The ‘Recipe’ for a Winning Culture
Sean Payton holds the Lombardi Award after coaching the New Orleans Saints to the Super Bowl win and the NFL championship in February of 2010.
There is a lot of talk about workplace culture, what it is and isn’t and what it requires. Yet so many organizations’ cultures are still not healthy, strong and working as they ethically should be daily. What gives?
One successful leader — yes, a small sample size — confidently has an idea of what it takes.
“The recipe for culture starts with who’s in the building. It’s hard to have good culture if you don’t have the right ingredients. Then, it's the attention to every detail,” says a Super Bowl-winning coach, Sean Payton, formerly of the New Orleans Saints and now of the Denver Broncos.
Cierra Gross is the founder and CEO of Caged Bird HR
“I absolutely agree that the recipe for culture starts with who is in the building,” says Cierra Gross, founder and CEO of Caged Bird HR, a services company providing employees access to independent HR support at scale. supporting employees who work at companies like Google, Amazon. Netflix, Meta, etc.
“Culture is defined as attitudes, behaviors and standards in a work environment and if you don’t have the right people in the company, it will be hard to build the right culture.
“Most of the time, a work culture starts as a reflection of the founder but then as a company grows, there are micro-cultures that start to exist in different departments.”
There is a reason that it begins to happen.
“That is because different people are entering into different functions and bringing their attitudes with them, creating a micro-culture within the organization,” Gross points out.
She recommends building a smarter culture that also aligns with what benefits the organization.
“You start with your core values. What are the things you value no matter how big the company is?” Gross says. “What are the behaviors, values and characteristics that are most important to this company?”
There is a reason these questions must be asked and accurately, wisely answered before taking the next steps.
“Once you define and socialize those core values, companies can then bake them into their hiring processes to increase their chances of hiring people who already are in alignment with the company culture.”
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Source: Cierra Gross, founder and CEO of Caged Bird HR, providing employees access to independent HR support at scale. supporting employees who work at companies like Google, Amazon. Netflix, Meta, etc.
