Creating a culture

This is the big one ladies and gentlemen. If you could focus on just one thing in your organization, this should be it. Culture is king. Without a healthy culture you will be fighting an uphill battle for success. Culture permeates everything you do. It's part of how you start your day, how you handle problems, how you celebrate a win, and how you recover from a loss. Your culture is the spirit of your people. It is the cornerstone of trust and respect in your business.

Culture is made, not bought. It takes time, patience, persistence and it starts at the top. You are the example on which the culture of your business will be modeled. People emulate their leaders. They watch what you are doing, how you react to good and bad news, they feed off of your energy and they rely on your support. It is the burden of leadership and it can be a heavy one. Anyone aspiring to leadership needs to be willing to carry it as long as they plan to lead. That said, it is one of the most rewarding things to see take shape. To see your vision realized and existing on its own without you is a marvelous thing. But it takes time. Do not rush the creation of a culture within your organization. You will end up doing the opposite. Strongly enforcing your will is not the right strategy. You need to trust that people will follow you of their own accord and on their own time. You need to respect them enough to let them grow, always providing a helping hand along the way. Let them make mistakes, within reason, and then help them through it. Building up their confidence and encouraging them along the way. They will appreciate this, and eventually you will see them treating others the right way. Remember the old bible saying from the book of Matthew "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"(Matt 7:12)? Well this rule is as true today as it was then. Your culture is going to be based on how you treat others.

Culture is also created when you gain or lose employees. Hiring is a big decision on several levels. The obvious being you find a candidate who can do the job requirements properly. But does that person fit within the organization? Do their morals, ideals, behaviors, interests and backgrounds conflict with those of the organization and its employees? These are questions you need to answer during the hiring process to protect and control the culture within your company. The wrong person will struggle to fit in and integrate with the rest of your employees. This is not only bad for your own team, but bad for the new hire, who likely will quit if they do not feel comfortable in their new work environment. This results in you starting all over again. The same can be said for existing employees that do not fit within the organization. For example, an employee that is not able to perform their job properly will create frustration amongst their peers. If left unattended, this frustration will build up into resentment and then resentment into anger or disenchantment with the organization. This gets worse if the same employee is allowed to continue making mistakes without repercussion while still receiving the same benefits and opportunities as the high performers. You run the risk of your strongest employees losing motivation or leaving altogether.

Times of success and times of failure are also great opportunities to shape the culture of your business. When an employee achieves something, you should recognize it. That does not mean a parade or a sophisticated reward system. A simple acknowledgement is usually enough. I am not talking about raises and bonuses(though those certainly have a place), this is more personal. A sincere "Thank you" goes a long way in making someone feel appreciated. The keyword here is sincere. Make it heart felt, not a passing hello. Telling them their efforts are appreciated and that you appreciate it is all you need. Conversely, when an employee, or even yourself, makes a mistake, you should recognize it. In this case that means understand what happened and help them through it. Do not shout, do not make comments and certainly do not talk about it to others. Instead, be supportive and ask questions. Walk through the failure with them and understand it all the way to its root. Then help them put steps or systems in place to see that it doesn't happen again. Now you have taken a negative experience and turned it into an opportunity to come alongside and support someone. Your understanding in this way will encourage them to treat others the same way when they are on the other end of a mistake. And if not, you can reference how you treated them as an example of proper behavior should you need to further coach that person. You must live the culture you want to see in the organization. Its all on you in the beginning. It is a heavy weight, but this burden lightens over time and results in a resilient business as time progresses.

Culture is built on trust and respect. Concepts that are rapidly leaving businesses these days in favor of EBITDA and Gross Margin. The failing here is thinking that these two things are mutually exclusive. An organization that works well together, shows grace for each other, and supports each other during times of hardship will outperform on the long run. When performance alone is the driving force behind a business, you will quickly find that rigidity, rules and isolation follow. The performance will no doubt be high, but it will not last without the strong foundation that is culture.