As if we needed further reminders of the importance of positive working cultures, the continuing corporate scandals and most recently the dubious working practices recently exposed at UK retailer Sports Direct have again brought the debate about corporate and leadership behaviours to the fore. Sadly these stories, along with issues in other areas of public life from politics to sport, have steadily eroded overall trust in the ‘establishment’, which is being manifested in shareholder revolts, more young people choosing not to work in large corporates, and voters preferring non-establishment figures or points of view.
If there is a silver lining, then it is perhaps that corporate culture is on the agenda as never before, and with it the opportunity for HR professionals to fully engage on this critical area of business. But culture is set from the top, and if people can’t speak truth unto power, then it can be hard for HR professionals to open business leaders’ eyes to the things that matter.
If culture can broadly be defined as how things get done or how people behave in the absence of any other guidance, then there is now much more recognition that you can’t change behaviours by writing more rules. We have to start with purpose, values and the principles that call out our expectations of behaviour and the basis for people to make the right decisions and judgments. Although there is still much to do, it’s encouraging to see that regulators like the Financial Reporting Council and the Financial Conduct Authority, as well as the investor community, are starting to ask questions about corporate culture and encouraging greater transparency in company reporting. We are working to support these initiatives, and we’re urging company boards to start tackling cultural issues head-on – firstly by being more transparent with all their stakeholders, but more importantly by taking proactive action to foster healthy and successful corporate cultures.
Our profession has such a fundamental role to play. We’re closer than anyone to understanding the corporate culture, the sub-cultures, the behaviours and risks, and the various levers that affect these. We need to embed more of the science of human and organisational behaviour in to our thinking, and find the right measures, not least because these help convince the doubters and shine more of a light on culture. We should collaborate with others who are now also showing much more interest, including risk and compliance functions, finance and accounting and internal audit.
From recruitment, to development, management training, reward and recognition, performance management, and organisation and job design, we need to be conscious of the values and behaviours we are seeking to develop and reinforce these – it’s as much about how things get done as what gets done. Providing the channels for employee voice, speaking truth unto power, encouraging collaboration and growth mind-sets, engagement, well-being, diversity and inclusion - all of which are core themes for us all - are also the best indicators of whether we are likely to be developing positive healthy corporate cultures or not.
But as we know, any leader looking for a single blueprint for a healthy corporate culture will be disappointed - we can’t simply prescribe a set of HR policies and expect the workforce to change its behaviour. If rules were the answer, then anti-discrimination law would have put an end to sexism in the workplace decades ago. Now is the time to engage and talk about culture and work with leaders to raise understanding. As professionals we have ethical and social responsibilities, and we won’t fulfill our potential to champion better work and working lives if we try to rely on rules and policies to manage our workforces.
