Why Culture Is the Ultimate Business

Advantage

Q&A with Guusto co-founder Skai Dalziel on why

culture and employee recognition are key to company
success
The New Normal. The Great Resignation. Quiet quitting. Even amidst the economic
pressures of the pandemic, high inflation, and mass layoffs, U.S. workers have made it
clear that they’re willing to find greener pastures if they feel unfulfilled in any way at
their current employers.

They’ve been empowered in large part by video collaboration technology, which took
center stage in early 2020 as work-from-home became essential to continuous
business operations.

Skai Dalziel
Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Guusto

The shift in power has made it incumbent upon companies to find ways to stay
competitive in the market. Do they fast-track a disruptive offering? Shift to a greater
reliance on automation? Or will focusing on the work environment bring the gains
they rely on?

SourceForge recently spoke with Skai Dalziel, co-founder and co-CEO at Guusto, an
employee recognition and rewards platform. During this Q&A, Skai shares his
thoughts on why building a strong, supportive culture can be the key to nurturing and
keeping the talent that drives company success.

Your company is dedicated to the idea that improving company culture

improves overall business health. What is company culture?

Culture is the cumulative behaviors and actions of the people in the organization.
More simply, it’s a shared way of doing things. How we make decisions, how we do
meetings, and how we treat each other and those we do business with.

I deeply believe that a great culture is the ultimate advantage. It impacts every area of
the business and is a great multiplier. A great culture will help people do the best
work of their lives, which will be tremendously beneficial for them and the
organization.

A great culture has 3 main components – POW. People need to feel a sense of
purpose, opportunity and wellbeing.

Could you explain how a company can bring purpose into its culture? 

It starts with creating purpose, mission, and vision statements. These express why
you do what you do, how you do it, and where you want to be.

Then you need to share that message with your people in a way that makes it easy to
understand and appreciate why each element matters. We need to connect people to
the company’s purpose by showing them how their jobs are contributing and making
an impact. Other steps to building purpose: Be transparent about company initiatives,
support the kind of volunteer work that motivates people, and hire people who
identify with your purpose. That’s how you keep it vibrant and meaningful.

You’ve said company culture is the ultimate advantage. What does that
mean?

Competitors can copy, steal, and improve upon campaigns, playbooks, and business
ideas. You know what they can’t steal? Your company’s culture, because it’s unique to
you. So if you get it right, it can be a real sustainable advantage.

When you have talented people that want to work for you, that believe in the mission
and are recognized for their contributions, you have the engine for continued growth.
You’re going to thrive because your teams will be faster to solve problems and come
up with better ideas, the kind that leads to disruptive strategies and enhances how
your company operates and connects with your customers. You’re better able to
innovate, adapt, satisfy customers, produce more, and grow your revenue.

Why does culture have such a prominent focus across today’s business
landscape?

The pandemic had a lot to do with it. Overnight, people were forced to work
remotely from home. A lot of them felt disconnected and unengaged. With people
working over video, it became clear whose input was valued. If you were invited on
calls to participate and not just listen, if you were asked to give your opinion and
allowed to speak, you knew you were part of the in-group. For those who felt
sidelined, it was a wake-up call.

Remember, when people worked from home, they were required to be accessible all
the time. The line between home and work life became indistinguishable. But if your
employer doesn’t value you as a person and a contributor, why would you want to
give that much of yourself? And why would you want to return to the office?

People want to know their contributions matter, and company leaders realize they
need to keep people with that kind of drive if they want to fulfill their missions. That’s
the only way they’re going to grow — if everyone has a stake in shared success.

Look at it this way: People bring various skills with them, skills they can apply in a
variety of venues to their employer’s benefit. Why not choose the environment that
is most fulfilling?

As technology gives people the ability to work from home and continue learning the
skills that matter in the market, they have the freedom to choose where they work.
We’ve seen this in the Great Resignation that began in 2021 and continues to this
day. Over 19 million U.S. workers quit their jobs in the span of just a few months. To
me, that says that people are choosing to work at the places that value them most.
They’re not going to hang around waiting for their employers to see the light.
What kind of studies and numbers back up this idea of culture as a winning
strategy that makes business sense?

A Forbes study showed that companies with a strong culture report a 4x increase in
revenue growth. As well, there’s a recent IBM study that revealed companies that are
striving to improve their culture are outpacing other companies in terms of
profitability, innovation, and revenue growth.

At Guusto, we’ve developed case studies that clearly document the growth in
revenue when companies develop and support an employee recognition program. We
also have an ROI calculator that shows the financial gains that come with focusing on
employee recognition and reducing turnover. For example, a company with a $25
million annual payroll that invests just one percent of that in recognition activities can
see total returns of $3.8 million – or 1,440%.

What can companies do to build and shape a great culture?

Employee recognition is the key. You have to let people know that you value them.
This isn’t a new concept – companies have long singled out employees of the month
and awarded them with small perks.

But to me, this is an upside-down approach to recognition. Companies view it as a

nice-to-have at the end of a journey, rather than the fuel for that journey.

For us, recognition is a powerful tool that drives great performance and shapes
behavior in the workplace.

What you want is a process that supports, enriches, and connects work environments
while aligning with the organization’s goals. For example, you can tie your program to
your core values. In light of the incentives, your people will want to embody those
values. In doing so, they benefit your customers through better service at every level.
Those customers stay, they buy or renew more, and they spread the word to others
in your target audience.

How do you go about creating a strategic approach to employee

recognition?

We created the ACE Your Culture Framework as a way to use recognition to impact
purpose, opportunity, and wellbeing. This three-step strategy focuses
on aligning your people around mission, vision, and values, connecting them to their
colleagues and team members, and empowering them with tools and autonomy to
develop their leadership skills.

Alignment is all about getting people rowing in the same direction. To do so,
companies need to be clear and transparent about where they are going and how to
get there. Recognition programs help to remind and encourage people to repeat
behaviors that will move the organization toward its vision. Connection is how you
instill a feeling of belonging. When people feel connected to each other, they trust
each other. And trust is essential to good collaboration, which itself is necessary to
reach company goals. No one is trying to take the spotlight for themselves. Everyone
gets their turn to shine and the company succeeds.

Empowerment is about helping people get the skills they need to take ownership of
their projects. When people get this kind of support, they can push beyond their
comfort zones, take risks, and innovate in ways that help companies grow.

Are there ways to determine the ROI of employee recognition?

Absolutely. You can tie gains in efficiency, productivity, and retention to employee
recognition efforts and quantify the benefits. Of course, there are additional benefits
like a better employer brand, which helps to attract better talent, that are more
difficult to quantify.

Some metrics that can be used to measure the ROI of employee recognition include
feedback results, like higher eNPS scores, improved retention rates, and reduced
absenteeism. There are also program specific metrics you can measure as program
participation rates, which core values are being recognized the most, and the average
amount of recognition sent.

What’s the challenge to changing a company’s culture for the better?

I prefer to see challenges as opportunities to create understanding – and that’s the

message we want to send. Most executives don’t understand their culture. Too many
employees don’t understand what their companies stand for and don’t think their
companies are supporting their efforts to be successful at work. When you have this
kind of disconnect, you’ve set up a culture of apathy. That’s why we work to educate
people on just how important culture is to success.
Aside from the challenges, why do so many companies overlook building
their culture?

I think the biggest thing is that business leaders don’t know what tremendous impact
their culture is having on performance and that you can in fact intentionally shape
culture. Businesses face so many challenges, and so it’s natural for leaders to try to
tackle the obvious ones, that are in some ways easier to measure. But they’re missing
a big opportunity.

For those that have an idea of culture’s importance, where do companies

get it wrong?

They think that if they just hire talented, driven people, that culture will take care of
itself. But those are just micro-cultures. In those situations, people work in silos,
disconnected from others because there’s no system in place for collaboration.
There’s nothing to make them feel any sense of empowerment to take ownership of
their work and see how it connects with the work of their colleagues in the service of
the company’s mission.

They go for the quick fix: better coffee in the break room, team-building events, and
writing core values on the wall. These are just patches that don’t address the issue of
what motivates people to want to do better every day and be part of your company’s
mission.

How can employees be an active part of this culture-building process?

Peer-to-peer recognition programs are the driving force behind a great culture. It
gives employees a channel through which they can voice their appreciation for one
another. They can show that appreciation through a budget set aside for monetary
rewards or through non-monetary recognition.

You can also attach rewards to team-building exercises that are meant to boost
collaboration. Plus, you can recognize a person’s contribution through public
channels, like the company newsletter, intranet, and team meetings. In both cases,
the incentives will boost participation in the program.

What would you tell company leaders who see a better culture as a nice-
to-have intangible but not cost-effective to implement?

First, I understand where they’re coming from. They see employee recognition as
being just more work and another line item. But I tell them they’re underestimating its
importance. It’s imperative to your company’s growth – the difference between
struggling and thriving.

Let’s set aside the clear financial gains I laid out earlier. You can’t deliver great
products and services without a strong culture. Because only through a tight,
collaborative network of people who want to be there can companies continue to
become more efficient, solve more problems for their customers, and do more of the
things that keep those customers loyal. When you create a strong, flexible, and
inspiring environment, it’s not going to hurt your bottom line. It’s going to
drive better business results. It’s worth the effort.

How has the focus on culture worked for Guusto?

When we first started the company, our growth was slow and our team performance
was always mediocre. That changed when our employees spoke up.

They made us realize that even though we were dedicated to employee recognition
for our clients, we weren’t recognizing our own people. Since living our own values,
it’s had an enormously positive impact and continues to improve our revenue and
ability to attract amazing talent. And that translates to better service to our clients.

Final words?

The most valuable result you’ll see from a great company culture is your people. They
are your ultimate advantage.

An active culture will sustain itself. Think of it as a flywheel that generates its own
momentum. As people become more resilient, agile, and knowledgeable, the culture
continues to improve, which inspires, attracts like minded talent, and empowers
people to acquire and embody the traits and practices that lead to competitive
advantage. If that describes your company, you’re on the right track. If not, let’s talk.

Every company has a culture – good, bad, or indifferent. We’re focused on helping
businesses everywhere create great cultures.