What is your workplace culture definition?

Employees and executives almost unanimously agree that the key to success in an organization is company culture.

But you can't wave a magic wand and manifest company culture out of thin air. Nice try! So what can you do to foster good company culture?

Ask yourself: how does your workplace culture align with your company's vision, values, and behaviors? The answers to these questions help frame your workplace culture definition, i.e., how do you define culture for your organization?

And these answers don't have to come from just one person; in fact, they shouldn't. The best place to start is to gather feedback from all of your employees. Survey your employees regularly to understand how they feel about your company culture. After all, they're the voice of the company.

This process will provide you with some good insights about what your company culture is actually like versus what you may think it's like. Next, take these insights in combination with discussions with leadership and start mapping out your workplace culture definition.

It's important to put pen to paper because letting company culture simply form naturally without defining what we want it to be could lead to some common pitfalls. For example, we hire employees who don't fit with the company culture, we fail to create and clearly communicate our company mission, and we don't consider how our everyday actions or inactions as leaders are affecting our culture.

Even with thoughtful planning, employee feedback, and leadership discussions, it can still be difficult to land on the right workplace culture definition for your organization. If you find you're stuck and need some inspiration, it can be helpful to take a look at best-in-class organizations.

Granted, you don't want to mirror their workplace cultures; each organization is different with its own unique set of values. But it can help to get the creative juices flowing.

Here are a few examples of companies with exemplary workplace cultures. Clocking in at number one on Fortune's 100 best companies to work for in 2023 list, Cisco is known for caring about its people, and it shows. The company shuts down on select days throughout the year to give employees a chance to rest and recharge. They call this 'a day for me.' Cisco also has a strong commitment to the environment and to diversity and equality.

Microsoft, with a self-proclaimed growth mindset, has a strong focus on employee growth and development, as well as an inclusive environment that cultivates an openness to new ideas. Microsoft applies this mindset to learning about their customers, striving to be more diverse and inclusive, and working together as one, ultimately making a difference in tech around the world. The company believes they will only achieve their mission if they live their culture.

Google: there isn't a standard company culture at Google, and that's by design. Instead, Google's culture is defined by years of experimentation and progress. In keeping with the company's forward-thinking mindset, over the years, Google has promoted a knowledge-sharing culture. They believe that every employee has a right to learn and that education is the responsibility of the entire organization.

So with all this in mind, the only question left is: how will you approach your workplace culture definition?