Why leaders shouldn't focus on creating a corporate culture-and what they should build instead

"Community organizing and community building frameworks are some of the most effective strategies for improving and fortifying the ways people work together," says Lauren Buckley, cofounder of The Hush Collaborative, an organizational strategy consultancy. "However, they aren't widely applied in corporate settings."

According to a survey by BetterUp, 69% of employees are unsatisfied with their connections at work and 43% don't feel a sense of connection. And according to Gallup's 2024 Global Workplace Report, one in five employees worldwide say that they felt lonely the previous day.

If the mandate for leaders across the board is to be data-driven, we are ignoring a very large data set that proves focusing on initiatives that improve employee experience drive and often exceed both top and bottom-line growth goals," explains Buckley.

Building a community takes a much broader, long-term perspective, looking to ensure that its members feel safe, have a sense of belonging, and have the opportunity to develop deeper connections with the people they spend so much of their lives with.

Read at Fast Company