Strategic Planning and Organizational Culture in HR | #hrmanagement #hrexecutive

Organizational culture has long been debated in terms of a true definition. What a company stands for and represents is one aspect, but the inner workings and day-to-day is another. There’s no doubt that a strong company foundation and healthy working culture produce success in terms of employee happiness and financial gain for the company. 

How much of that is due to strategic planning? Well, statistics show that 71% of fast-growing businesses refer to their business plan often. A well-structured business plan has the end goal and all the little steps to get there. This is why something like a LifePlanner weekly planner can save the day. 

So, what does this have to do with organizational culture?

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What Is Organizational Culture?

The idea of what a company brand is, fostered by the employee’s motives and incentives, is exactly what organizational culture is. How a business operates and the “social norms” of the company can be seen as organizational culture.

Often, organizations will employ outside companies to take internal and external audits of their company to get a grip on what their culture is really like without bias. Then from here, with a handful of data, they can plan to put the company on track. 

The Incentives For Planning

So, why should a company use planning to improve its organizational culture? Many reasons. A successful strategy that is known by the company will accurately display the company’s core values, goals, and mission. This should align with each employee for optimal performance. 

Each Employee Has A Clear Understanding of Their  Role

When leadership takes on the role of planning, it creates a needed hierarchy that puts everyone in a specific role. For instance, planning interviews, weekly team meetings, and the overall structure of the company allow everyone to do their job and stay on task. 

Strategic planning can even foster organizational culture when the superiors organize and plan incentives for their team. 

Example: The top 5 sellers at the end of the year get a bonus. This would motivate employees to work hard. 

There Is Less Chaos

Organizational culture is a way of managing chaos and creating social norms for control in the office. Not everyone can do what they want, or else there would never be any productivity. It creates a cohesiveness that allows the team to work together towards a common goal. 

In order to be an integrated team working towards one goal, a number of strategic planning elements have to be incorporated. The big picture is clear, but everyone has to know what part of that goal they are working on to contribute to the end result. Through reviews and metrics, this can be accomplished. Plan and review. Re-plan and review again. 

Planning Allows for Much-Needed Adaptability

A study by Deloitte indicated that 70% of millennials interviewed prioritised community commitment and sustainability by the company as a deciding factor of whether to work for them or not. Also, companies that engage in socially responsible causes reduce employee turnover by 50%.

Why is this relevant to planning and organizational culture?

Because social norms are a big part of today’s society, being able to adapt a company’s policy or image is key. This, in turn, requires a lot of planning and strategy. This can avoid crucial mistakes that could be financially costly short and long term. 

Key Elements for Good Strategic Planning

A company is only as good as its plan. Not all planning is necessarily productive. That’s why we have put together key elements to simplify the process. 

• The overall plan should be long-term that drives the overall health and success of the company. This may include several stepbacks along the way. 
• There is a clear vision or end goal of the planning. This will be defined by clear objectives and descriptors of what that end goal or vision looks like. 
• Your strategy and approach are delegated to the team through individual and team member tasks to work towards the end goal. This is broken up into smaller objectives and a series of steps that add up to the big goal. 
• Do not forget to include the vision statement everywhere. This is a reminder that motivates the team to come back to the long-term goal and result they are trying to achieve. 

Defining Your Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is unique from company to company. Several values and norms may be relative, but one common element holds true for the most successful. Planning every step of the way helps determine success. Success in employee happiness and, therefore, the success of the company from a financial standpoint. Good planning comes from the top down and allows everyone to have a position and a role that is clear. 

With this, chaos is limited in the workplace, and efficiency prevails. Feedback allows for the company leaders to re-evaluate the plan and measure its successes and failures.