How to Captivate and Retain Talent: The PAM Method for Architecting a Strong Organizational Culture

If you are reading this text, you are probably starting out or are already experiencing chaos in your company, losing talent to competitors and your employees who are not committed to the growth of your company (only concerned about the salary at the end of the month).

But that's okay, because that's a good pain, it's a growing pain. Your company has grown and now you need more structured areas and a firm organizational culture to retain and attract new talent to your team.

Therefore, today you are going to learn the step by step to build a strong culture for your company.

To begin, let me tell you the story of a communication company that has experienced this. Let me tell you the story of Pink.

Yes, we've been through that and it was indeed a challenge, but we were able to overcome and come out stronger from this obstacle.

A Pink is a communication company that has been on the market since 2019. We all worked together at a huge table, regardless of whether you were the CEO or a customer service intern.

We were a big family, because we lived together.

But everything changed in March 2020: the office closed, the Pinkers (as we call each other here at Pink) started working from their homes.

Everything was very different from what we were used to, human warmth and companionship turned into cold tables set against white walls. Everything was dull, colorless.

We were distant from each other, cold. We had a serious communication problem and were distressed by the lack of an organizational structure in this new climate.

We received feedback from our employees and found that the company was suffering.

How can a communication company have this type of problem?

My dear reader, blacksmith's house, wooden skewer. At least that was the reality at that time.

Because in March 2020, we decided to put an end to the situation. So that the Pinkers no longer suffer from the persistence of social distancing, we embraced the problem and decided to solve it once and for all.

We decided to use our own tool to adapt and transform our new reality to have a better integration and presence than before.

But why use this example?

To show you that companies' internal communication has always been done, but not always well done. Before, we combined our own communication with our mouths (after all, it was enough to look to the side and ask). Now, from a new scenario, we need to adapt...

Therefore, if you are experiencing a problem similar to the one we had, you will have the step by step to solve it once and for all. In this text you will quickly learn what organizational culture is, how to set up your culture, tools and everything you need to know to take the first steps in your company.

What is organizational culture?

Organizational culture is a complex knowledge that involves beliefs, customs, rules, values. But that, like a modeling dough, needs constant movement so as not to harden.

At the beginning, when making the business plan, you thought about your company's vision, mission, and values.

They are always well thought out words framed in beautiful frames in the boardroom.

But have you ever imagined these words being simplified into common vocabulary and being put into practice?

Culture is exactly that, a set of values that will influence the behavior, thoughts and the way in which the actions of employees are conducted.

But how does this affect your employee's happiness and, consequently, sales and customer service?

Remember the modeling dough? So...

The service, whether sales or support, is provided by people who live with each other and interact every day with the company's values (even if not defined on paper).

A good way to formalize company culture is to create a Company Culture Manifesto. Or, if you prefer the term in English, Culture Code.

This is a document detailed with everything that is important for your company: motivations, values, mission, and it's worth even adding things such as customs, motivations, and practical examples to inspire the employee.

This term is used in English because it originated after the publication of the first document of Culture Code by Netflix in 2009.

The manifesto uses language that is easy for everyone to understand, unlike the words found in a business plan or written on the walls of old companies.

Ours Manifesto was the first turning point in the journey of a better organizational culture.

And soon after, the Community team created Pink Code, Pink's culture code.

Why is it so important to have such a well-defined culture and code of culture?

This makes the employee's journey predictable and also guides the way of thinking and the parameters used to act.

Let's take a practical example...

Disney has three fundamental pillars in its culture: safety, courtesy, and efficiency, which must be followed in that order.

So, let's suppose that a guest (that's how they call the customer) throws a banana peel on the floor of a toy.

Should the employee stop the toy even though they know it will interrupt the fun of the other guests?

The answer is clearly yes, because safety comes first. Even before the courtesy with the other guests.

Then, it's easier for the employee to make a decision, even if it's not written down anywhere what they need to do in a given situation.

This document is the underlying basis of the customs and attitudes that must be taken by the employee as soon as they join the team. It must be delivered face to face and studied in the process of Onboarding (arrival and adaptation process) of the employee.

And what are the advantages of having a well-structured organizational culture?

• better working environment;
• attracting and retaining talent;
• employee autonomy and self-management;
• more efficiency by making processes more agile.

In other words, a well-structured culture generates greater customer satisfaction. A good example is the Disney case itself: customer-oriented values (safety and efficiency) are already embedded in the culture manual.

But don't confuse organizational culture with organizational climate...

They look the same, but they're not.

Culture is the set of rules that govern a company, which encompasses values, motivations.

The climate, on the other hand, is employee perception about culture. That is to say, one is a consequence of the other and are closely connected.

What are the basis of climate in a company?

The first thing you can think of is probably the Relationship between people. A good relationship between employees in a cooperative and mutually helpful environment is fundamental. Who doesn't love working with friends?

But it goes beyond that, it is part of the organizational climate perception and recognition for efforts of a collaborator or of an entire team. After all, no one is an island, everything is built in collaboration with team members.

This analysis also includes quality of the structure in general (and here I'm talking about physical structure, such as the supply of materials needed to perform a function).

And finally, the relationship of mutual trust between the leader and the subordinate.

This relationship is almost a marriage, it must be the closest to the company, because they are interdependent. In other words, There is no leader without a team and there is no team without someone to lead.

Otherwise, it would be a mess without structure and this would decrease the efficiency of this group of people who are focused on the same objective.

Here it is important to emphasize The difference between boss and leader (a concept that has made a difference in the journey of several companies).

The boss is the boss, the one who imposes, the one who forces and is the one who ends the mood.

The leader, on the other hand, is the one who listens, is the manager, is the one who understands the team's needs and serves as a representative to guide the path to success.

With this already clarified, we can assemble together the methodology for structuring a culture, which we affectionately call...

PAM: Planning, Action, and Metrics

(I clicked here to download the PAM method for printing)

We started the stage of Planning of the organizational culture:

Well, culture is a set of habits that link the people of a particular company to a purpose. And you must already have a team in your company that admires the stance and promotes values that you would like to maintain.

Therefore, the first step of Planning is...

#1 Observe

It seems obvious, but have you tried to put on paper your qualities and the values that you want to pass on to your employees? It is difficult to carry out this task alone, as it requires a lot of concentration and, especially, collaboration.

So, the second step in planning is to set up a workgroup to think exclusively about that.

#2 Set up a workgroup

Yes, it seems strange for you to invest in a team (or at least one other person besides you) to do this, but it makes a difference when designing the strategy. The ideal is to be someone from inside the company, such as an employee who lives the values and who reflects the values that you want to have or consolidate in the company.

#3 Look for references from other organizational cultures

After writing everything down, why not look to the side and see the fruits that other companies, which also experienced cultural problems but solved brilliantly, have reaped?

And here's a spoiler: they attract new talent that seeks challenges and a good work environment and retains good employees who identify with the company's values.

So at this point it's good to look for bibliographies of companies that have already successfully carried out this process.

I'm going to leave here an example of a book that helped our Community team think up Pink's Code of Culture:

Satisfaction Guaranteed

This book disguises itself as Customer Satisfaction, but it has more to do with organizational culture than you might think. Even the synopsis of the book itself talks about the passage of when the company's CEO offered 2 thousand dollars for candidates to give up the training if they were not satisfied. What is that besides separating the wheat from the chaff? Select who fits the company culture, which is “customer happiness always first”.

This was an important reading in the Pink structuring process and I believe that it may also be important for yours as a good example of organizational structure.

Another point you can research is the Netflix Culture Manual, which I mentioned earlier.

This text was important because it helped to format the graphic model, because it is in this part of the planning that you also need to think about the way in which the culture, or rather, the culture document, will be presented to the employees who already work in the company today.

#4 Prepare an organizational culture manual

The next point to be done is to draw up the manual itself., getting your hands dirty based on what is utopian (what you want to achieve and you've seen is cool based on your research) and the good practices that your employees already do. You don't have to name anyone by name, but you'll probably remember each one of them when you write down the values.

After that, your planning phase is almost over.

#5 Final adjustments to organizational culture

Finally, just plan the actions you would like to take to improve the organizational climate.

For example, here at Pink, because of the home office, as we said in that story from the beginning, all employees were stressed and confined. Nobody had contact with anyone (besides work, after all, we don't have beer after hours). For this reason, one of the measures was to implement the Pink Game, a game that takes place once a month for integration between teams.

Another brilliant measure to reduce stress for the Pinkers was the creation of a yoga moment 3 times a week, in which a teacher teaches meditation and yoga techniques to deal with stress, promote relaxation and increase creativity.

Then it's your time to figure out what you need to combat in the company and what you need to stimulate.

For example: do you want to combat stress? How about doing like Pink and implementing the yoga moment? Or do you want to encourage the improvement of your company's professionals, partner with a university and offer graduate scholarships for your company's employees.

Write everything down: the objective and the action you are going to take.

And here we go to ours second stage of the execution of our PAM method, that is, let's put into practice the stage of ACTION Of the organizational culture

Here's a tip, if the previous step was well executed, this step is the easiest of all. This is the time to schedule meetings, hire the necessary professionals, pursue partnerships, everything that needs to be done hand in hand.

For example, to offer yoga classes to reduce employee stress, it is necessary to find a teacher or a professional who can guide the practice, schedule the class for the best time for most collectors, and encourage everyone to attend!

This part is the most pleasurable, because you usually start receiving positive feedback at this stage.

That's where you need to keep an eye out, after all, we have ours Last stage of the PAM method of organizational culture: MEASURE.

Yes, it is possible to derive metrics from the actions that were taken.

And how can this be done? Based on research with all employees who are participating in the action. Let us return to the example of Yoga. The people who participate:

Are they less stressed?

Do you have a higher concentration?

Are you feeling more creative?

Did they see an increase in productivity?

What were the impacts that that action had on the lives of those employees? From that, you can maintain the actions that worked and recalculate the route for the other objectives you want to achieve.

What's the next step?

Now that you've mastered the PAM method, I believe that there are no more doubts about why and how you should structure organizational culture of your company.

Right now, this is the best way to transform the chaos that you and your employees are experiencing...

Think about it, wouldn't you like to have more productive employees to generate more money for your company? Wouldn't you like to have prestige because your company attracts the best talent in the market?

Of course, it is necessary to invest time and money in this, but with the PAM method, the process is clearer and easier. And when you do that well, it will be the end of culture problems.

But are you sure that organizational culture is the company's only problem?

Will structuring culture be enough to put an end to gossip? Will this make the environment more collaborative?

So, the PAM method will help, but it won't completely solve your problem.

That's because...

There was just one element that I didn't tell you about, an element that, despite not being in PAM method, makes a difference in your company's daily life: internal communication.

And it deserves a dedicated text so that you understand everything down to the smallest detail and not miss anything and make your work environment better.

Therefore, if you want to continue this journey in a deeper way, and make your company more prestigious and integrated, with more productive employees and have an environment free from any toxic competitiveness, click here And read about internal communication.