Why is company culture so important and how to build strong culture?
What is culture?
Merriam Webster defines culture as “The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization”. Why does everyone talk about a company culture? Is it important for small businesses even if you have less than two or three employees? How do I build a culture when you barely have time to do all the other critical things you need to do get the business up and running. Lots of questions and we have all pondered and worried about these.
The most basic and important thing to understand is that culture is not something we can build overnight. At the same time, it can also not be neglected or put off for another time. The day you think of starting a new business is the day you start thinking about the company culture and laying a strong foundation for it.
To be honest I didn’t think about culture or values too much when I bought my business and soon after buying the business I got busy setting it up. In no time it became apparent to me that we had some serious problems with staffing and keeping team members employed for longer than few months. High employee turnover, unwillingness for employees to work together, lack of trust were only some of the issues we were dealing with.
When I discussed these challenges with a mentor of mine, his first question was “Do you have a strong company culture”. That question stumped me because I had not thought about culture at all! His question got me thinking about what is important to me and what should the ideal culture of the company look like.
If someone were to ask you, the owner of your company, what is your company’s culture, would you be able to answer? If not, this is one of the first things you need to work on. Company culture is essential because it lays the foundation for all your employees about what is essential to the very fabric of your company. I have seen that when faced with difficult situations, company values provide guidance on how to proceed.
Are culture and values the same thing?
When I started thinking of company culture, I had several questions on my mind. Are culture and values the same thing? How do I decide on my company’s culture? Most importantly, how do I go about building a strong one for my company.
Company culture and values are highly interlinked but they are different. Culture refers to the shared practices, processes, and attitudes that make up your company’s environment. A strong culture is built on a foundation of strong values. Values on the other hand are the foundational guiding principles that help a group of people work towards a common goal.
When a group people work together, it is essential that they share the core values. While we don’t want all employees to have the same set of ideas as that limits creativity, having a core set of beliefs ensures that the ideals that are critical to the company are not compromised on.
Determine your company’s culture and values.
How do you go about building a strong and positive culture and lay the values that are core to your business? This is an exercise that is better performed by a team rather than one individual.
Some questions to ask yourselves when working on culture and values:
- Why does your company exist?
- What do you believe in the most as a company?
- What are the top 3 beliefs that are critical to you as a company? These are the values of the company. These beliefs wouldn’t change even if the goals and targets of the company change.
For our company, here are the values we laid out:
- Trust and Assume Good Intent *always*
- Positive Attitude
- Discipline
- Respect
Your work place should reflect your culture and values. This was something I had to put in extra effort to put into practice. For example, if one of your core values is Trust, you may want to question yourself before locking that supply closet. Or if your core value is Transparency, think twice before too many closed door conversations and meetings. Ultimately, you want everything about you, the workplace, the employees to show your company’s culture and values and not conflict with it.
Make everyone aware
What good would be culture and values if your employees are not aware of them and practicing them on day to day basis. The culture and values exist only if they are demonstrated by the people of the company in all their tasks and activities.
Talk about the culture and values with your employees on every occasion possible. A great idea would be print and frame them in your company lobby. If your employees have badges, print them on the badges or on their uniform shirts. In addition, the employee handbook should start with the company culture and values.
Several successful small businesses, talk about company culture in their morning huddles, their weekly checkpoint meetings and also in their team building activities. Allow employees to discuss these values openly.
Leadership sets the example:
Needless to say, leaders are the torch bearers of the culture and values for your business. The leadership in your office sets the tone on culture for the entire office. You, as the owner, and your manager(s), should lead by example every instance possible. Once you do this, your team members will follow suit.
Talk to your managers about the culture of your business. Ask your managers to discuss the culture and values with their team leads, so all leaders realize they play a critical role in building the culture of the company.
Recognize employees who demonstrate company values
A good way to promote company values is to recognize it publicly. Asking employees to discuss openly when another member of the team goes above and beyond is a great way to ensure team members are acknowledging good behavior of their peers. This could also be the criteria that is used to determine the employee of the month by selecting employees who keep the values front and center in what they do.
A great idea is to put a small jar with sticky notes next to it. Every time an employee wants to recognize a fellow team member, they could quickly write up a note about it and leave it in the jar. The manager could then read these notes in the weekly meetings or huddles.
Open to feedback:
Nothing is perfect the first time, and a company’s culture is no exception to this rule. Your culture will evolve over time, so be open to criticism or feedback from your team members and adjust it as needed. Employee Satusfaction Surveys can be great tools to get feedback from employees on how they feel. Download a free template of the survey from our Resources page. Some of the companies with best culture know first hand that they had to work on it deliberately. In fact, encourage employees to express their views on what they think of the company culture and whether the culture is being followed.
Ultimately, culture is everyone’s responsibility and one of the most important things to get right for the success of your small business.
