Culture is a key driver of results, and can be a key driver of good or bad behaviour depending on the triggers and rewards offered.

In a recent report by Deloitte called ‘Culture for Sceptics’, the key channels through which your staff pick up culture were identified.

1)Firstly – if you don’t identify and drive a culture for your organisation, your employees will fill that void for you and you may end up with a culture that you didn’t want.

2)Drive the culture that you want through clear objectives – for example you may have a fantastic sales manager who consistently overachieves, however his/her behaviour with employees is appalling. What behaviour are you driving through your incentives?Are they working for – or against – your culture model?

3)Role Models are crucial for driving culture – ensure that you and your managers are examplifying the behaviours and results that you want all your employees to follow. Look at your non-financial incentives as well as financial to drive the correct behaviours

4) Symbolic action and stories with a moral can really aid the understanding and buying into values and priorities.

5) Make sure that what happens on the ground, with customers, on the manufacturing line, in the office, all focus on the company’s priorities and culture behaviours. Make your values and culture offering simple and transparent

6) Driving culture through the organisation – look at the full employee life cycle and ensure your are embedding the culture all the time – look at recruitment, induction, training, documentation, career development – all of these develop and drive culture

7) Persevere and follow through – a track record of following through on culture initiatives and behaviours will greatly enhance your employee engagement – and employee engagement signficantly increases business performance!