Organizational culture is like the engine of your car. If it’s not running well, the ride might be bumpy, and it could shut down and leave you stranded. But when it’s finely tuned, it can take you wherever you want to go. 

When functioning well, culture can be the driving force to profitability for your organization. The Return on Culture report, produced by Grant Thornton and Oxford Economics, confirms the connection between culture and profit. The study found that companies with healthy cultures were 1.5 times more likely to have experienced average revenue growth of over 15 percent for the past three years and 2.5 times more likely to have experienced significant stock price increases over the past year.

Workplace culture is ever-changing. To maintain a healthy culture, you need to tend to and nurture it because everyone in your organization co-creates the culture daily. And your employees take their cues from you.   

In Culture Renovation, Kevin Oakes, CEO of the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), an HR research firm, writes that 85 percent of organizations seeking to transform their workplace culture fail because they do not put in the extended effort it takes to maintain a healthy culture once established. When leaders fail to build and nurture a healthy workplace culture, a disconnect develops between the different levels of the organization. That disconnect translates to broken trust, disengagement, and a lack of commitment from the staff hired to grow the company. 

Good communication is at the heart of a healthy culture

As a leader, you need solid communication skills to lead effectively, connect with your team, build trust, and address ongoing challenges. You also need to talk about the organization’s culture and values in a confident, relatable, and engaging way. 

Your organization’s culture is a living, breathing part of your company, one that requires thought, attention, ongoing review, and, most of all, respect. Culture only changes when leaders like you recognize the value of a positive culture and invest in creating change. Expressing your commitment to your team and the organization and acting on that commitment sets the stage for everyone else. 

Open communication creates better connections, builds trust, and helps you address challenges and conflicts swiftly. You must learn how to engage with your team and establish strong working relationships. Avoidant, impulsive, or aggressive leaders are ineffective. And poor communication costs you money, no matter where it occurs in the organization’s hierarchy. Your culture will suffer if you, your fellow leaders, and your employees cannot communicate well.  

Great stories are at the heart of good communication

We connect with others when we connect with their experience. Stories make leaders more relatable as they inspire and gain credibility with their employees. Stories are exceptional tools that encourage collaboration and engagement while improving the organization’s culture. 

According to Karen Eber, an international consultant and speaker, and author of the new book The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories That Inform, Influence, and Inspire, “Storytelling connects people on an individual level, and great storytelling includes a desired outcome for your audience — something you want them to know, think, feel, and do differently.” Stories can help establish trust with your employees and forge psychological safety. They create opportunities for group discussion and learning and can resonate throughout an organization.

To tap into the power of stories, Eber recommends sharing and discussing different types of stories with your teams in regular meetings and offsites. Three potent topics your stories can address include:

1. Conflict and miscommunication. Stories are at the heart of conflict and miscommunication. Sometimes, the stories we tell ourselves about one another are true. But that isn’t always the case. “These stories are opportunities to share your perspective and help define a path forward,” says Eber. Her advice is similar to the approach I teach in The Communication Protocol, my communications skills development program for companies. Eber suggests that those in conflict turn towards one another and work together for the sake of the project, team, or company. “Take turns sharing perspectives. Share what you understand the context to be, what you feel is at stake, your experience, and what you’d love to see going forward,” she says. “The goal is to listen and gain appreciation for the difference in perspectives and define the next steps.” 
2. Experiences that shape us. Telling stories about experiences that helped shape who you are personally or professionally makes you more empathetic and accessible, bringing you closer to your team so they better understand your perspective. “These stories are great for annual meetings, offsites, or when teams are forming,” says Eber. Here again, we see how vital it is to shift your thinking and be more relational to build a strong team and workplace culture. And stories offer a safe way for people to open up when they might otherwise stay silent. “You learn more about each individual and what they value,” she says. “Empathy and trust strengthen across the team during the sharing of these stories.”
3. Mistakes and lessons learned. A healthy workplace culture welcomes feedback and encourages ongoing learning. “Leaders can create a learning culture by having a habit of discussing mistakes and lessons learned,” says Eber. Mistakes and misunderstandings will happen. How you choose to handle them — whether the mistake or misunderstanding originated with you or a member of your team — will determine whether you enhance or harm the culture at your company. When I work with clients, I give them the tools to address mistakes and misunderstandings before they devolve into more significant problems or disagreements. As Eber notes, it’s crucial that you create an environment of learning and acceptance, not name blame and retaliation, if you wish to maintain a healthy workplace culture.

Establishing and maintaining a healthy workplace culture is an ongoing endeavor that directly impacts your bottom line. While it is not easy, it is worth it to reap the rewards of revenue growth and increased stock valuations. Perhaps even more important is that you and your team will be more fulfilled, energized, and engaged.

As is true in every aspect of business, good communication skills are foundational to building a healthy company culture. Impactful stories elevate good communication and shape your company’s culture by deepening connections and helping everyone thrive.

©Copyright 2022 Debra Roberts, LCSW All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced without permission from the publisher.

 A version of this article was initially published on Inc.com as: Shape Your Workplace Culture by the Stories You Tell