No effective culture, No effective business!

Having a successful business can be achieved in many ways but if you have an effective culture the journey can be much easier.  

However, there is groundwork to be done, foundations that must always be in place, reviewed, updated and developed continually to ensure the best results. This is through having a great culture in the organisation – the blood that runs through the veins of the organisation, the DNA of the organisation, and without it the road to success will always be difficult, inconsistent and often unsustainable as the organisation grows. 

No effective culture, no effective business! 

The effective development of culture is not necessarily just the domain of the business owner or leader. In determining what the culture should be, the values to be adhered to and how best to facilitate the cultural development of the organisation often does not come naturally to these people.  

This is why, as TAB Facilitators, we find the issues we do in the businesses we work with.  Issues including a lack of alignment between senior figures and management teams, high staff turnover, poor team work, poor attendance, fear of failure, a ‘blame culture’, and a lack of direction and understanding where the company is heading are just a few issues to name. 

Turning around a business with a poor culture can take a significant amount of time, so an effective culture should be continually developed around a core set of values. 

It can be a daunting prospect for business owners to deal with.  Where do you start, what might be some steps you can take, how do you know you have a poor culture in the organisation? 

Here are some top tips to consider: 

1. Identify the Core Values you wish the organisation to build around. Make sure people understand them and provide examples of where these are embodied and adhered to by people within the organisation. 
2. Seek employee feedback through regular questionnaires associated with the values of the organisation. 
3. In the appraisal/performance review process always seek 360 feedback and regularly review an individual’s adherence to the values of the organisation. 
4. In support of the Company Vision identify the ‘Why’ of the organisation. What’s your purpose, why do you do what you do?  Provide the employees with something to align themselves to. 
5. Ensure your recruitment process focuses on identifying whether prospective employees share and understand the organisations values. 
6. Be prepared to exit quickly from your organisation individuals who undermine the culture and do not adhere to your values. What they say and how they behave can be very different things! 
7. Don’t display your Core Values on the walls of the organisation thereby hoping it to be the truth.  Only do this when you know it to be so! 
8. Walk the talk! Be the embodiment of the values you wish the organisation to adhere to. Lead by example. If the values are not truly those that are important to you and you can’t personally adhere to, change them. Be authentic!