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Great companies are enabled by great corporate cultures. A strong corporate culture helps to recruit and retain the best staff, motivate employees at all levels to act in the best interests of the organization and their clients, encourage quality customer service and drive the business forward. Unlike products and services that can easily be replicated by other companies, developing a corporate culture that resonates with employees takes time and cannot easily be replicated. As a result, the right culture can provide one of the greatest sources of competitive advantage for a company.

A company’s culture should never be underestimated. Even the best corporate strategies need the right culture to make things work. But developing a winning culture or changing the existing culture is no easy task. Transforming a culture requires influencing people’s deepest beliefs and most habitual behaviors. It’s hard enough to change one person’s behavior – so how can you change the behavior of an entire organization and why should it matter so much?

Leaders see the value in culture but often do not know how to build a culture or improve the existing one. According to Bain & Company research, 65% of leaders believe they need to change their company culture; 81% of leaders believe an organization is doomed to mediocrity if the culture is lacking; yet fewer than 10% succeed in building a winning culture.

There are generally three means of retaining valued employees: pay premium wages; inspire personal loyalty through career progression and management support; and build a vibrant, highly-differentiated corporate culture that delivers on promises, inspires employees, and aligns with personal values.

At present, a lot of call center companies do a poor job highlighting the myriad of benefits provided by a career in the outsourcing industry. As such, very few agents are committed to (or interested in) building careers in the industry, and fail to see the value of the transferrable skills they can build through experience in the call center industry. They very much see it as a first job, a short term job, not a career.

Indeed, the call center industry has some unique challenges where culture can play an especially big role in keeping and motivating employees, as well as improving overall customer service. Engaged employees generally lead to more tenured, experienced agents that can provide better customer service to end-customers. For call centers and other industries alike, often the key to improving customer service is to change the culture.

Changing a corporate culture is no easy matter, especially in an industry known for high agent turnover, unfavorable working hours (e.g. graveyard shifts), burn-out, and often stressful work involving frustrated customers on the other end of the line. This is compounded by the fact that many call center workers are Millennials with an entirely different value set than today’s managers. For these reasons, finding a way to let contact center cultures develop, evolve and thrive is critical to both keeping employees and providing solid customer service. From an outsourcing perspective, companies that invest in their call center culture from the outset have a distinct competitive advantage within their markets.

Developing a winning culture in the first place can be a considerable challenge. But maintaining a positive culture once it has been implemented can be the biggest challenge of all in an industry where the odds are stacked against you.

Key attributes to achieving a winning culture:

· Leaders lead, consistently and with core values. Culture is about the values, mindsets and behaviors of people in an organization. The single most important element in developing and maintaining the right corporate culture is leadership at all levels – what leaders do and say on a daily basis —in that order.

· Motivate people based on what works for them. Culture is part of a company’s DNA. It has to connect with the values and beliefs at the individual level. This is where intrinsic motivators (like meaningful roles with opportunities to learn and grow) vs. extrinsic factors (such as compensation) need to be evaluated regularly to ensure all employees believe in the collective culture and “live it” every day. Ideally, senior managers will spend time ‘on the floor’ with their teams to fully understand their needs, challenges and motivators for success and be a living example of the corporate culture.

· Trust and empower frontline team members. The acid test of a winning culture is whether expectations of high performance are understood and widely shared. Winning cultures are best measured through the day-to-day activities of the frontline. This is where sustained cultural change can have the greatest impact on company performance. Empowering and recognizing the importance of frontline employees is fundamental in maintaining a positive attitude in the workplace. There needs to be open and transparent communication at all levels, and a relationship of trust built between front line agents and their managers.

· Celebrate accomplishments along the way, and recognize the team. Celebrating and communicating success feeds culture - whether it is through weekly meetings, personal recognition, awards, quarterly newsletters, financial rewards, lifestyle incentives or actual promotions. Employees need to feel involved and appreciated and that they are part of the overall success of the company.

Paying premium wages has an obvious significant impact on attracting employees. However, for an employee to do their best they need to feel valued and rewarded on an ongoing basis. If employees believe they are performing important work and understand the larger context, they will take pride in their contribution. Equally, if employees believe the work they are doing is equipping them with the skills they need to succeed in the broader marketplace, they will invest more time in their current role. Finally, if employees can recognize that their job is an integral part of their career development, they are encouraged to consistently perform to the best of their abilities. All of these elements are essential for driving forward a successful company culture and business.

Case study: Building an online culture of community

TELUS International Central America (TICA) understands that call center employees want to feel connected to the work they do and to their colleagues. That’s why we developed T-Life, an internal social network site to build a sense of community within the team. T-Life is in its pilot stage but includes such online features as a car pool/ride share program that makes it easier for team members to connect with those who live close to them for a ride to work, event calendars of upcoming recognition activities, videos, discussion groups to resolve issues, a classified section to buy/sell used items, and many other ways to connect and collaborate. TICA knew that to truly engage with the younger generation we had to offer tools that are familiar, relevant and easy to use. With a growing steady stream of exceptional job applicants, and employee turnover rates the lowest in our history, clearly a strong culture of customer commitment, performance excellence, trust, and “fun at work” is making a lasting difference.

Marilyn Tyfting is vice-president of Human Resources for TELUS International – a provider of BPO and contact center solutions to global clients. TELUS International is the global arm of TELUS, a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.9 billion of annual revenue and 12.3million customer connections. For more information visit: http://www.telusinternational.com