Creating and Sustaining Company Culture

Nevin E. Adams, JD 

This year’s TPA Growth Summit offered a series of insights on team building, including a special session focusing on the importance of company culture.

The Oct. 24, 2022 session at the ASPPA Annual conference was titled “Leader ‘Shifts’:  How Leaders Create and Master a Service Oriented, Engaged Culture that Fosters Employee Growth and Improves Employee Retention” and featured a discussion of key perspectives by Shannon Edwards, President of Tristar Pension Consulting, and Natalie Wyatt, outgoing ASPPA President and Senior Vice President, Head of Account Management at SS&C Technologies. Starting with a brief definition of company culture[1], but ultimately settled on the simple proposition that it is your company’s personality, one that can impact your bottom line, as well as key issues such as attracting and retaining qualified staff.

By outlining some potential approaches, Edwards cited Disney’s “customer-first” philosophy, but also touted approaches such as being transparent (Edwards acknowledged she hadn’t always been in favor of this, but had come around), and to always be learning/improving. Also key is to show respect — and part of that can be to surround yourself with individuals that complement certain aspects (empathy was specifically cited). Wyatt commented on the importance of admitting error “fast and publicly” when there is a failure by a leader.  

Culture ‘Clubs’

Several possible company cultures were presented, including:

• Adhocracy —focusing on innovation and risk;
• Clan — being supportive and emphasizing functions like family (but “sometimes you have to fire your family”);
• Customer-focused — customer experience comes first;
• Hierarchy — most traditional and structured;
• Market-driven — getting to market; results oriented, competitive;
• Purpose-driven — focused on a strong purpose (“we are doing this…it makes a difference”);
• Innovative — latest and greatest ideas; and
• Creative — creating new products, stories and services (though it was noted that sometimes Innovative and Creative go hand-in-hand).

All that said, an organization can be more than one (examples provided by session participants supported that notion), and organizations can — and do — sometimes evolve/shift. That said, Edwards commented that “in a small firm, if you don’t support each other, it will be toxic.”

Impact of Culture

There is plenty of evidence to support the importance of defining, communicating, and being consistent with your organization’s culture. Those benefits include:

• increased employee engagement (which, in turn goes back to your clients, Edwards commented); 
• decreased turnover;
• creating a strong brand identity; and
• elevated productivity (by virtue of 10 fewer sick days/year, according to Wyatt).

Moreover, the pair commented that this has “transformational power,” and that it not only encourages top performers, it also makes onboarding more effective as well as helping to create a healthy team environment.

The conversation then turned to the potential impact of a “cultural statement,” which was described as a way to describe what the company culture actually looked like. Wyatt commented that it was important that it be “communicated, clear to everyone, acted on every day, used to guide decisions — the core values” of the organization.

“Keep” Sakes

As pertains to the so-called “great resignation” and “quiet quitting,” Edwards shared a quote by Simon Sinek that companies have ignored culture for too long. Essentially the fear of the “unknown” kept people in jobs that were (just) “fine” — but that after COVID, people have essentially come through the unknown and are no longer willing to stay in a job that is “just fine.”

Citing data from Metlife’s 2022 Employee Benefits Trends study, Edwards noted that workers were: 

• 2 times more likely to stay if their work was “purposeful”
• 1.8 times more likely to stay where there was flexibility and work-life balance
• 1.5 times more likely to say in a social and supportive cultures
• 1.7 times more likely to stay for career development /training
• 1.6 times more likely to stay if there are wellness programs and benefits

Perhaps a better way to view the great resignation is the “great opportunity.”

Ultimately, quiet quitting was seen as being about broken promises.

Of course, it was noted that having a defined and articulated company culture was one thing — matching workers with that culture was also important. But that culture, once defined, should produce smoother recruitment efforts, a better onboarding process, and increased and “better” retention.”

While it sounds easy, Edwards acknowledged that it can be hard — and Wyatt cautioned that it “can’t be changed via a mandate!” Rather, you do it by first identifying the behavior(s) you want to stop — and those that you want to continue — identifying “what aren’t we seeing today that we need for the future.” Ultimately, you’re looking to enhance the best characteristics — find the right blend of motivators — and recognize and reward the desired behaviors.

Footnote

[1] “Corporate culture is an organization’s values, ethics, vision, behaviors and work environment. It is what makes each company unique, and it impacts everything from public image to employee engagement and retention. If employees share a company’s ethics, vision and other cultural elements, it can positively affect a company’s bottom line.”