Graphic: Limeade Care Report: The Great Resignation Update.”

Jan. 18. By Pat Jackson. Successful companies have a core set of strong common beliefs, values and standards that runs throughout the organization. In 2022 it will be even more crucial for teams to pay more attention to their organization culture or their lack of it.

Pat Jackson

The current changes that all businesses are experiencing are coming at us all at warp speed. It is imperative that leaders be flexible and visionary in responding to client, and more importantly, staffing needs.

It’s about culture

Great companies don’t take care of our customers, great companies take care of and support our employees who take great care of our clients.

This is the secret sauce of a successful and positive organizational culture.

A company’s culture is not a defined statement on the office wall or a page in the company manual. A vibrant culture is palpable and it lives in the hearts and minds of the team and its people.

Markets fluctuate, people move on, competition fights us aggressively, business models change, and government screws things up, but culture … culture always wins in the end.

Hiring is key

Here’s the tricky part. To get the culture right you must get the right people on your team and this is where effective hiring comes into play. Leaders can no longer afford to simply base hiring decisions on knowledge, skills, and experience alone. We must find the thoughtful and committed team players who want to grow and are looking to share a common purpose.

The usual hiring and firing pattern in business is that we typically hire for knowledge and experience and we almost always separate because of attitude and personality.

Trusting leadership matters

The challenges we all have faced in the last two years in the traditional workplace have been staggering; plan on a few more due to COVID in a transitional 2022. You have heard of the Great Reset or the Great Resignation with employee and employer relationships.

Some of this is true and perhaps some changes needed to happen, but the fundamentals of winning organizations will remain universal. Winning cultures always include trusted leadership, clear and purposeful communications, a greater weight on character attributes, a set of defined core values, and a passionate commitment to the wellness and personal growth of our co-workers.

—Jackson is CEO of Master Title Agency

Graphic: Limeade is an “immersive well-being” company based in Bellevue, Wash.