What does a good company culture look like in 2022?
In this article, Simon Quinn, Director of Executive Search, explores why he has seen culture move to the top of many candidates’ priority list when considering a new career opportunity. He looks at how employers are responding to this changing importance as they compete to attract their future leaders and why he believes it is important to explore what a company culture really is, as that is at the heart of attracting and retaining talent for your business in this new post covid ‘war for talent’ world.
Simon observes that culture often refers to a set of accepted norms that a business observes on a daily basis around its work environment. These are far ranging and can include best practice policies, values, ethics and conduct and can be guided by management style, the company purpose and how goals and are expected to be achieved.
In short, culture is the soul of an organisation – it is its very identity. Culture is something that lives and forms the essence of a company’s personality and aligning cultural vision with actual reality is only ever entirely achieved through the employees.
At Moon Executive Search, it is extremely rare for us to manage a search where cultural alignment is not at the forefront of the client brief. This is simply because we see that there is a strong link between happiness and productivity – the happier we are at work the more likely it is we will align to the culture of an organisation. It then follows that the more we align to the culture, the more likely it is we will produce our best work.
So, why is culture even more important in today’s market?
We all know that we are in a candidate driven market. This means candidates can afford to be more considered in their decisions and focus on their own priorities. Work/life balance and homeworking through the pandemic has created a desire for hybrid working and a demand to be happy at work.
In truth, no organisation sets out to develop a negative culture, but often a poor culture manifests over time. The reasons for this can be due to a significant disconnect between what the board perceives the culture is and what the reality actually is for its employees. Tell-tale signs ‘all is not well’ can include higher absenteeism, lower productivity and higher staff turnover.
Finally, if you need three or four stages in your recruitment process, then you should be clear what you seek to achieve at each step. For example, by having an informal online chat in the first instance it can demonstrate that you understand it is a two-way process and of course, getting comfortable with each other is so crucial to a potentially successful outcome. Presentations should be meaningful and provide an opportunity for candidates to shine and distinguish themselves from others. Decision-making should also be timely as this is the candidate’s first insight into how the business operates – it is no good saying you are an agile business if it takes you too long to make your final recruitment decision.
The good news is culture can be changed over time to foster better-learned behaviours. The secret to achieving this is to recruit the right employees and it is for this reason all employers should expect to work harder in their recruitment process today – they need to demonstrate to prospective candidates how they live by their company values.
Social media is a good place to start with this. Employers should be aware prospective candidates are more inclined to use social media in their research to decide if a company attracts them and demonstrates the environment they are seeking. Well-crafted posts can showcase more than just a company’s product range or excellent service – it can also act as the best tool to highlighting its people and personality. In this way, if employers take time to create a realistic narrative through their digital presence, it can create positive engagement with prospective candidates even before the actual interview process.
The second area employers should focus on is their interview structure – this tells a candidate so much about how an organisation is demonstrating its culture. For example, why use a traditional structured panel interview style if you want to demonstrate you are ‘forward-thinking and innovative’? Here at Moon, we are seeing more companies dispense with their normal structured interview style and embrace the opportunity to provide candidates with a cultural preview. For instance, we have seen recruitment videos from key leaders to personalise the business and more interviewers adopt a more relaxed setting for the interview rather than a grilling in the Boardroom!
In our experience whilst candidates still need to demonstrate the right skills and experience, employers can often learn far more by creating this interview environment. So, if you genuinely want to select the right candidates to fit your company culture, what better way is there than immersing them into your culture at every step of the recruitment process?
Vanessa Moon, Founding Director comments:
‘It is an exciting time for many business leaders as we start to emerge from this pandemic and restrictions ease. We know there is nothing better than working for a company which has a great inclusive and open culture, and one which generates a great atmosphere and opportunity for all.’
Simon concludes by commenting:
‘It has never been as important as it is in today’s market to ensure the right cultural fit when recruiting to a leadership role. The competition is fierce, and candidates are more discerning. Employers need to be creative to ensure they can attract the best talent, accept they need to position themselves to a candidate as much as a candidate needs to sell themselves and when it comes to culture, ‘actions speak louder than words.’
Moon Executive Search pride themselves in sourcing the best possible candidates for client roles - we find you solutions in search. If you are interested in having an initial conversation with a member of the team to see how we can help you source your next c-suite role, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via email welcome@moonexecsearch.com or you can call 01275 371200.