Mission & Culture: The Dynamic Duo for Non-Profit Success

There’s a significant disconnect in today’s workplaces. A staggering 88% of professionals recognize that a strong, positive culture is crucial for business success, yet a concerningly low 21% report feeling deeply connected to their organization’s culture. This isn’t just a statistic; it’s a challenge, especially for non-profits and mission-driven organizations where genuine connection and shared values are the lifeblood of your work. Closing this gap is not just about improving morale; it’s about unleashing the full potential of your team to achieve your vital mission.

Recognizing the need for practical solutions, Edgility’s Allison Wyatt and Marissa McNeil, along with Jonathan Kaufman and Jeannie Howell of Third Plateau, hosted a webinar dedicated to the core principles of developing a strong organizational culture and a performance management system that drives mission and employee success. In this concluding piece of our two-part series, we will focus on concrete strategies leaders can employ to build and maintain a thriving workplace.

Understanding Organizational Culture in the Workplace

What is Organizational Culture?

Cultures naturally form, grow, and change within any group that works together. While exceptional cultures can emerge organically, such instances are unique, and unintentional negative habits often develop. Cultivating a strong, positive workplace culture requires intentional effort. A culture that is deliberate and carefully crafted will help the entire organization by aligning with your strategic objectives, enhancing performance, and elevating employee morale. 

Why is Culture Important in the Workplace

Our experts relate organizational success to building blocks in a pyramid, and culture is a critical block in the structure. Without a strong cultural foundation, it’s challenging to build effective performance management systems and, ultimately, achieve the pinnacle of the pyramid: a healthy, sustainable, and highly effective organization.

While many organizations proudly define their values, active implementation is often lacking. Too often, they’re tucked away in an onboarding binder or hung on office walls, with their existence barely acknowledged. Jonathan Kaufman, Co-Founder of Third Plateau, observes that organizations frequently have unstated implicit values, which may be unknown to staff, or that the organization struggles to connect these values to their daily operations. By embedding your values into daily operations and decision-making, leaders can create a culture that is both intentional and conducive to progress.

To truly integrate values into daily operations, strategic culture planning is essential. The initial step involves defining core values, which most mission-driven organizations undertake. However, the subsequent step of operationalizing these values is often overlooked. Our co-hosts agree that focusing on these three key integration areas is vital: 

1. Recruitment & Onboarding: How will your values inform your strategy for attracting the right people? And once you’ve found them, how will you introduce them into company culture? 
2. Daily Reinforcement: What can you do to ensure employees exemplify these values through their work? What actions can you take to reinforce values in the day-to-day?
3. Celebration & Accountability: How will you recognize and celebrate adherence to these values? What steps will you take to address misalignment?

Culture Influences Employee Performance and Retention 

Essentially, the core reason why workplace culture is so critical is that a positive, values-driven culture underpins and supports your strategic plan. Without this foundation, recurring internal issues will inevitably arise, diverting attention from your mission-oriented goals. Instead of focusing on your mission-driven vision, you will be compelled to address persistent internal challenges. The team from Third Plateau sums it up well with: 

“Culture helps shape employee motivation, engagement, and alignment with company goals, correlating to higher productivity, innovation, and overall success when a positive culture is fostered. In contrast, an undefined/negative culture can result in low morale, high turnover, lack of trust, and as a result, poor performance.” 

Developing a strong organizational culture enables you to drive both internal and external growth. You will observe increased progress towards your community-focused goals and dedicate less time to resolving internal challenges.

• • If you’re interested in hearing more about Third Plateau’s values creation and alignment process, listen to minutes 15:30 – 20:30 of the webinar. 

Implementing values through the development of a fair and consistent culture provides significant opportunities for organizations to establish sustainable systems that embody their mission, both internally and externally. These systems empower organizations to effectively serve their communities in partnership with engaged and mission-driven individuals. Performance management is one such crucial system. Developing clear scorecards for each role, outlining defined success metrics, and establishing action-oriented accountability translates culture goals from concept to practical implementation. To delve deeper into this topic, we encourage you to read Part 1 of this blog series.

Taking Action

Cultivating a strong, values-aligned culture and performance management system will effectively attract and retain the skilled human capital necessary for your organization to thrive. We’d love to help you get started by developing a Talent Philosophy in collaboration with our team of human capital experts. Contact us to learn more!