technology on a business is how it changes people’s mindsets and helps direct company culture.
For several of the larger companies in the world that have invested a lot in technology to monitor their employees for things such as security and productivity, the culture can be quite tense, maybe bordering on stress. Under such circumstances, employees as a whole feel distrust of the company, and worse, maybe even a lack of compassion for them, as the attention is more on their work.
However, if a company invests in tech that makes the workers’ experience at the workplace better or makes their work easier or safer, then the company culture will tend to lean on a more positive note. Employees will feel less stressed having to carry themselves out of bed every morning to travel to their place of work while feeling inclined to put more effort into their tasks.
Richard Ghilarducci explains that perhaps companies need to find a balance between tech that the company needs and tech that would create an atmosphere more conducive to working for employees. That may be the ideal culture brought about by technology.
During his career that spanned over 30 years, Richard Ghilarducci held leadership roles, including Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer. For more of his insights on leadership, follow this page for updates.