What is cultural alignment?

A company’s culture is its unique personality – its shared values, beliefs, goals, and practices. Cultural alignment occurs when all members of the organization are on the same page with:

• Why things are done – the company's mission

• What things are done – its goals and objectives, and  

• How things are done – the company’s working practices, preferred communication styles, and work ethics

Cultural alignment is often confused with “culture fit.” While they’re related concepts, culture fit looks at how an individual “fits” into the company’s existing working style and preferences. 

Meanwhile, cultural alignment is deeper and more holistic, ensuring employees resonate with the company’s long-term mission and values. For instance, an outgoing employee might “fit into” a social team, but they’re fully aligned only if they’re also passionate about the company’s mission and agree with its values.

Why is cultural alignment important for companies?

Achieving and enhancing cultural alignment in your company can help you achieve:

1. Stronger team cohesiveness  

Sharing similar values and common goals builds trust, boosts team synchronization, and reduces misunderstanding among team members. 

For example, employees are less likely to feel offended by colleagues’ feedback if everyone believes in honest feedback. Similarly, if everyone values work-life balance, employees can leave on time or work flexibly without judgment or conflict as long as they’ve completed their tasks.  

2. Effective decision-making 

When everyone’s on the same page about your company’s practices, mission, and values, team members can make choices that support the company – with little to no oversight. 

For instance, employees can feel empowered to make decisions that benefit clients in a company that consistently encourages a customer-first approach because everyone knows what the right outcome looks like. 

3. Better engagement, lower turnover, and a stronger employer brand

A big part of cultural alignment is employees feeling connected with the company's mission and values. This strong sense of purpose motivates them to go above and beyond for the company. 

Employees working at non-profit companies are a great example of how individuals can feel driven and go the extra mile when they’re in sync with their organization’s mission – even for less money.  

This happens outside of nonprofits, too. One study found that 71% of Gen Z employees were willing to take a pay cut for more meaningful work. 

Additionally, McKinsey found that employees who could relate to their company’s purpose were more engaged, loyal, and willing to recommend their organization to other job candidates in the market. 

5 ways to achieve cultural alignment

Here are five effective ways to achieve and maintain cultural alignment. 

1. Hire for culture add 

Employers often focus solely on a candidate’s skills and qualifications, neglecting cultural alignment in the hiring process. This leads to mis-hiring and negatively impacts cultural harmony. 

For example, a new leader may be skilled in their work, but if they use an authoritarian style in a company that strives for employee empowerment, they’ll affect team morale. 

That’s why you must ensure candidates are aligned with your culture before hiring them. Here are some ways to do this: 

• Clearly outline your company's mission, expectations, and values in job descriptions. 

• Consider soft skills assessments like communications or business judgment tests to see if candidates meet your expectations in these areas.

• Use personality tests like DISC or the Enneagram to learn more about your candidates’ traits and preferences. 

• Put applicants through a Culture Add test to compare how they rank specific values compared to your company so you can hire someone who not only jells with but also contributes to your culture. 

• Include behavioral questions in your interviews, especially those that probe candidates on the qualities that matter to your company – for instance, ethical business, customer focus, etc.

• Conduct background and reference checks for additional verification before onboarding your selected candidates.  

⭐ You can find 400+ science-backed online tests in TestGorilla’s ever-growing library.  

2. Define and communicate your mission and values clearly 

Set a clear mission, core values, working practices, and behavioral standards for the company. You can do this by speaking to company leaders, customers, investors, and employees. 

Ensure your mission and values are easy to understand and embrace and stay consistent so employees can use them as a guiding light in their daily work, decisions, and interactions. 

Once set, make sure you regularly communicate and remind employees what your company stands for. This could be as part of town halls, newsletters, or even initiatives. For instance, a company that values innovation might host hackathons and other innovation-focused events to emphasize this culture. 

3. Lead by example 

When good leaders and managers model the company’s values and expected behaviors, it sends a powerful message about how important these are to its culture, and employees are more likely to follow suit. 

For example, if your organization is big on transparency, ensure your leaders are open and honest about how they make decisions. You can do this by reminding senior team members about these values during leadership meetings. 

4. Tie cultural metrics to performance evaluations 

Include cultural factors in employees’ objectives. For instance, if innovation is a core company value, add something like “come up with new ideas or ways to improve existing processes” to employee or team-level goals. 

Then, measure how employees stack up in these aspects during performance evaluations. For example, if your company prioritizes collaboration, ask employees to provide examples of when they contributed to group projects or went the extra mile to help other team members. 

Tying cultural alignment to pay, promotions, and rewards can motivate employees to embody the right behaviors and attitudes.   

5. Offer ongoing training and development  

Building cultural alignment isn’t a one-time feat. You must support ongoing cultural alignment through regular training. This helps employees internalize your company’s culture and beliefs and shows them how to put it into practice in their daily work. 

For example, consider role-play workshops to see how employees make decisions in difficult or tricky situations that test their values. 

Additionally, keep employees updated with any changes to cultural expectations. For instance, a recession might put cost-cutting at the center of your company's priorities, or climate change might shift your company’s focus to sustainability. Employees should know about these changes and how to implement them – for instance, spending mindfully or reducing paper printing. 

FAQs

Need more information? Check out our answers to some frequently asked questions. 

How is culture fit different from culture add? 

Culture fit is about ensuring employees and job candidates fit into your company’s existing values and working practices. Culture add is about hiring people who can contribute to your culture by truly embodying and elevating it. 

What is a culture strategy?

A culture strategy is a plan to shape, communicate, and maintain the unique values, beliefs, and behaviors that define your company’s work environment.