In uncertain times, culture is your competitive advantage

Market uncertainty has roiled American businesses, whose bottom lines have been damaged by the economic whiplash that has come to define the last several months. It’s an environment that’s got both companies and their employees flailing, risking the well-being of even the most successful businesses — which is why business leaders need to hone in on corporate culture if they want to thrive or even survive during these uncertain times. 

Corporate culture as a concept has been around since the mid-20th century, when the term became popular with management teams and corporate consultants. But few leaders understand the true value corporate culture can provide. 

More than just values or ideals to strive towards, corporate culture is the scaffolding that holds an organization together and helps it maintain structure and stability — a role that becomes all the more important when facing this sort of economic and political uncertainty. As the outside world becomes more chaotic, culture becomes the thing that organizations have to lean on, and helps mitigate negative impacts when productivity and morale become concerns. 

And companies need something to lean on right now. 

The economy is shaky. Headlines are dominated by news of layoffs and concerns about a recession; socially, people are becoming more polarized and less trusting of one another; and global conflict is popping up everywhere — so it should come as no surprise to a business if they’re seeing productivity decline. 

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Whether bosses want them to or not, employees are bringing these concerns into the workplace, and as the personal seeps into the professional, productivity goes down. The mistrust that’s generally saved for the outside world starts to reflect on coworkers, managers, and corporate leadership.

It’s not just a feel-good initiative: A positive corporate culture should be an active part of an organization’s response to the uncertainty of today’s macro environment. Leadership needs to think about culture with the same reverence as they’re thinking about the impacts of AI or tariffs. 

Think about how companies responded during the pandemic: it was another time of deep concern for employees, both economic and personal. No one knew what was happening or what it meant for businesses, and employees were understandably preoccupied with what was happening in the world around them. 

So in the face of near-paralyzing uncertainty, companies did the only thing they could do: they turned to culture.  

To create a sense of normalcy and community, companies had to think creatively about how they engaged with their employees. Things like Zoom happy hours and virtual game nights became ways to connect with fellow employees and allowed companies to build a sense of loyalty. 

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And it worked. The most reliable indicator for a company’s attrition rate during the pandemic wasn’t compensation: it was corporate culture. The Great Resignation had a significantly higher impact on companies that were seen as having a weak culture. 

Just because there isn’t a global pandemic to contend with doesn’t mean that companies should take today’s environment as any less of a clarion call to double down on culture. Only 34% of Americans say that other people can generally be trusted, which indicates a clear crisis of confidence within society.  

CEOs and their leadership teams need to take this moment to strengthen their culture and use it as a business driver. Innovation thrives in a healthy cultural environment; when employees feel connected to the company, they feel compelled to offer their discretionary effort. Culture not only helps to create that connection, but also facilitates the sort of collaborative relationships that can lead to bold, new ideas. 

As companies face more challenges, innovation, or even the improved efficiency that comes with a healthy culture, can be the competitive edge they need to succeed. Corporate culture’s tenets (commitment, unity, relationships and visibility) can be expressed and incubated in any number of ways, so long as a company’s mission, vision and values are clear. 

Companies have to start by assessing their current state, whether that’s through a quick pulse survey, a focus group, or simply walking the halls to understand what’s working and what’s missing. Having both qualitative and quantitative benchmarks not only helps inform companies where they need to focus but also serves as an important metric over the business’s lifetime. 

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Once the organization has a sense of its cultural health, it can begin targeting the areas that are lacking and supporting what’s already there. For example, a company that needs to improve its sense of commitment can start a recognition program that highlights exemplary employees. As small as it may seem on paper, this sort of recognition does help to drive loyalty. A company that’s lacking in something like unity, on the other hand, can come up with programs that get people interacting outside of the usual confines of their jobs; happy hours and intramural teams are great, but so too are community-based projects, whether it’s a food drive or a day of volunteering. 

It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does have to be organization-wide. Building a healthy, visible culture should be as much a team effort as hitting quarterly goals is. 

It’s a make-or-break moment for corporate America — one where every advantage counts. If culture isn’t considered a competitive edge for your business, it might be your downfall.