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Success in today’s global business environment can be more effective when executives manifest themselves as agents of change who reshape corporate culture to better apply knowledge and create a competitive advantage. Building on three aspects of corporate culture—collaboration, trust and learning—companies can continuously innovate and create new and valuable products and services through applying new ideas and knowledge. This can also inspire consultants to create effective cultural change in order to meet and exceed the challenges of today and the future. These practices can represent a complete answer to changes in today’s global market environment.
Collaboration provides a shared understanding about the current issues and problems among employees, which helps to generate new ideas and solutions within an organization. Trust towards the leader’s decisions is also a necessary to allow for open sharing of knowledge. Moreover, the amount of time spent learning is positively related to the amount of knowledge gained, shared, and implemented.
Executives can facilitate collaboration by developing relationships in organizations. An executive can contribute to a culture of trust by considering both the employees’ individual interests and the company’s essential needs. Also, executives can identify individual needs of employees and develop a learning culture to generate new knowledge. The next sections present a set of actions that can be taken by executives to build an effective corporate culture and the benefits to the company overall.
Building a True Collaboration Culture
To build a collaborative culture, executives need to improve the degree to which employees actively support and provide significant contributions to each other in their work. This can take the form of the higher-ups leading by example, consistently giving constructive feedback while allowing for people to learn from mistakes and making space for social events. In doing this, they can develop a collaborative environment in which employees are comfortable with collaboration between departments, they are supportive towards each other, and there is a willingness to accept responsibility for failure.
Creating a No-Fail Trust Culture
To create a trust culture, executives need to maintain the volume of reciprocal faith in terms of behaviors and intentions. This takes the form of displaying honesty, vulnerability, and open communication. It also allows for employees to be themselves and feel comfortable voicing their opinions. In doing this, leaders can build an atmosphere of trust and openness in which employees are generally trustworthy, have reciprocal faith in the abilities, intentions and behaviors of others, and can make meaningful choices between the interests of the organization and the interests of individuals.
Cultivating a Successful Learning Culture
To foster a learning culture, executives need to enhance the extent to which learning is motivated within the workplace. This can take the shape of formal and informal development programs, like training programs, role rotation, and external seminars and workshops. In doing this, they can contribute to the development of a learning workplace in which employees are always learning and improving their skillsets.
This dynamic perspective of organizational culture points out the vital importance of corporate culture in shaping a company’s employee assets. Corporate culture constitutes the foundation of a supportive workplace to improve knowledge and performance. Fostering an environment of collaboration, trust and learning is a major internal resource for business success, and without a grasp on this idea, executives are bound to fail.
Mostafa Sayyadi | Contributing Writer