top of page
Search
Writer's pictureRachel Montgomery

DO YOU OWN YOUR CULTURE, OR DOES IT OWN YOU?

Updated: May 22, 2018

So… Your business is established, and the vision is a reality or a work in progress!

When a business is first established, it is usually with passion for the difference that your product or service is going to make to your clients, and then to you. But as you grow and need more help and support, there is something else that takes on a life of its own – the thing called culture.


As companies grow, especially those which grow organically, a culture develops whether you are in control of that or not……. pause for a second…….think……are you in charge of that culture or is it in charge of you? How do you know?


Ask yourself some questions:-

  • Do you experience recruitment challenges, especially in attracting the best people?

  • Do you know your employee turnover rate?

  • Do key employees stick around?

  • Do you look at the links between general employee turnover and key employee retention? And likewise, the feed-through into attracting the best people for key positions?

  • Have you lost, or are you losing, a critical customer, and you want to resolve the situation quickly?

  • Do you measure how much time you and your key staff spend on firefighting people issues?

  • Have you investigated how the business might look if that same time was transferred to key business tasks and growth activities?

  • Do you have a loyal employee who has reached the potential of the role they undertake in your organization – but have greater personal potential to offer?

  • Do you have effective two-way communication with employees, or methods to show appreciation for a job well done? How often?

  • Are your top table team struggling with time management and work-life balance?



When you first started, whether it was just you or not, the first thing you had to do was SELL yourself and your product or service to clients.

Again, pause and think of the passion and excitement you had, which got you off the ground.


SELLING is not just reserved for clients when you are growing your business; it is also for your employees. And not just through the recruitment process but every day, week and month that they work for you.

Selling can be seen as a dirty word to many.

But all selling is, is a transference of emotions.

Your culture is determined by your emotions, which in turn guides your actions, and it is your actions – not your words alone – that others will trust and learn to rely on.

As you build proven methods to engage with clients, so to should you replicate for your team:-

  1. Engage – Engage with employees. Create involvement, rapport, capturing and retaining interest, helping them – and you! – to grow and be the best they can be.

  2. Enrol – Create effective two-way communication. This ensures early indicators of discontent aren’t missed, opportunities to maximise potential are presented, and you have the best chance of keeping the right key people in the right roles at all times.

  3. Compel – Make sure key staff really do know they are important and valued, and that they own part of the company’s vision & mission. They will increasingly be compelled to drive themselves and your company forward – this is the difference between showing up (enrolling), or showing up compelled (enrolling and then doing).


Most companies want to make a difference and create a great working environment that gives their company stability and a good name. They look at examples that are set by companies like Virgin, Innocence and John Lewis. They see funky offices or perks such as company shares, and they replicate those quickly, because they’re easy to replicate.


But the culture that underpins what is easily seen, can be missed altogether; this can lead to a funky office with a relaxation area or the ‘funky’ aspects of the funky office never being used, and staffed by overworked and stressed people chained by KPI’s. It can lead to a company announcing their profits with little personal information for the staff who contributed, and a lack of a voice for those staff. How can they then make an informed ongoing contribution to company profits and dividends?

So now that you’ve read this… is your schedule filled with work, firefighting, issues? Would it be better filled with creativity, growth tasks, positive challenges and even some play?

Remember why you chose this road in life, and give Rachel at Diamond Business Growth a call on 07748718757, and let’s clear the road to greatness!

20 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page