People Strategy

CHAPTER 4Building Engagement

For any company, a strong culture is the glue – for both the good times and the bad. When things are going great, a strong company culture makes them seem even better. When things get tough, it helps to soften the blow. That same strong company culture helps attract and retain talented employees and brings the whole organization together, from the top executives in the C-suite to individual contributors. In other words, culture unites the entire company behind a single, shared purpose. A vibrant, supportive, and engaging culture is an important part of any company's success.

But every company's culture is unique, much like each individual's personality, and there are many ways to attain a good one. Maybe your company's culture is strong because of transparent leadership. Maybe it's defined by your company's priority of hiring nontraditional candidates. The exact components of a good company culture may be hard to define, but you know it when you see it.

As I mentioned in the introduction, “Why Your Company Should Put People First,” I founded Lattice, in part, because of what I came to see as failures of company culture at Teespring; the notion that great company culture helps attract and retain top talent, and can get the most out of everybody in the organization, was a big part of the foundation we built at Lattice. Facing a moment of crisis at Lattice, like other companies during the coronavirus pandemic, further deepened my sense of what culture ...