How Chiefs of Staff build company culture
How Chiefs of Staff build company culture
Sara Iannacone · 8/17/2023
The role of Chiefs of Staff in building company culture is vital as they act as liaisons, shaping values and driving employee engagement.
As the famous quote by Peter Drucker goes, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." Company culture is the guiding set of values, practices, and beliefs that define how people work together in a company. It underpins everything from brand identity to financial performance and ultimately drives employee engagement. But who's responsible for making sure it's baked into the DNA of an organization? Enter the Chief of Staff, a role gaining more visibility as companies recognize the need for a champion of culture. This is the person who partners with senior leadership to align strategy to culture, ensuring everyone understands the why behind their work and feels empowered to make a difference.
So, what's the connection between C-Suite strategy and culture? It's simple: you can't execute your business plan without a foundation of values and beliefs that align employees toward a common goal. And that's where the Chief of Staff comes in.
Today, we’re going to break it all down, from the role of this unique individual to how to measure the success of a company culture to how to include corporate events in your overall culture strategy.
Understanding the role of Chiefs of Staff in company culture
As Chief of Staff, the view from the top offers a unique opportunity to observe the inner workings of a company, from its highest-ranked executives to its newest hires.
But it's more than just observation. They act as liaisons between departments, ensuring open lines of communication and fostering a sense of cohesion among employees.
As cultural ambassadors, they help to shape and enforce company values, driving employee engagement and building a positive work environment. Above all, Chiefs of Staff are a driving force for alignment, offering insight and perspective that can help companies stay on course and achieve their goals—with their people at the forefront.
Why culture is important and what it's built on
An MIT study revealed that 2/3 of employees stay at a company for the culture. But what does culture actually mean to them?
Successful company culture consists of many interlocking parts that come together to promote a positive and productive work environment. Here are a few of the areas Chiefs of Staff are focusing on to build company culture:
Building trust
Distrust of leadership after the pandemic was a main driver for The Great Resignation. The companies that recovered or thrived were the ones that focused on building trust through positive action and transparency. Team members who trust their organization to care for them are 76% more engaged, have 106% more energy, 50% higher productivity, and 40% less burnout.
Shared values
Shared values provide a unifying framework that guides employee behavior, decision-making, and interactions, leading to a cohesive and aligned workforce that works towards common goals and embodies the organization's mission. By placing these values throughout the interview process, a Chief of Staff and the team can ensure new hires are aligned from the beginning.
Effective communication
Open communication between management and team members ensures clarity, alignment, and transparency. This fosters a sense of inclusion and shared purpose that enhances collaboration, reduces misunderstandings, and promotes a positive atmosphere of engagement and growth.
Mutual respect
Mutual respect between leadership and employees is the cornerstone of a healthy company culture as it cultivates trust, encourages open communication, and empowers individuals, fostering a harmonious work environment where everyone feels valued and motivated to contribute their best.
Strong interpersonal connections
Picture a workplace where coworkers feel like friends you can count on, where collaboration feels as natural as a chat over lunch. Strong interpersonal connections in company culture create this comfy, supportive vibe where employees feel appreciated, work seamlessly together, and build a solid foundation for a thriving environment.
That’s a team you’d want to stay on, right?
And that’s the goal of a Chief of Staff—to create this and make it a reality.
Now, this is just the beginning. But they are the greatest factors Chiefs of Staff are focusing on to build that company culture that leads to business growth.
Measuring and evaluating company culture
So, once the Chief of Staff has strategies in place to build these critical pieces of company culture, how do they measure efficacy?
There are a few metrics that can be tracked to identify if efforts to build culture are working.
Here are a few where you want to see a positive trend:
Employee retention rates
Productivity metrics
Customer satisfaction (if your team is happy, they’re taking care of your clients well!)
Recruitment trends
Employee satisfaction on pulse surveys
And areas you want to see a downward trend:
Employee attendance and absenteeism
Employee turnover rates
All of these factors tie back to company culture, and specifically, employee engagement.
Gathering the data and next steps
Getting these data points isn’t easy, but it can be done by pulling human resources reports and conducting quarterly pulse surveys.
With this information, the Chief of Staff, and their team, can make informed decisions about how to build a stronger and more effective company culture. In many cases, building a stronger culture starts by creating connections through events.
Creating opportunities for employees to connect
Now when thinking about creating connection opportunities, event organizers will typically step in to work with the Chief of Staff to determine best practices and execute the event planning piece of things.
While the Chief of Staff may be the driver and one of the visionaries, they shouldn’t be stuck in the small details. The details are so important, and it’s difficult for a C-Suite executive to dedicate that level of attention—which is why we love our event organizers!
In-person experiences and events
There are so many options when it comes to hosting in-person experiences and events. What our clients have found most effective for bolstering engagement and building culture are team offsites (or onsites) and retreats focused on a mix of work and play!
You want to create agendas that are not only advancing the company mission, but also:
Capturing opportunities for team members to get to know each other personally, not just professionally— think good ice breakers and fun activities like wine tasting in Napa or a graffiti tour around Manhattan
Providing enough down time between activities so team members can bring their best selves without feeling run down by the end of the offsite
Virtual and remote employee engagement
Ideally, bringing together your virtual and remote employees quarterly is great. But, if they can’t hit the road that often or travel isn’t in the budget, you can cultivate fun activities for the team to participate in from afar.
Here are a few of our favorites:
You can check out all of our virtual activities here for a little more inspiration. The goal with these types of experiences is two-fold: fun and connections!
Case studies of Chiefs of Staff building culture
Want some examples of how some Chiefs of Staff have used their team offsites to spark culture building opportunities?
Check out how Magic Labs, Inc. brought their team of 27 engineers together in Manhattan for two days of strategy building but peppered in time for fun and camaraderie.
Then, you have the Automotus team who used their team offsite in SoCal as an opportunity to celebrate a successful year and build interpersonal team relationships with a focus on fun.
Two different corporate events, two major wins for company culture.
It’s time to invest in your culture
After working with hundreds of teams to plan epic offsites, one thing is clear to our BoomPop team: Cultivating a strong culture should be a top priority for organizations looking to achieve long-term success.
It is not enough to simply hire talented employees and hope they stick around anymore. Companies must invest in building a culture that fosters employee engagement, trust, and a sense of purpose. Culture is not a one-time project, it's a never-ending journey that requires consistent effort and commitment from leaders and employees alike. And offsites play a major role in that road to success.
Talk with one of our talented planners about how your next offsite can help you build an impenetrable company culture.
