Developing an approach to business that keeps workers enthusiastic and engaged is more important than ever. So how can Papua New Guinean companies achieve this?

Culture Amp’s Didier Elzinga. Credit: BAI

Papua New Guinean companies that want to thrive must develop a ‘culture first’ approach, according to Didier Elzinga, Founder of consultancy CultureAmp, whose clients include organisations as diverse as AirBnB, the New Zealand All Blacks and fast food giant McDonalds.

Speaking at Pause Fest, a creativity in business conference, Elzinga says that the reason culture has become so important is because the nature of work has changed. People are now using their minds, rather than physical effort, when they work.

‘If the brand is a promise to a customer, culture is how you deliver on that promise.’

Elzinga says this means that the importance of intangible value in companies has increased.

‘Take the S&P 500 [America’s top 500 listed companies],’ he said. ‘In 1995, 83 per cent of the value of the companies was tangible: inventory, cash, factories. By 2005, it was only 20 per cent. The value is now in the people and the things they create.’

Elzinga said a substantial portion of the intangible value comes from a company’s brand and culture.

‘If the brand is a promise to a customer, culture is how you deliver on that promise. It is a fundamental lever in building an organisation today,’ he explains.

Three pillars of success

Elzinga outlines three essential features of a successful company’s culture:

• Culture is foundational. It comes first and it is there whether people are conscious of it or not.
• Culture is relational. It comes alive in the way the people relate to each other. ‘Every person in the company has a part to play,’ Elzinga says.
• Culture needs to be alive. ‘It needs to be something that we care for and think about. Not just what happens but why and how,’ he adds.

Elzinga says a great culture ‘awakens something inside’ employees.

‘Culture is “not just for human resources (HR) to fix, it is for all of us.”‘

‘You hear the ethos of the organisation and it makes you want to be a better version of yourself,’ he says. The real art in work, he noted, is not managing time, but managing energy.

‘There are four kinds of energy: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual or purposeful.

‘When things not going well, purposeful energy is what gets you through. [It answers the question] “Why do you care about the values of the organisation and how are they there for you when you need them the most?”’

A Culture-first company, according to CultureAmp’s . Credit: BAI

Everyone can help change the culture

Elzinga points to some other features of a ‘culture first’ company. One is ‘mutuality’, whereby the culture ‘doesn’t just tell you what the organisation can do for you, it also tells you what the organisation demands of you.’

He adds that culture is ‘not just for human resources (HR) to fix, it is for all of us.’

Accountability is another element, says Elzinga, explaining that this is more than just telling staff what their targets are. It more resembles coaching.

‘It is really hard to sit down with somebody and say: “You know what, you are actually not delivering at the level that you need to.”’

‘A coach is someone who tells you things you don’t want to hear, who sees things you don’t want to know, so you can be the person you know you could be,’ he says.

‘It is the last part that is the hard part. It is really hard to sit down with somebody and say: “You know what, you are actually not delivering at the level that you need to and that has an impact on other people.”’

Elzinga says culture-first companies look not just at winning, but at how they win.

‘It is not true that it is the “ruthless bastards” who win in the long term,’ he says. Adding that culture-first companies ‘only want to win in one way because they are in this for the long term.’

‘Radical acceptance’: seeing yourself and the organisation exactly as it is, is another imperative, according to Elzinga. ‘If you want to change anything you have to accept where you are. We can’t live in a world of “shoulds”.’