Culture Keepers: How to Safeguard Your Unique Workplace Vibe

Culture Keepers: Who Are They, and How Do You Identify Them?

People who lead and uphold the positive qualities of their workplace culture are known as culture keepers. They can be team leaders, new hires, senior executives, etc. Now, how can you, as an HR professional, identify the people who uphold your organization's values with the utmost sincerity?

Say if you want to figure whether employee X is a culture keeper, answer the following questions regarding her workplace demeanor:

• Does X consistently exemplify your business’s principles?
• Does she consciously try to own up to her mistakes and make amends when she deviates from the ideals?
• Does X happily help anyone in the office?
• Is X always ready to become the face of your company and speak positively about it?

Observe each employee and talk with them to find the answers to these questions. Feedback from fellow workers is also a great way to identify a culture keeper.

Here are some other qualities that might help you identify a culture keeper:

• A true team worker
• Cares about people around them
• The center of fulfilling work experiences
• High emotional intelligence

Strategies to Keep Your Culture Keepers

Having identified your culture keepers, what can you do to nurture them? How can you make sure you retain your company culture? Let’s explore the answers to these pertinent questions.

1. Hire the Right People

Culture keepers are the right hires in the sense that their values align with those of your organization. Thus, teamwork and regard for their coworkers come to them naturally. So, to retain your company culture, you need to set on the path of hiring the right people for your organization.

You should utilize the hiring, onboarding, and training processes as opportunities to share the company culture with potential employees. This is crucial from the beginning. Ensure consistent communication of company culture to both candidates and internal team members during the hiring process.

2. Recognize and Appreciate

Culture keepers are an integral part of an organization. They help people around them. They consider not only their wants but also what is best for the team.

Culture keepers don't usually do what they do because of any particular training or reward schemes, but it wouldn’t hurt to recognize and reward those people and appreciate all the work they do.

You can do this through verbal praise, thank you notes, offering perks, etc.

3. Set Up Mentorship Programs

Pair your seasoned employees with new culture keepers in a mentoring relationship. This will serve as a growing opportunity for the culture keepers where they can quickly learn more about the organization and, more broadly, the business world. These stepping stones can help them take up leadership roles and take the organization in new directions.

4. Invest in Training and Development 

Offer specialized training programs or workshops designed to empower culture keepers with leadership skills. This can serve as an alternative to mentorship programs or be complementary if you only offer technical skills with training and leadership skills with mentorship. Work out an arrangement that works best for your employees and have them choose. Investing in their professional development enhances their ability to positively influence others and uphold the desired culture.

5. Make Decision-Making Inclusive

Involve those responsible for maintaining the organizational culture in significant decision-making processes. Ask for their opinions on any plans, rules, or modifications that might have an impact on the working environment. Their viewpoints can guarantee alignment with the organization's basic ideals and offer insightful information.

6. Hold the Culture Killers Accountable

Culture killers are people who don't value organizational culture and objectives and actively and silently undermine positive work experiences. Picture a culture-killing employee A: He doesn’t prefer interaction with his team, doesn’t lend a helping hand, doesn’t identify with the organization’s values, and regularly shirks responsibility for many tasks. 

Culture killers make it difficult for culture keepers to keep doing the good work. The positive organizational culture and values mean nothing to employees if the culture killers are not held responsible. Watching you put up with a lousy employee is the fastest way to disappoint and disengage a great one. So, start holding your employees accountable.

Accountability is not the same as blame, though. Blame does not get results, whereas accountability helps you get to the root of the problem and fix it. A good way to start with accountability is to state clear expectations and follow through by asking for periodic updates.

7. Lead by Example

Setting a consistent example for others to follow means acting in a way that reflects the organization's ideals. This could entail promoting diversity, listening intently, communicating openly, and making moral decisions. Leaders who model these behaviors encourage culture keepers to do the same, strengthening the intended standards and norms across the entire organization.

Final Thoughts

As an HR professional, creating and managing a team of culture defenders who uphold the company's core values and where employees feel heard, valued, and empowered is like striking gold. Therefore, you must try to hold onto such keepers when you find them since they are essential to preserving the workplace culture. Encourage them with praise, guidance, instruction, and participation in decision-making. Hold those who destroy culture accountable to maintain a pleasant work atmosphere and culture.