Building Company Culture-Every Employee Has an Impact
As an employee it’s hard to find a corporate culture you fit into, but as an employer it’s much easier to build one within the organization you lead. Your company culture will solidify the foundation and values of your business, making you more attractive to both people seeking employment and clientele.
When it comes to building the foundation of your organization, you have to make sure you are recruiting loyalty with the employees you hire. Will people uphold the integrity of the business because they believe their voice matters and feel like an important asset? Do they have high esteem for the company and what it stands for? As the employer, part of your technique should be only hiring new employees after a semi-rigorous process that will determine whether or not this person will “fit right in” the culture you are trying to build or obtain. Live by the motto “hire slow and fire fast.”
Comparable to the fable of the “Three Little Pigs,” don’t let your business be blown away by the competition. Build your company culture on a solid foundation that will be built to last. Once someone is hired, there has to be reason to stay at their job, and not constantly be dreaming of the “greener grass,” which normally comes with a higher water bill.
Building company culture has two parts, the employees (whom you hire) and you, the employer who works relentlessly trying to maintain good rapport and empathy towards the people in the company. If employees start to feel misused or cheated, their work begins to suffer because they believe their work is devalued, or unappreciated and work ethic will begin to slack.
There are ways to know your employees aren’t happy, so RGVision has adopted Patrick Lencioni’s The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers to explain what some companies may be missing when building company culture:
No Measurability- Employees value positive feedback and constructive criticism that doesn’t tyrannically underrate their work. It’s important to make it very clear how their work is being measured and that they trust who is measuring them. There’s nothing pleasant about an employee questioning whether or not they’re doing a good job in the workplace, or feeling like they’re being measured too harshly. Generally people appreciate reviews and feeling acknowledged. Recognizing their personal growth and knowing they’ve met organizational goals shows them their employer cares. This truly adds quality ingredients to the brew of company culture.
Anonymity- Encouraging unity in the workplace helps employees work together as a team. Are they just ships at dock, aimlessly wandering past each other everyday trying to autonomously do a job that requires intercommunication? Do you as the employer know if this person has a family? Do the people who work with them really know them or are trying to get to know them? People stay because of their coworkers. Here at RGVision we like to have quarterly outings. Within that hour or two there’s interesting conversations and people get to know each other, leading them to unity.
Impact –This singlehandedly motivates people to leave or stay at their job. It is very satisfying for a jobholder to recognize their work has meaning.
Heed to the example of the Two Masons.
There once were two masons working on the same project.
A new york reporter interviewed each of the masons separately asking them the same question, “what is it that you do?”
The first mason replied, “Well I lay stone, it’s gruesome and very hard work, every day I come in, my back hurts and I’m constantly under the hot sun laying brick. I’m building this object that will take too many years to build, I will be gone before it’s finished and won’t even get to see it.”
Then the reporter asks the second mason the same question, “What is it that you do?” The second mason responds, “I’m building something the world will marvel over, I’m building a cathedral. I may not be here to get to see it finished but I know it’s going to have an impact on the world. Yes I work in the hot sun all day long but what I’m building today will last generations to come, I’m leaving behind an extraordinary legacy.”
Same jobs but each mason had a different PERSPECTIVE.
Every member of your team has an impact. Even a pizza delivery guy has an impact on a single mom who doesn’t have time to make dinner for her kids.
Everybody has impact. Sometimes it’s really hard for workers to see their own impact. But each job has significance in the future of the company. We have to step back and see what it is we have in front of us and recognize our worth in the organization, even in the smallest assignments.
Understanding these key factors of creating company culture can help you, “the boss,” employ and keep people who are going to stay in the company, and perform well.
