“In business, it’s all about people; it's all about relationships.” Anonymous

How strong is your culture? Imagine showing up at work and everyone treats you like family. You are supported, trusted, and cared for. The number one reason why people want to stay in a place is the relationships they build. They want to work with people who care for and support them. This is what makes the culture of an organization strong.

The kind of relationship that exists between the leadership and the people and among the people impacts the strength of your culture. On the foundation of trust, you build relationships.

Organizations can only succeed to the extent that their people build trusting relationships within organizations. Companies are impacted more by the relationships within them than by relationships outside of them. That is because of the relationship within serves as the foundation of building relationships with customers, investors, and the community.

How your people relate impacts how they work and what they produce. The kind of relationships and connections being built within a company will determine the quality and strength of the culture. When we work with companies to audit and analyze their culture, we study the kind of relationships at work within the organization.

How people relate impacts how they feel about the company

How they feel about the company impacts how they work

How they work impacts their performance

Their performance impacts the growth of the business

How To Know How Strong The Culture Is

“Business is all about relationships…how well you build them determines how well they build your business.” Brad Sugars

1. Empathetic Listening: Meaningful relationships are built when people focus on others, listen to understand their points of view and see from their perspectives. When people feel heard, they feel respected. That creates deep connections

2. Transform Not Transact: A strong culture is based on people building transformative relationships and not transactional relationships. People work together to add value to one another, not just for what they can get from the company.

3. Caring For Others: People genuinely go out of their ways to care for and support one another. They support one another to be better and stand by one another during trying times.

4. Be A Hero: A strong culture has employees being heroes to each other. They solve each other’s problems and create value for one another.

5. Believe in People: A strong culture is a place where people believe in one another. As a result, they bring out the best in each other.

6. Connect Not Just Communicate: A strong culture emphasizes connections over communications. Many organizations communicate but only those with strong cultures focus on connections between the people in the organization.

7. Collaborate Not Compete: The strength of your culture is evidenced by the collaborations that take place within the business. If your people compete with each other, you have a weak culture. However, if they do collaborate by bringing their different skills to the table, then your culture is strong.

What kind of relationships are your people building within the organizations? How strong is your culture? Using our Truly Human Culture Playbook, organizations can make their culture stronger.