Culture Counts in Every Business, Large or Small. By Roger S. Robinson, Ph.D. Can an intangible like a company’s culture make a difference in your business? That is a tough question. After all what is culture? And can it impact your bottom line? The concept of culture really entered the world of business through Peters and Waterman’s “In Search of Excellence.” Perhaps a simpler way to think about culture is to think of it in terms of how an organization makes choices, how it develops its values, its ethics, how it trains, recognizes and rewards its associates, its spirit, and not to be overlooked, how it treats its customers - both internal and external. Clearly this concept sounds good, but does it really matter. The airline industry is one example that comes to mind. In other words it is hard to be different in this, the airline industry, Yet one company has been able to differentiate itself from all the other airline carriers - Southwest Airlines.
Are there lessons here? Today’s article is presented by my friend Roger S. Advice on Building Company Culture. People spend a lot of time talking about "company culture" in Silicon Valley. What does it take to create the right kind of culture? How can you maintain that culture? Do you need a mission statement? Should you have a mascot? At first blush it sounds like a bunch of mushy-gushy nonsense. One thing that is certain, no two company cultures are the same. So what does it take to build a strong culture? Interview every new employee (until 50 then interview everyone that will manage others) Spend 30 minutes per week on Mondays talking to new employees as part of their first day.
I couldn't agree more with Scott's suggestions. Great advice all around. Team & Culture Guide for Early Stage Startups. Cult Creation. Corporate culture should be a top priority. You might have read our review of Zappos CEO and founder Tony Hsieh’s recent book “Delivering Happiness” a couple of weeks ago. Hsieh’s a fanatic about building a strong company culture, where each department understands the other. And his book is a fascinating study in insisting on more from your employees and making them happier at the same time. Now you can learn more about this philosophy from Hsieh himself in this entrepreneur thought leader lecture, given last month at Stanford University. See if you can determine how many brand new hires take the company up on its offer of a $3,000 bonus to quit after just a few weeks on the job.
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