“I’m passionate about developing extraordinary places to work because we spend a lot of time at work and in a number of organisations, managers just really don’t know how to design a culture,” says Amanda Lutvey, founder of Career Culture Lab. For the past twenty years, Amanda has worked with leaders and managers to transform their workplace cultures. With experience in a diverse range of industries, she specialises in providing solutions to a host of cultural issues. Whether it’s about communication, trust, or teamwork, she believes in focusing on people. But with so many things to consider, how do you get started on a people-focused workplace?

For Amanda, every company has a culture whether they focus on it or not. That makes the difference between culture by default, and culture by design. “Culture by default is when you just let things happen,” explains Amanda. Often, there are unwritten ground rules that create cultural problems below the surface. These problems will eventually reach a tipping point, and by then it will require monumental resources to resolve. A way to avoid this is creating culture by design: a culture plan that integrates company vision and everyday life. Check out Amanda’s five tips to achieving culture by design below!

1. Go back to the company vision

“Going back to the vision of the organisation is where it all starts. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.”

When creating a plan for any company, Amanda doesn’t have to look far. “I’m very much about tailoring solutions to the vision of the organisation,” she says. Going back to the vision of the organisation is where it all starts. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Different challenges of organisations across industries require different solutions. And there are plenty of misconceptions out there. “A lot of people think it’s just about having a ping pong table, bean bags, an open plan office, or having a groovy work environment,” she remarks. “It’s a great environment, but you need to walk the talk.”

For Amanda, walking the talk means asking tough questions. Why are we here? What are our values? Answering these questions allows leaders and managers to create a culture plan that embodies the vision. They can set clearer expectations on workplace interactions. And most importantly, they can shape individual actions to benefit the company as a whole. “It’s not just about the benefits and perks, it is about creating an environment where people want to contribute, where they understand how they can contribute to the greater good of the organisation,” she emphasizes.

2. Always hire for cultural fit

Recruitment managers are always focused on hiring the best talent. However, the best talent in the world may not necessarily be the best talent for your organisation. Skills and experience are always a consideration, but personality is what determines if a hire will flourish in the long run. “Cultural fit is so important. I would rather hire on attitude and cultural fit,” she says. This is because company culture is made up of individual behaviours and how they influence others and the company as a whole. “You can teach skills. Generally speaking, you come in with a good attitude of willingness to learn and we can teach you the other stuff.”

3. Set everyone up for success before day one

“It comes down to the whole employee life cycle: the recruitment, the onboarding, the way we treat people on their way out the door,” Amanda remarks. Contrary to popular belief, onboarding doesn’t begin on the first day of work. In fact, if you do this, then you’re already far too late. What you do right after a talent accepts your offer shapes their investment in your company and your ability to attract equally skilled individuals. It starts with the little things, like a personalised welcome email and a paperless document submission process.

“It’s about making sure that from the minute they walk in the door they feel like part of the team. It’s making them feel like you want them there and giving them every opportunity for success,” she notes. Employee experience determines how well they will do and how long they will stay with the company. Each turnover represents lost investment. And HR is not solely responsible for making sure this doesn’t happen. “The team manager [also needs] to make sure that [effective onboarding] happens for their people.”

Free eBook: Making the Onboarding Experience Work for your Business

4. Leverage tech in employee engagement

“Technology plays a massive role in freeing our people up often to do what they’re actually employed to do to be able to focus on what’s really important.”

Amanda also believes in empowering employees by eliminating tedious administrative tasks. “Technology plays a massive role in freeing our people up often to do what they’re actually employed to do to be able to focus on what’s really important,” she remarks. At the heart of every business is people, and technology can enable them to perform at their best. “I think we can’t lose sight of the fact that our team and our workplaces are made up of human beings,” she adds. Leaders and managers need to look at talents and strengths to see how employees can contribute. Then they need to be empowered to do just that.

Amanda shares that she’s met talented young people in management roles who are constantly caught up in rostering and doing the payroll. “Their time, rather than being spent in the frontline with guests, is spent on all this administrative work. Approving timesheets, doing rosters, all this stuff that can be so simple if you implement technology.” Tanda, a workforce success platform, has a complete set of features that cuts down the time spent on administrative tasks. It rosters employees, manages leave requests, and interprets awards so employees can focus on what matters. Automation, far from being a threat, actually empowers people to grow the brand and deliver the best service.

Read more: Team management should be an easy cruise, not a struggle for the surface

5. Evolve your definition of culture

“Your culture is something that ebbs and flows. It is the sum of the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours of each and every one of your team members,” Amanda says. It has to be in line with the company vision, but at the same time, it cannot be disconnected from the larger picture. The people who make up the company ultimately define its culture. And it has to respond to needs, especially generational ones. For workplaces with four generations, technology can bridge the communication gap and help retain younger talent. Bringing technology into company culture is part of the evolution.

Read more: 5 Ways a Work Chat App can Boost Productivity

Amanda also cautions against having a vision only at face value. “A lot of the times what I’m seeing is organisations will have these beautiful values on the wall, but they don’t actually own them or live them. And the reality is the values is something that should evolve,” she emphasises. For Amanda and Career Culture Lab, the bottom line in achieving culture by design is making sure the values don’t stay on the wall. She concludes, “It’s about embodying it and living in it every day. These values need to be real. They are going to be something that we can all buy into and understand and we can clearly articulate for our people.”

Amanda Lutvey is ready to tell you more about how to achieve culture by design at at the Workforce Success Conference 2019 on 26 July in Brisbane Australia. Get your tickets here!