Have you ever worked in an organization where you didn’t feel respected or free to be yourself? It makes it hard to be productive or engaged in your work, right? Well, more than likely, you experienced that company’s negative culture because there wasn’t a conviction-driven purpose, vision, or mission statement. And that’s the key: conviction.

In this article, we’re highlighting some statistics as to why an organization’s culture should be important to a leader and also how you can create a conviction-based vision for your organization that propels the company forward while creating a dynamic, healthy, and psychologically safe workplace environment.

Why an Organization’s Culture Matters

• Employees spend 40 plus hours a week working in it and from it. So if it’s toxic, your employees will struggle—and so will your company’s results and reputation. It is a tremendous opportunity to create an environment that brings out the best in people. And for good or bad, those people go home to their families, friends, and communities impacted by the environment they spent their workday in. But if an organization’s culture is healthy, then employees (and everyone they influence) will be positively impacted.

• Overall productivity is impacted by it. Research revealed that satisfied employees are 12% more productive than the average employee; and consequently, having highly engaged employees can lead to a 202% increase in employee performance. That statistic says everything. To get the results you want, you’ve got to invest in your people; and therefore, your organization’s culture.

• It affects employee retention. If your company culture is negative, people will leave. In 2021, it was reported that 57% of people who quit their jobs left because they felt disrespected at work. That sends a huge message to executives, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t it? Leaders have influence. If you show respect to people, they’ll see it—and often they’ll follow your lead. Don’t allow toxicity and disrespect to creep into your workplace. Lead by example and treat everyone how you’d want to be treated.

• Job seekers care a lot about it. A recent study showed that 46% of job seekers consider company culture to be an important factor in their decision-making. If your company culture is toxic (or even a bit unhealthy) people will find out. Word of mouth can spread quickly, but the internet can reach the masses. Your company’s reputation will largely be defined by the experience employees, clients, and vendors receive while interacting with your organization.

We’ve outlined why a company culture is important and we’ve backed up our point with statistics. But where does that leave you? As a leader, what steps can you take to combat toxicity in your company’s culture? Well, we’ve got a proven framework for creating a company vision that trickles down with widespread impact upon an organizational culture.

3 Steps for Creating a Conviction-Driven Company Culture

1. Identify what it is you want your company to become. Before you can get anyone else excited about what you do and where you’re going, you’ve got to be able to clearly (and passionately) articulate your vision for the company. And if you’re a team manager, you must set a clear and compelling vision to rally your team together around a shared purpose. But before you work on a company or team vision, you must first get clear on your personal vision—because it all starts with self-leadership.

2. Create an atmosphere of belonging. Everyone wants to belong, it’s a core human need. If you can create a workplace environment where people feel psychologically safe, people will bring their authentic selves to work. And when that happens, you’ll see higher levels of accountability, innovative risk-taking, and healthy learnings from (inevitable) failures. When people belong, employee engagement and productivity levels rise.

3. Invite people to help you build something amazing. People want to know how their individual work is contributing to the company vision. So if you lead people, help them see the connection. Invite them to play their part in an exciting vision—something greater than the individual, something of impact—that will only be accomplished when the entire team works together, climbing toward it.

At Building Champions, our framework for creating a compelling vision includes the above three action steps: become, belong, and build. We’ve helped thousands of leaders create visions for themselves, their teams, and their organizations—so we know our framework works. And the good news is that we’ve packaged our vision content into an affordable and accessible digital course called Lead with Vision. To get the most of your investment, we encourage you to purchase the Self-Leadership Digital Series so you that you can grow through all three courses on vision, life planning, and performance!