subject: Got Culture? [print this page] I was chatting today with a client about corporate culture and the ways it can affect business success. He gave me a bit of a blank stare and said culture?
We all work and live in an environment of some kind light, temperature, furnishings and equipment may create a sense of our physical environment. In our workplace, we create a corporate culture with every decision and policy thats created; these convey what it might be like to do business with us, to work for us, to partner with us. Here are just two ways corporate culture affect our business success.
When engaging potential employees, so often employers neglect to look at the soft skills (behavioral style, attitude, values, interests) in favor of the hard (training, experience, education, references). Of course, the repercussions can be felt when 6 months along the line, it becomes obvious that the employee is not fitting in. What theyre not fitting into is the company culture. Interestingly, the culture itself is its own element worth acknowledging yet too many take it for granted as simply the way we do things around here and dont recognize that whats intuitive to an old timer is not at all to a new recruit. A new employee may have done things very differently in the past or may prefer a very different environment/culture in which to thrive and be productive. For example, some companies are rigid and formal, maintaining strict protocols, paper trails, chain of command to keep things moving (or not) and all who work there have to work within this structure. If an employee is accustomed or more responsive to a flexible, free wheeling, creative, brain storming environment, its very likely that person will either fail completely or, at best, diminish her/his ability to be productive, innovative and collaborative.
Another way in which corporate culture presents itself is with the owner or company principal. As an example: s/he may have developed a pattern of being completely responsible to her/his business needs and has subjugated the importance of other life arenas: family, health, social responsibility, personal growth, fun, travel, spiritual community, etc. Since employees will naturally take their cues on appropriate behavior from the leader, theyll assume similar behavior is whats sought if they want to succeed on the job. In fact, this may cause resentment, diminished productivity and absenteeism among those employees who would otherwise thrive in an environment that respects them as whole people and not just a bundle of skills that sits at a desk 8 hours a day.
Understanding the impact of corporate culture and nurturing one that meets your business goals will ensure that employees who are hired in your business will have environmental needs consistent with what will make them effective members of that company. These are just 2 ways corporate culture is critical. It pervades the general reputation of a firm and is therefore part of its reputation with vendors, customers and partners. It can be part of its marketing campaign or crafted to be consistent with the reputation and qualities of its products. Regardless of how its used and cultivated, as in all things, awareness is the first step to success.
