Adriana Rychter, HR Director at Marriott, talks about her role in creating organizational culture.
What to consider when determining the value of a company?
It all starts with an idea for a company and goals kuwait telephone number data which are later translated into missions and visions of the organization . All of this must be interconnected. For example, we can have two approaches: quantitative and qualitative. The first will emphasize gaining the largest possible number of customers in the shortest possible time. The second, on the other hand, will focus on being perceived as best as possible among its recipients . The tone of the mission and vision in both cases will therefore differ, and it is the mission and vision that become the compass that will help us later choose the right values of the company. For example, if we assume that we want to be perceived as the best company in Poland that manages office space, then our values should include innovation and communication.
How important is organizational culture for business processes and employees?
Organizational culture is hard to define. Sometimes recruiters get a question from potential employees: what is organizational culture? It is often impossible to answer in a specific way, because culture in an organization does not function as a work code with written rules. It is values and behaviors.
Despite this, companies try to brag about their values at every turn. When entering an organization, we are often greeted by values painted on the walls of beautiful office buildings, such as respect, ambition, common good, etc. The bigger these values are on the wall, real element the more often I ask myself how they live in the company? It seems to me that this is the key to understanding the culture of an organization. And HR people are supposed to help with this, their task is to build culture in the workplace and to guard the values so that they live in the organization every day.
How to fulfill this task well?
The first step does not take place in an organization at all.
It is not just a matter of the word respect being on the company website or in a job advertisement. I should find out what it looks like in reality is it a cookie or a biscuit? pastime is inclusion! do research, ask around, conduct interviews in a professional environment and, above all, pay attention to it during recruitment meetings. An HR professional should look for a workplace where they will feel best, so that they can consciously and authentically build an organizational culture and stand guard over the company’s values.
Once we find an organization we want to work for, we will observe how the company communicates, how it shows its values. Are they just on the wall? Do they translate into the daily lives of employees? I work in an organization that has emphasized two values for 95 years: respect for all and people first. I should think about what that means to me. For example, respect means that regardless of our position, background, what we believe in, what experience we have, we all respect each other. It means that we listen, communicate, have the right to speak up, and do not use power against our employees.
As an HR person, I should notice this and react – meet with team leaders and remind them that the system of values includes supporting innovation and propose a solution, e.g. introduce surveys or an idea box. In this way, we will avoid a situation in which values are just empty words.
The HR Director is real element an ambassador of the organization’s values. How does this manifest itself?
The way we communicate and treat other people is very important to me. A situation that occurred during a meeting in the company comes to mind: one person interrupted another because the meeting time had already come to an end. I spoke up and clearly communicated that each of us has the right to speak and listen to the other person, because this is the basis of good cooperation. If we see that someone is not upholding the company values, is violating them in a direct way, then each member of the HR team is responsible for paying attention to this and reacting. We have to be vigilant benin lists catch extreme behaviors and influence the culture of the organization.
It is also worth emphasizing that everything related to motivation, building employee engagement and building culture is mostly about leadership, or management style. And the HR team has an influence on the selection of leaders in the organization. Of course, we do not make the final decision, but we are strategically responsible for building teams. We meet with a candidate, e.g. for the position of director, and check whether the person has the right system of values and whether they will fit into the organization.
Using various tools and intuition,
we examine what management style the person has (e.g. hierarchical or partnership) in order to prevent clashes in the team.
The HR Director is a strategic partner of the organization, who has an impact on the business. This requires a strong voice in the organization. The HR Director must be the person who, when the situation requires it, stands up and says: I do not agree to this type of behavior, to this type of communication, because it is inconsistent with the values of the organization.
It is also worth reminding managers that HR is not the only one responsible for building culture, but also leaders. If we have the right managers who can motivate their teams and intuitively feel the company’s values, HR will not be extinguishing conflicts every day.
And when a problem occurs in the organization, how should the HR team, headed by the director, react?
First, I recommend doing an engagement study to see exactly where the problem lies .There will always be a person real element or group of people who allow inappropriate behavior and do not protect the values of the organization. The HR team is the organizational unit that should first catch bad situations, because if it goes outside the company, it will be a bigger problem.
Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric and one of the best leaders in history, once fired seven of his high-ranking employees. He then called 500 CEOs and presidents of his companies to a meeting to publicly say who he had fired and why—for example, one for disrespecting others, another for discriminating against women. If he hadn’t done it so openly, no one would have respected the values of the company.
That is why you need to react earlier, and not wait for the problem to fix itself, for something to change on its own. It is always worth being the person who speaks up, even reacting to inappropriate behavior of the president or the board, because negative information, if it gets outside the company, can affect recruitment and employment, as well as business. It is also worth ensuring an appropriate communication style, starting with the highest-ranking people in the company. The board expects this from us – that we will be a compass in communication with employees, advising appropriate solutions. Then we are able to build a bridge between different levels in the organization.