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Company Culture: Why It's Critical in Today's Tech Workforce

When someone describes a company as having a great business culture, it may bring to mind free food, motivational sayings on the wall, flexible work hours or on site fitness classes. But culture is misunderstood when it’s thought of as the touchy-feely component of business. It’s not intangible or fluffy, it’s not a vibe or the office decor. It’s one of the most important drivers sustainable success. The legendary business professor Peter Drucker said “culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

In other words, properly understood, business culture has to have a place alongside strategy in the running of your business.

That’s because the enterprise and culture have become inextricably linked. The adoption of the cloud and cell phones has changed everything about how and where we work so that’s changing our business culture. The way we manage our people has changed from “command and control” and being concerned about keeping the butts in seats between nine and five to figuring out how to keep people productive from anywhere.

The fact is, the line between work life and home life have blurred as people become more comfortable working from anywhere.

By the way, building a company that employs the millennial generation that prefers working offsite is changing the paradigm of how business gets done. In my experience, giving millennials the environment they need to be most productive will pay off. In spite of some people’s negative judgement of millennials, I’d say these younger employees want to be actively and passionately engaged in the business. But they are looking to work for companies that have great culture that allows them to operate from a sense of confidence and empowerment.

I think it’s safe to say that it’s getting to the point that culture can make or break a company.

Culture can make or break a company because:

  • Happy employees perform better. The research supports that when fun is baked into a business day people do their jobs better. They focus on giving rather than getting. When employees genuinely like going to work they unselfishly give to customers, each other and their community.
  • It affects employee retention and hiring. Many of the companies I studied have a “no a-hole” rule. If a person gets hired and doesn’t fit the culture they are quickly dismissed. Zappos is famous for offering $2000 to quit to those that go through training and find they don’t fit.
  • It changes how employees focus on the needs of the customer. People relate to people not companies. When the culture is friendly and caring for employees that vibe is passed along to the customer.
  • It rewards innovation and personal greatness. “Catching” someone doing something well and recognizing it publicly encourages everyone. Ken Langone, the founder of Home Depot said “the two most powerful things in existence: a kind word and a thoughtful gesture.” Try giving every employee the opportunity to give a $25 gift card to any other employee they notice excels at something.
  • It increases employee engagement and accountability. When a company’s executive leadership regularly communicates the value of culture at meetings and recognizes those who embody the culture it gets woven into everything the company is. Companies that have performance-oriented cultures possess statistically better financial growth, with high employee involvement, strong internal communication, and an acceptance of a healthy level of risk-taking in order to achieve new levels of innovation.

Above all, a business’s culture must come from the heart, not from a statement, words on the wall or an employee handbook that contradicts reality. Building great culture means that key leadership is constantly thinking about the culture and living it like they’re serious about it.

Then culture is powerful.

Bottom line: Business culture is simply stating what you value about your business and how you expect your people to act while they accomplish the work that adds meaning to their lives. The most important thing a business leader can do is foster a great culture so the people that work there can discover their own greatness. Does your culture inspire your people to dream more, learn more, do more and become more?

Join me at HostingCon in New Orleans July 24-27 to olearn more about how a company’s culture contributes to the bottom line, makes employees happier and engages millennials.

Source: TheWHIR