3 Companies That Do Culture Right and What You Can Learn From Them (Infographic) Looking to improve your company culture? Google, Pixar and Patagonia have found formulas that work.
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In-office meditation rooms, rock walls and nap pods are all cool, but there's so much more to creating a winning company culture than providing gravy perks like these.
To us, company culture is more of a positive collective state of mind, a shared organizational outlook that brings out the best in your employees, reinforces your mission and rocks your common goals. It's also the attitude, personality and heart and soul of a business. It values people over product.
Related: 6 Steps for Creating a Strong Company Culture
If your company culture is a soul-sucking drag -- or, worse, outright toxic -- chances are it's not too late to turn it around, especially if you're in a position to catalyze change. Even if only in your corner of cubicle land. One of the first steps you can take is to examine the top notch cultures of some of today's most successful companies. And, when you're feeling brave, gently nudge the powers that be at your business to explore and hopefully emulate them, too.
Take Pixar, for example. The phenomenally successful digital animation studio is built upon a culture of exceptional creativity, innovation and imagination, but its secret sauce really lies in truly, deeply caring for employees and their well being, something it didn't always do.
Related: Creating and Keeping a Positive Company Culture
In his book Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (Random House, 2014), Pixar president Ed Catmull describes a terrifying crisis that forever altered the company's once notoriously workaholic corporate culture. When the company was hustling to complete Toy Story 2 on time, an overtired employee forgot his child inside of a sweltering car instead of bringing him to daycare (the infant fell unconscious but later recovered). It was a wakeup call. From that point on, Catmull dedicated himself to encouraging a company culture that puts employee health and happiness first, movie deadlines second.
For more on how Pixar -- and Google and Patagonia -- foster company cultures that embrace balance, fun and freedom, all while still pushing productivity, check out the infographic from HumanResourcesMBA.net below. We won't tell if you print it and put it up in the staff nap room.
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