WHAT IS A CHIEF CULTURE OFFICER?

Typically, the chief culture officer (CCO) is a c-suite leadership role focused on actively shaping, nurturing and evolving company culture. As a vital asset that impacts everything from engagement to retention to performance, culture development has become a dedicated strategic function spearheaded by the Chief Culture Offficer.

You’ll often find execs in the field defining and disseminating an aspirational culture vision for the company that delineates expected behaviors, characteristics and employee experiences. That provides clarity and inspiration for long-term cultural direction. By understanding existing cultural strengths and dysfunctions, the Chief Culture Officer can chart a roadmap for transforming current culture towards the envisioned state.

Executing on this strategy, CCOs develop policies, programs, communications and initiatives aimed at embedding and reinforcing targeted cultural traits and norms. For instance, if greater collaboration and accountability is the goal, associated reward systems, training, office layouts and team frameworks can help incentivize and enable this shift. Tracking qualitative and quantitative metrics allows the CCO to discern appropriate interventions to celebrate or course-correct cultural components over time.

On a base level, culture cultivation requires understanding people, emotions and subconscious behaviors. Thus, Chief Culture Officers build strong rapport with employees across the company through open dialogues, roundtables and regular touchpoints. It fosters two-way trust for giving candid feedback that informs cultural enhancement initiatives with buy-in. By role modeling desired mindsets and providing coaching, the CCO essentially helps rewire personal beliefs and collective dynamics towards aspirational culture.

With dispersed remote teams becoming prevalent, focusing on sustaining culture virtually has become even more imperative today to maintain the social adhesive binding together a company. That represents a top priority area for most CCOs now.

An engaged culture focused on shared purpose and values is difficult to replicate for competitors. By overtly nurturing this strategic asset, Chief Culture Officers drive organizational outcomes ranging from attraction to innovation to ownership. In essence, culture development creates a resilient foundation for pursuing business excellence.