For this issue’s Guest View, a transformational architect and organisational culture experts talks productivity and company culture

From a macro perspective, productivity is maximized when people are passionate about what they do and inspired by WHY they do it. Companies that are truly purpose-driven, have transcended from being just transactional in nature, to standing for something greater than just its products or services. There is a greater good purpose at their core, that is fueling their employees and driving business success.

We tend to think that money and profit is a great motivator, turns out it is not the highest on the list of priorities for people seeking a job today. Millennials who will make up around 75% of the global workforce by 2025, are seeking more than just a paycheck, a desk and a task list. They are looking for deeper, more intrinsic motivation. They care about what the company believes in and stands for. They want to learn and grow, to have multiple experiences at work. They want to feel a sense of comradery and belonging and above all, they are seeking to be part of something bigger and make a difference. They want their time at this place called work, to be meaningful and fulfilling.

This is where your company culture comes in.

There is a huge divide between what people are looking for at work, and what companies actually offer. To put it simply, if a company wants to maximize productivity, they need to maximize their human potential. This is about looking inward and taking a hard look at the workplace culture.

For people to be truly engaged at work, to show up and give their best, to push themselves and drive productivity for the company, they need to be what I call ‘intrinsically motivated.”

This is where having a strong company culture becomes critical. If you look at all the super successful companies, they all have strong cultures fueled by a powerful greater good purpose that is energizing the company and the people at its core.

In my seventeen-year corporate journey, I was lucky to have been part of such a company; The Walt Disney Company. The transformative onboarding experience I had on Day 1 made me feel that I hadn’t just joined a company, but I was now part of a movement! The purpose of that movement was to spread joy and optimism in the world to kids and families. This energized me and pushed me to give a hundred percent at my job. Creativity and innovation and empowering people to grow and become the best versions of themselves, was a huge part of the company culture. Looking back, this was the great motivator that spurred me and everyone at the company to push themselves, give a hundred percent and challenge what is possible.

Now, as the founder of Transform and Transcend and a Business Transformation Architect, I help companies reach their full potential by helping them build great workplace cultures. I believe every company has the potential to be great. By great, I mean a company that employees love, customers adore and the world

admires. This path to ‘greatness’ begins with building a strong company culture. Unfortunately, culture isn’t on the list of top priorities for most companies. It’s something they see as intangible, or just fluff, with no impact on the bottom line.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

A strong culture attracts and retains top talent, creates passionate employees, inspires and energizes them. It motivates them to give a hundred percent, thus driving creativity and innovation. You just have to look at Google, Hubspot, LinkedIn, DBS Bank, Razer, Facebook, Apple, Cisco, DHL to name a few, to see how a great company culture fuels their awesome success.

Today, we live in an ultra-transparent business world. Thanks to culture review sites like Glassdoor, we now know everything that happens within a company. Unlike Vegas, whatever happens in your company doesn’t stay within your company, it’s out there for the world to see! Company review sites are the first stop for potential candidates looking to join a company. This is where they get a flavour of what it’s like to work in that company. Having a strong and winning culture and overwhelmingly good things said about your workplace culture, puts you in a great position to attract top talent.

In my book Culling Culturits: How To Rid Your Company Of This Toxic Disease and Build a Winning Culture, I created a simple yet highly effective framework that builds the foundations for a strong company culture. This starts with figuring out your company DNA, the soul of your business and goes on to how to show how you can live and evangelize your culture, so it becomes part of your every day and seeps into your company consciousness.

I wanted to give the business world something that I thought was missing. A template that empowers every company big or small, the ability to build a winning workplace culture. I believe having a strong culture enables every business to reach its full potential and rise to greatness. It empowers every founder, business owner and leader, to build their dream business.

Today, given what we are going through with the pandemic and the radical shifts happening around how we work, we need to question what the future of work looks like. We typically spend one third of our lives and close to seventy percent of our waking moments at work. We have to re-imagine this place called work. We need to transform workplace cultures, create inspiring and uplifting work environments that empower people to become the best versions of themselves. Only then can companies expect their people to more committed, engaged and passionate and give the company their one hundred percent in return. This is how I believe culture contributes to higher productivity.