The concept of culture varies depending on who you ask, but one thing remains true—organisational culture is a key factor in any company's success and sustainability.

Fig. 1 MIT Sloan Management Review and CultureX

It is what sets a company apart from its competitors and can be the deciding factor in attracting top talent, retaining employees, and ultimately driving business performance.

But what is the anchor that holds organisational culture together?

High-performing organisational cultures do not emerge spontaneously but are expertly crafted and cultivated by HR leaders. They are the anchor, the foundation of organisational culture.

As an HR leader, you have a crucial role in shaping and maintaining your company's culture. It is not just about creating policies and procedures but also fostering a positive work environment where employees feel valued, supported, and motivated to give their best.

During our most recent series of Digital HR Leaders Podcast, sponsored by CultureAmp, we asked each guest, "What are your top three ways in which HR can play a pivotal role in creating a thriving?"

The answers were varied, but one common thread emerged—people are at the heart of any thriving culture. HR leaders need to understand that their actions and decisions have a ripple effect on the overall organisational culture. In this article, we will draw insights from each of these guests, exploring the five key ways HR can play a pivotal role in creating a thriving organisational culture.

Enabling Culture through People Analytics and Proactive Listening

Data is the narrative of truth. It deepens our understanding of employee sentiment and behaviour, allowing us to identify areas for improvement and develop targeted interventions that align with the company's culture and values.

Quoting Becky Thielen, Senior Director of People Analytics at Microsoft:

"When I think about our pivotal role in people analytics, we do play an important role in measuring and providing data and insights and enabling HR and business leaders to prioritise actions, coaching that may need to happen, processes that may need to evolve, you name it. I think that's a key part of what we do in people analytics: enabling organisations to thrive."

By measuring and analysing employee perceptions, behavioural patterns, and organisational metrics, HR empowers decision-makers to drive strategic actions that align with the company's ethos.

At Microsoft, the listening mechanisms are not just passive but multifaceted, measuring parameters such as meaningful work, empowerment, and energy at work. By harnessing intelligent listening, they encourage a two-way street of communication, where concerns are addressed, and ideas from the grassroots receive due attention. This integrated approach, marrying data with dialogue, is pivotal.

But it's not enough to listen. The essence lies in the action that follows to bring about meaningful change. Forward-thinking HR doesn't just collect data—it brings data to the forefront to answer critical business questions. Didier Elzinga, CEO of CultureAmp, further expands on this by emphasising the necessity to,

"Bring data to bear and help bring that data to answer important questions."

By capitalising on data and creating a feedback-driven culture, HR can enable proactive decision-making that is aligned with the company's overarching culture. Akin to how operations are viewed through a finance lens, bringing people data to bear allows organisations to understand their operations through a people and culture lens.

Therefore, HR leaders need to ask themselves: Are they acting as a true strategic business partner? Are they leveraging data-driven insights to drive meaningful change? Are they actively listening to employee feedback and taking action? These are the key questions that will guide HR in creating a thriving culture.

Fostering Continuous Learning and Dynamic Adaptation

In today's digital age, organisations are in a perpetual state of change. Skills are ever-evolving, and traditional roles are continuously being redefined. To keep up with this rapid pace, Dorie Clark, Author and professor at Columbia Business School, explains that organisations need to start

"creating the atmosphere of continual learning and professional development, and really sort of instituting that as the kind of growth mindset of the business."

This learning culture is a two-fold empowerment. On one side, employees take control of their development, aligning personal aspirations with business requirements. On the other, organisations gain the agility to adapt quickly to market demands, leveraging the strengths of a continuously growing and adapting workforce.

HR leaders are the catalysts in this process. They need to create an environment where learning is not just seen as a tick-box exercise but ingrained into the company's DNA. This means providing resources for upskilling and reskilling, empowering managers to be coaches, promoting cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing, and fostering a culture of curiosity and experimentation.

This can also involve building a skills-based approach to talent management - offering internal marketplaces where employees can showcase their skills and interests and be matched with projects and opportunities within the company. By promoting a growth mindset and continuously investing in employee development, HR leaders can create a culture of continuous learning that translates into adaptability and resilience for the organisation.

Revitalising the Fundamental Principles of HR

With new methodologies and technologies often dominating discussions in HR, Professor of Organisational Psychology at Queen Mary University of London and Associate Director of Research at the Corporate Research Forum, Rob Briner, reminds us of the importance of revisiting the foundational principles of work and organisational psychology. Reflecting on concepts developed in the mid-20th century regarding job design, role clarity, and performance feedback, Briner argues that:

"Sometimes I feel we in HR need to go back and look at some of the stuff, not because old stuff is better, but from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, where people really were thinking about what is work; what gives it meaning; how do people perform better; what does good performance do; all those kind of really basic questions that were answered not brilliantly, but reasonably well at the time… yes, there's all kinds of new stuff.
There's AI, there's virtual, yes, absolutely. But some of those fundamental psychological behavioural principles, I think, will never probably change. So, I think going back to some of those is really important, and making sure that all the fancy stuff we do, the techniques, the policies, the practices, the interventions, bear in mind these basic things that we need to get as right as we can."

Briner's assertion isn't a call to be archaic but a summoning to integrate the essence of what makes work truly meaningful. It is a reminder that technological advances should serve, and not replace, the core principles of human interaction and motivation.

Creating a thriving culture should involve maintaining equilibrium between new, innovative methodologies and timeless principles. This consists of leveraging people analytics and technology to enhance, not supplant, the human factor in HR—staying true to the human-centric legacy that continues to guide workforce philosophies.

Empowering Line Managers

Line managers occupy a pivotal position within the organisational hierarchy. With the ability to both create and sustain the local team culture, their influence on the broader organisational ethos cannot be overstated. According to People Director at Chetwood Financial, Louise Millar, line managers are:

"Crucial to any organisational culture because they're managing people, so they're creating their own culture and their own teams, but also they're being managed or being led by more a senior person. They're like the sandwich and it's a really difficult role to do… empowering them to be able to lead their team as opposed to just managing them in their roles, I think they fundamentally can make or break a culture."

In short, empowered with the right tools and directives, line managers metamorphose from mere taskmasters to engaged cultural architects. Their role is not for routine management but for providing leadership that inspires and aligns with the organisational vision. Through skilful empowerment, HR ensures that line managers transform challenges into opportunities, creating fertile grounds for a robust and inclusive culture to flourish.

A shift in managerial training and responsibilities is a testament to HR's forward-looking stance. It is pivotal to develop programs that focus on emotional intelligence, situational leadership, and the intricacies of team dynamics. It is about instilling the knowledge and confidence to make real-time decisions that augment the organisation's cultural strengths. The empowered line manager is, in essence, the frontline ambassador of the organisational culture.

Cultivating a Sense of Belonging and Identity

You can create a learning culture, invest in foundational principles, and empower line managers, but without a sense of belonging and identity within the organisation, these efforts may fall flat. HR leaders must actively cultivate a cohesive team dynamic where individuals feel valued and connected to the company's mission and values. As Dorie Clark adeptly puts it:

"None of it's rocket science, but it's feeling seen, heard and valued at a fundamental level".

This can involve creating opportunities for intentional cross-functional collaboration, encouraging open communication and feedback, promoting diversity and inclusion initiatives, and creating personalised employee experiences.

Psychological safety should be at the core of this effort, allowing employees to feel comfortable taking risks and expressing themselves without fear of judgment or retribution.

A Thriving Culture for the Future

Each perspective shared by the industry visionaries during CultureAmp's series sponsorship of the Digital HR Leaders podcast accentuates the multifaceted role HR undertakes to build and sustain a dynamic organisational culture.

By investing in people analytics, fostering learning, re-evaluating foundation principles, magnifying the role of line managers, and cultivating a sense of belonging, HR leaders are the architects of a resilient culture.

The role of HR in shaping organisational culture is not just pivotal - it is fundamental. By adopting these strategic focuses, HR can lay the foundation for a thriving workplace culture that stands the test of time and helps organisations achieve their goals.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Green

David is a globally respected speaker, author, and consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR, and the future of work. With lead responsibility for Insight222’s brand and market development, David helps our clients create value through people analytics. David is the co-author of Excellence in People Analytics (Kogan Page, July 2021), and the host of our Digital HR Leaders podcast. Prior to co-founding Insight222, David worked in the human resources field in multiple major global companies, most recently at IBM. He has lived in both UK and France and worked all over the world during his career. He has been a director of Insight222 since 2019. David is a keen cricket player and supporter of Liverpool FC.

Five Ways HR Creates a Thriving Organisational Culture