Watch: Healthy Culture Habits of High-Performance Organizations

The Next Practices Weekly call series has become a well-attended and wide-ranging discussion for HR leaders each Thursday at 11am ET / 8am PT. On this week's call, i4cp' s CEO and Co-Founder, Kevin Oakes, and i4cp Senior Research Analyst, Katheryn Brekken, presented findings from, and facilitated a discussion about, i4cp's latest major study, Culture Fitness. Here are some highlights from the call:

• The Fitter the Culture, the Better the Performance. The headline finding is that high-performance organizations are nearly 6x more likely to have fit cultures compared to low-performance organizations.
• Fit Culture Defined. A culture that employees rated as very healthy (compared to somewhat healthy, somewhat toxic, or very toxic), and one which they commonly described using these six traits: Employee-Focused, Inclusive, Quality, Learning, Innovative, Collaborative.
• Culture Impacts Productivity. Culture fitness explained nearly 20% of the variation among organizations’ employee productivity over the past two years (controlling for size and market performance.)
• The Unfortunate Reality. More than a third of large organizations surveyed (34%) report becoming more toxic in the past two years.
• Toxic Cultures During the Pandemic. During the pandemic, organizations with toxic cultures were far more likely to struggle with...
  • Disrespectful behavior
  • Senior leaders who don’t trust employees
  • Employees who don’t trust senior leaders
  • Leaders favoring on-site vs. remote employees
  • Unsafe environments for expressing opinions/concerns
  • Bullying
  • Pay inequity
  • Lack of recognition
  • Lack of inclusiveness
• More Data on Toxic Cultures.
  • Those who described their organizations’ cultures as toxic were 16x more likely to indicate "lack of trust in senior leaders" as an issue that needs to be addressed.
  • They were also 10x more likely to indicate an "unsafe environment for expressing opinions or concerns" as a top issue in their organizations.
  • Poor behavior is often overlooked during talent decisions. Leaders in organizations with toxic  cultures were 4 to 5x more likely to be described as disregarding poor behavior when making decisions about advancement, compensation, succession planning, performance rating, awards and recognition, and high-potential employee designations.
• Not All Cultures Suffered During the Pandemic. 43% of companies reported their culture became healthier during the pandemic.
• The Seven Habits of Very Healthy Cultures. These are:
  • More flexible work arrangements
  • A learning mindset
  • Boards care about culture
  • Leaders lead by example
  • Leaders held accountable for employee outcomes
  • Leaders regularly communicate values
  • Poor behavior is addressed immediately

• During the call we asked the following participant poll: "What Culture Type is your organization?" (Select all that apply)
  • 54% Customer-focused
  • 48% Purpose/Mission
  • 38% Collaborative
  • 34% Performance
  • 21% Learning
  • 19% Inclusive
  • 18% Innovative
  • 16% Safety
  • 16% Agile
  • 16% Quality

• Maximal Flexibility. Organizations that have workforces that are currently mostly remote are more likely to report having:
  • A healthier culture
  • Culture improvement in the past two years
  • Increased employee well-being in the past two years
• Cultures of Learning are Healthy Cultures. These are common traits of strong learning cultures:
  • Knowledge sharing is common amongst workforce
  • Senior leaders & front-line leaders are trained on the desired behaviors
  • Internal mobility is formalized
  • A talent marketplace is in place
• Leaders are the Lynchpin. Very healthy cultures have leaders who:
  • Lead by example
  • Are held accountable for employee outcomes
  • Regularly communicate values
  • Address poor behavior immediately
• Fit Cultures Constantly Monitor Progress. Organizations that use these methods to measure tend to have healthier cultures:
  • Culture Audits
  • Stay Interviews
  • Customer Feedback
  • Listening Sessions

Links to resources shared on the call:

• Upcoming i4cp virtual events
• 2023 i4cp Next Practices Now Conference - March 27-30, 2023, in Scottsdale, Arizona (and virtual). Now open for registration!
• i4cp's Culture Fitness report - a new resources exclusively for i4cp members
• Culture Renovation - resources related to i4cp's research on Culture Renovation
• Recent article from Fortune, "The return to the office could be the real reason for the slump in productivity. Here’s the data to prove it"
• Recent article from Bloomberg Law, "McDonald’s Toxic Culture Ruling Sheds Light on Officer Liability"
• I4cp's Employee Listening series - resources for i4cp members
• I4cp's Flexibility or Flight series - resources for i4cp members