How To Grow Your Workforce Fast Without Sacrificing Your Culture

Want to Grow Your Workforce Fast Without Sacrificing Your Culture?

If part of your business strategy is to grow your workforce fast without sacrificing your culture on the altar of speed, think about strategy and culture before you think about talent.  While that may sound counterintuitive when you need to hire quickly to meet your growth targets, our research says to set the stage.

71% of the Difference Between High and Low Performing Teams
In our twenty-five years of change management consulting we have learned that a clear corporate strategy and an aligned workplace culture accounts for 71% of the difference between high and low performing teams.  And the strategy must come first to set the stage.

Strategy Must Go Through Culture and People
But even the most well thought out strategies will not succeed if you do not align your talent management plans with your corporate culture. From a workforce growth perspective, that typically means changing the way you recruit and hire talent.

Hire For Your Desired Culture
Let’s say you have thoughtfully crafted and communicated the growth strategy for your business or team. It involves adding talent; you know the behavioral and motivational competencies you need for the desired future. Now is when you must not only articulate your desired corporate culture but also hire directly for it by clearly assessing your organizational culture so that you can identify:

• What Your Current Employees Value Most about the Way Your Organization Operates
  Is your environment more structured or informal? Hierarchical or flat? Team- or individual-oriented? Traditional or innovative?

  Clearly define what makes your corporate culture tick in terms of what keeps your employees happy and engaged in their work.

• The Core Values of the Candidates You Want to Hire
  For instance, will they be more content working on their own or as part of a collaborative team? Don’t hire a lone wolf if you need them to cooperate with team mates to get the job done.  Ensure that core values are aligned.
• How to Best Stay in Touch with Your Employees
  Change takes time and consistency. Stay connected. Reach out often to know what they are thinking and feeling so you can handle any issues that arise before they become overwhelming.

The Bottom Line
Every strategy must go through your culture and your people to be successfully implemented.  Are your culture and strategy aligned enough to execute your strategy?

To learn more about creating the high performance culture required to support your growth initiatives, download The 3 Levels of Culture that You Must Get Right to Create Growth