Building Better Workplace Culture with Value Systems: Insights from Ghenwa Habbal 🌟⚖️
Learn how to create a successful workplace culture and empower diverse teams in UAE from Ford's Culture Expert, Ghenwa Habbal 💪🏽
In our discussion on workplace culture in the UAE, Ghenwa Habbal, the talent management lead and culture expert at Ford Middle East and Africa, aptly quoted Peter Drucker with the famous saying, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast."
Healthy cultures help organisations roll with the punches.
In a melting pot like the UAE, thriving workplace culture isn't just about ticking diversity boxes; it empowers companies to excel in a dynamic market. This begins by creating a space that brings out the best in your employees and drives performance.
This week's Hired feature is a goldmine for HR professionals!
We're serving strategic insights from Ghenwa Habbal's 20+ years in HR, with a decade-long stint at Ford Middle East. Brace yourselves for practical takeaways to elevate your HR game!
How Leadership Influences Culture in the Workplace 🧭⬆️
Creating a positive company culture is a deliberate effort. And leaders need to be the compass that guides a workplace's value system and shape its culture.
Through their actions, decisions, and commitment to shared principles, leaders set the tone for the entire organisation by identifying and clearly laying out the organisational DNA.
According to Ghenwa, an organisation with a cohesive and well-defined value system provides a roadmap for all company stakeholders. It gives them the North Star to navigate their success at the company.
How to Identify the Value System at Your Workplace⭐🔍
In creating an organisational value system, leaders need to create values that align with the strategic business goals mindfully. This means that a conversation needs to take place at the leadership level before creating the value system and prioritizing the most important aspects of culture before implementing them.
Here’s a framework to build a value system at your organisation:
The Triple Bottom Line🔱
The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) is a framework that encourages organisations to evaluate their performance and success based on three key dimensions: People, Planet, and Profit. This framework goes beyond the traditional focus solely on financial outcomes and incorporates social and environmental considerations.
Ghenwa suggests weaving in the values once identified into yearly performance reviews to reiterate the business priorities and the value systems.
How to Implement the Value System within the Workplace ⭐👍🏽
Implementing a value system in a workplace with diverse cultures can be tricky due to different viewpoints. After defining the core values, key strategies include weaving them into how the company works.
Ghenwa suggests introducing training programs and awareness sessions to understand and respect different cultures.
Give props to those who live out the values, and listen to feedback to keep improving. Adjust your strategies as needed to match the changing needs of the diverse team. This way, you can successfully bring the value system into the workplace.
How to Enhance Workplace Culture with the Value System ✨
Mentoring and reverse mentoring are indispensable pillars for supporting the value system within the workplace, according to Ghenwa. It encourages an exchange of knowledge and perspectives, where experienced professionals mentor younger colleagues and vice versa.
Through these interactions, the organization cultivates a culture that values continuous learning, diversity, and collaboration. Through mentorship and reverse mentorship programs, you reinforce the core values and still get fresh perspectives.
It tackles generational and hierarchical barriers head-on.
Pro AI Tip 🤖
Culture Amp is an employee feedback and analytics platform designed to help organisations measure and improve their workplace culture. It gathers, understands, and acts upon employee feedback, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and creating a positive and inclusive work environment.
Does culture eat strategy for breakfast? Let us know which values are the foundation of your workplace culture in the comments below.
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