Five Tips to Design a Strong Workplace Culture

Can workplace culture be designed? That's the question I always get when I tell people what I do for a living. People still think that culture is something that just happens organically.

A study by Glassdoor shows that companies with a strong culture outperform the Standard & Poor's 500 index, delivering almost twice the gain. Glassdoor also declared this as the culture-first decade for organizations. 

Every company has a culture, either by default or by design. However, successful cultures don't happen by accident; they are purposefully designed and built. Here's how:

1. Take a human-centered approach to culture design

Design Thinking revolutionized the way organizations solve problems and develop new products and solutions. The reason for its success? According to the Harvard Business Review, it provides superior solutions, lowers risk and costs, and facilitates employee buy-in. Company culture benefits from a user-centered approach, too. Intentionally designing what your organization stands for requires starting with the user in mind: your employees.

Most leaders miss an opportunity when they try to define their culture on their own. They fail to get early buy-in by not getting employees involved in the process. Airbnb decided to reduce the number of its core values when it realized that people couldn't remember them. Rather than simply choosing their preferred ones, the company invited every employee to help them select which values inflated or deflated Airbnb's culture.

Instead of having a small committee defining your company culture, involve more people in the journey.

2. Your company culture is more than just values

Culture is about creating the right environment so people can do the best work of their lives. It goes well beyond perks such as ping pong tables or crafting fancy corporate values. Your organization's culture is "the way people feel, think and do things here." It encapsulates the collective emotions, mindsets, and behaviors.

The "core" is the foundation of culture, defining a shared future that everyone aspires to. It includes purpose and values, but also crucial priorities and the behaviors that are rewarded and punished. A strong culture is action-driven, not just full of good intentions.

The emotional culture helps create belonging. It starts by promoting psychological safety, the belief that people can speak up, be themselves, and share their ideas without fear of criticism or punishment. It also involves how feedback is used to learn and grow from each other as well as team rituals.

The functional side of culture defines your company's agility. It includes decision-making, meetings, and norms and rules.

3. Focus on the journey, not the destination

Most executives believe that their culture is like a journey that they can control. They think about moving the culture from point A to point B, just like entering the final destination on a GPS and following the most direct route to get there. However, cultural change is more like sailing than driving. Regardless of what the GPS tells you, you'll have to deal with many unexpected forces, such as tides, storms, wind, and currents. All those elements will affect your navigation, forcing you to adapt and course correct.

Strive for culture evolution, not revolution. Rather than being obsessed about reaching the destination, leaders must understand that the journey is what really matters. It encourages people to enjoy the trip while also being more aware (and appreciative) of the progress made together.

4. Know that design doesn't mean control

Letting your company culture just happen can be as harmful as trying to control it. Culture change can't be achieved through a top-down mandate. It's a co-creation process with your team that requires integrating both planned and organic elements.

This has become more critical in a hybrid workplace.

Designing a culture doesn't mean imposing how people should behave but creating collective norms of what's expected from each other and what is rewarded, too. Let people choose the way.

5. Culture design is a never-ending job

My experience in the marketing, innovation, and leadership industries taught me that organizations don't lack ideas but rather a conducive culture. But how can you design that culture?

For decades, organizations have benefited from Alex Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas. Inspired by his work, I created The Culture Design Canvas, a one-page tool to help organizations map, design, and evolve their culture in a visual, human-centered way. The CDC, for short, includes 10 building blocks that capture the three elements of company culture: the core (a shared future), the emotional culture (belonging), and the functional culture (agility).

In my experience, intentional, human-centered design can help you shift your company culture from good to great. Focus on the user — your employees — and involve people along the journey. And remember that effective design also requires room to breathe and evolve.

Do you need help to codify and evolve your company culture? Schedule a free consultation call.

Gustavo Razzetti is the CEO of Fearless Culture, a culture design consultancy that helps teams do the best work of their lives. Gustavo is an author, speaker, and consultant – his work has been featured in Psychology Today, Forbes, BBC, and New York Times.

This article was originally published in Forbes.