Understand corporate culture to get the most out of it

How do you describe corporate culture?

Also known as organizational culture, corporate culture helps to build the identity of any company (large group, start-up, etc.), to represent it both internally and externally, and to optimize inbound recruiting.

In addition, team cohesion and the values that flow from it can be a powerful lever for employee motivation and performance, as well as a significant strategic and competitive advantage.

But to make the most of your company's culture, it's best to understand exactly what it is! And if you're wondering how to set up a corporate culture to better unite your employees, the answer is at the end of this article!

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Definition of corporate culture

What is corporate culture?

Corporate culture is something you live and feel rather than describe.

Nevertheless, if we were to define it, we could equate it with the foundation of values, representations and behaviors that make up the DNA of companies, whatever their size or nature (SMEs, startups, large corporations, etc.). That's what makes them unique.

Corporate culture can be passed on :

• informally: every company, and therefore every employee, is influenced (often imperceptibly) by the country in which it is located, by its sector of activity, by the social, economic and political context, and so on.
  
• formal: managers often choose to consciously shape their company's culture (even if it means formalizing it in writing, as an appendix to the company's internal regulations, for example). Why is this? Because today, corporate culture is particularly important and involves a number of issues.

What are the 4 types of corporate culture?

To take the definition a step further, some experts distinguish 4 types of corporate culture:

• 🤝 Clan culture: here, the company functions like a big family. The atmosphere is collaborative, and the emphasis is on employee well-being. This is an ideal pattern for startups and SMEs, where commitment and cohesion count just as much as performance.
  
  
• 🚀 Adhocratic culture: innovation, creativity, boldness... this culture values experimentation and adaptability. Tech companies and hyper-growth startups are fond of it, as they rely on agility to stand out in the marketplace.
  
  
• 🏛️ Hierarchical culture: this is the culture of large institutions, where everything is based on strict processes and pyramidal organization. The aim? To ensure the stability and predictability of actions for efficient resource management.
  
  
• 🎯 Market culture: in this model, results and competitiveness prevail. In other words, the company is performance-driven, with a clear objective: to be the best in its sector.

The 5 components of corporate culture

What makes up a company's culture are its characteristics, its components (dress code, language, managerial structure, etc.).

The patterns are highly varied, diverging from one company or startup to another. Nevertheless, let's take a look at the different characteristics that offer companies an opportunity to differentiate themselves and build their own culture.

#1 The legend

Many companies develop their culture in part through their history and myths. They draw on real facts and the leadership of the founder to build their own legend and inscribe the present moment in continuity (particularly to help young recruits get to grips with their new working environment).

What's more, it's a fact that human beings love stories, or storytelling, because the emotions they trigger leave a lasting impression on the mind. Who hasn't heard of the Apple success story, which began in Steve Jobs' parents' garage?

#2 Vision and values

A company's vision and values are now clearly displayed, both internally and to customers.

Well-being in the workplace, a commitment to eco-responsibility, fair and ethical trade... these are all virtues that can be used as leverage in setting corporate strategies.

Provided, of course, that they are sincerely considered in day-to-day operations, but also in the way the business is developed and marketed. Not to mention that it's a plus for the candidate experience!

#3 Work and management methods

Working and management methods differ from one organization to another. Participative management or vertical hierarchical structure? Agile working methods or more traditional processes?

While there are no right or wrong answers, the fact remains that these components play a major part in the corporate culture, and consequently in the way each employee finds his or her place within the organization.

#4 Rites

Every company builds its uniqueness and unites its teams around rituals:

• daily: breakfast, dress code, language, etc. ;
• occasional: afterworks, company seminars, team-building workshops, etc.

#5 Workspaces

Workspaces speak volumes about each company and its culture.

Indeed, the welcoming, designer offices of some companies are associated, in the collective imagination, with optimal working conditions.

Take GoDaddy, for example. Located in Arizona, the company promotes the retention of its talents by offering them a workspace where they can enjoy a basketball court, climbing wall and miniature golf course:

What's the point of corporate culture?

While corporate culture has always existed by nature, it has become more conceptualized in recent years.

What are the benefits of corporate culture?

Here are just a few advantages:

• Corporate culture allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors, by asserting a strong, unique identity.
  
• Corporate culture fosters cohesion and teamwork. It creates a sense of belonging to the same entity, and therefore :
  • limits internal conflicts ;
  • increases motivation and performance;
    
• Corporate culture contributes to the company's brand image: it increases its "sympathy capital" and encourages a certain closeness to the consumer.
  
• Corporate culture has a positive influence on recruitment. Indeed, thanks to the affirmation of the employer brand, candidates have all the keys in hand to select organizations that truly correspond to their values.

Corporate culture: concrete examples

To illustrate our proposals, there's nothing like concrete examples, based on the different types of corporate culture presented above.

• Google, or the adhocracy culture: Google relies on innovation and creativity. In fact, the company encourages its employees to experiment with its famous principle of "20% free time" to devote to the development of personal projects. The result? Products like Gmail and Google Maps are born of this freedom.
  
  
• Netflix, or market culture: Netflix applies a demanding, performance-driven policy. The company values rapid decision-making and does not hesitate to let go of talent that no longer matches expectations. Its in-house slogan? "Freedom and Responsibility".
  
  
• Zappos, or the clan culture: at Zappos, priority is given to employee well-being. The company invests in team cohesion and encourages everyone to embody the company's values. Its customer service, renowned for its excellence, reflects this philosophy.
  
  
• Toyota, or hierarchical culture: Toyota is based on Lean Management, a structured model based on process optimization and continuous improvement. Every employee follows precise procedures to guarantee impeccable quality.

Integrating employees into the corporate culture

It can be difficult for management to define its own corporate culture. So how best to pass it on to employees?

Here are a few suggestions. 👉

• Passing on corporate culture through concrete actions. Remember that corporate culture is something that is lived rather than imposed or learned. Consequently, only the implementation of concrete actions, in line with the company's rhetoric and values, can instill a strong culture in the day-to-day lives of our teams.
  
  
• Leading by example in the executive and managerial spheres. Otherwise, employees may feel torn and misled by the lack of coherence between values (sometimes ostentatiously displayed on the walls of premises) and actual practices.
  
  
• Involving employees. Are organizations really in a position, today, to authoritatively impose a culture on their employees? Since the answer (as you might expect) is no, some organizations now involve employees in defining the company's values, so that they can better appropriate them, and find them more motivating and inspiring.
  
  
• Disseminating corporate culture through recruitment. We have seen that corporate culture has a positive impact on recruitment. For this reason, some human resources managers opt for differentiating job offers, in which the company's traditions and values are accurately described in an appropriate tone.

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What are the limits to corporate culture?

However, companies must ensure that their corporate culture does not become a brake on their development. If it's too rigid, it won't be able to properly embrace change, particularly that linked to digital transformation.

It's also important to remember that organizational culture doesn't have to be indoctrination: its acceptance by the workforce is the key to its fulfillment. As a result, companies sometimes have to deal with the emergence of sub-cultures within the same structure. Accepting, for example, that an accounting department does not adopt strictly the same working methods as an IT department means preventing certain employees from feeling aggrieved or marginalized.

Sincerity, scalability, collective buy-in, transparency and consistency are, in fine, the foundation of values accompanying the spread of a strong corporate culture that drives commitment and performance. 💪