Productive, progressive corporate culture. An ambiguous concept often bandied around in boardrooms and recruitment ads with little thought to its complexity. Is it free coffee on a Friday? Annual gym memberships for all staff? Or a deeper, more all-encompassing approach to how a company thinks, learns, and grows. What makes a great corporate culture? It’s something that Jay Doran is on a mission to uncover.
He’s the visionary entrepreneur behind the advisory firm Culture Matters, dedicated to helping organizations find clarity in their beliefs, values, goals, and mission. It’s this clarity, Jay believes, that is the stepping stone to productive company culture. He says, “Cultural development beyond catchphrases or buzzwords takes serious and methodical work, but the payoff is exponential both financially and emotionally.” That’s the key. Corporate culture is much more than the sum of the incentives and benefits offered to staff. Instead, it is a much more fundamental quality that holds a company together. Jay Doran argues that great culture is intrinsically woven into the purpose and mission of an organization. When a company works together amid clearly defined core values, staff are unified, and work is harmonious. The results? Better staff retention, increased growth, and larger profit margins.
The challenge, Jay finds, is what embodies good corporate culture is difficult to put into words. He says, “People know good culture when they feel it and see it more than when I talk to them about the topic.” His approach, therefore, is a practical one. He works behind the scenes with senior leaders, offering actionable advice and solutions to problems in the context of turnover, productivity, strategy, and brand alignment.
Jay Doran helps companies grow without losing sight of why they started in the first place. In working with other organizations to lead them down a path of growth, productivity and profit, he is continually evaluating his own working patterns and behaviors. He says, “Culture Matters is constantly aware of doing what we teach.” adding, “the biggest issues the corporate culture industry faces is the level of responsibility it takes to embody great culture in order to teach it.”
For Jay, the in-depth work needed to help companies find clarity around cultural values is worth it. With clarity comes increased productivity and growth. He says, “the margin of profit of a culture is related to how employees interact with each other and their customer; More profit is the result of more productive interactions.” Companies with great corporate culture have it embedded in every facet of their organization. They are companies that embrace conflict and diversity of thought, champion inclusivity, and strive for constant growth. For CEOs looking to improve their own company’s culture, Jay recommends “interviewing successful companies and seeking patterns of behavior that work and don’t work.”
