Company culture – what a team believes and how it acts – is easy to neglect.
We sometimes get so hyper-focused on sales, marketing and operational plans to feed the pipeline, that we forget to feed the soul.
According to Frances Frei and Anne Morriss at Harvard Business Review: “Culture guides discretionary behavior and it picks up where the employee handbook leaves off. Culture tells us how to respond to an unprecedented service request. It tells us whether to risk telling our bosses about our new ideas, and whether to surface or hide problems. Employees make hundreds of decisions on their own every day, and culture is our guide. Culture tells us what to do when the CEO isn’t in the room, which is of course most of the time.”
So what makes up a great company culture? Here are four imperatives:
- Be clear on core values. Think about and write down the activities that you want to drive behavior. Zappos is known for values such as deliver WOW service; embrace fun and a little weirdness; do more with less. They don’t have to be long or complicated but they should be captured and communicated – often.
- Hire people who fit. Constantly be testing and searching for people who engender company values and are also “nice, smart and successful.” You need the whole package to make it work and don’t settle for less.
- Empower egalitarian decision-making. Understand that good ideas and decisions can come from anywhere. People want a voice and a way to make a meaningful impact.
- Talk about teams. Teams work together, encourage each other and communicate regularly. It’s the only way to really scale and achieve big things.
Culture can be a powerful driver of high performance, and a sturdy shield in tough times. Use culture to learn, grow and win – and sustain them all for the long haul.
Have a great week.
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