You business has a culture whether it is conscious or not. My firm has a defined culture we call the JW Way (https://www.jaburgwilk.com/jw-way-fundamentals). It is a mission statement consisting of twenty seven fundamentals that the owners and employees strive to live in operating and working in the firm. Since making these fundamentals a conscious part of our firm it we found that it improved what we already saw as a good place to work. Overall, it has had a positive impact on our firm and the bottom line.
If you’re surprised, you shouldn’t be. Focusing on company culture forces you to focus on your employees and clients. Doing so always is in the best interest of your business. The point is without great employees and customers, you don’t have a business.
If you ask most business owners about the culture of their company it can be hard to put into words. The effort to do so helps bring positives and negatives of your business into focus. It also results in the realization that changes are needed all the time, which reminds me of the maxim that change is constant. It’s not lost on me that change is hard and you have to know the possibility exists that the investment in doing so may or may not have the desired results despite the time and effort you have put in.
It reminds me of a story I read some years ago about Incheon Airport in Seoul, Korea. For years it was ranked No. 1 by passengers. When one employee was asked “What is it? What’s so magical?”, he responded as follows: “It’s because everyone – airport and airline personnel, security, concessionaires – we all share the same vision and we all deliver the same level of customer service.” That describes a culture at that airport that allowed passengers to see and feel that they mattered. All of the airport’s employees striving to live that culture allowed the passengers to live and feel that difference during their travels instead of the usual stress of feeling like you’re being herded from line to line to line.
When a business has that type of culture it’s no surprise that success follows. That type of culture tends to weed out those who don’t or refuse to follow the culture. That is what you want because it allows you to bring on people who appear better suited to be part of the culture and therefore the team that is your business. These types of incremental changes are what improves your business over time.
If you simply ignore the importance of culture and allow it just to happen the odds are you won’t like where you end up. By thinking about and discussing company culture you can create the type of environment you want to work in, attract like-minded employees, and give you and your business a better chance for success.