Screw ping pong & free fruit; let’s drive business success through real cultural change!

Build your business on perks and benefits; you will fail. Build your business on inspiration and trust; you will succeed.

Free fruit, Ping pong table, Gym membership, Your birthday off every year… Do these define culture?

Healthy pay checks, Profit share in the success of the business, A fancy watch for being 20 years in a business… Do these define loyalty?

We’ve heard it all before… Culture and loyalty are not built on perks and benefits. But what is not always answered, is what is it built on?

Simple: Inspiration and trust.

Through inspiring and trusting employees, companies can build a type of loyalty with their employees that grows far beyond simply earning a wage; they build a common purpose.

Comparatively, it’s the same kind of feeling of camaraderie, of togetherness that comes to us when we support our childhood football team. Even though they miss out on silverware year on year, we will still scrap with “that kid” in the playground if he mentions that it’s been 15 years since you last won the Premier League! — and yes, I am an Arsenal fan (for my sins)

Used properly, a healthy company culture can be used to hire people, to retain clients, to breed success.

Examples of incredible culture ranges from technology leaders like Google, all the way to some of the best sports teams like the All Blacks (New Zealand’s national rugby team).

So how do you develop company culture?

Firstly, set a company vision to inspire people, to enable them to work with purpose. But by vision, do not get this mixed up with financial targets, engagement goals, etc… Instead, nail down what your own personal beliefs are; why you do what you do.

But don’t stop there! Gather the stories and beliefs of your staff and clients and find out what they value about the company. — You will likely see a common theme here. Don’t discount this, it’s hugely valuable!

Next, share them! For your employees, it will help them develop a shared affinity with the company. They will also be reassured that they work in an environment that is surrounded by people who have similar values to them will be empowering. By understanding these values, you can start to understand what your employees think about the business.

Also, and this is a very important aspect of developing a positive company culture, you can look to implement personal growth programs throughout the company based on the values of each individual employee. By incentivising them through their purpose and personal vision, you will be able to get the best out of each individual employee, create advocacy amongst your team, and in turn increase their overall billable output.

So why should you care?

Well… If you want your employees and clients to be happier then this is for you. If you don’t (and boo you if you don’t), then the proof is in the pudding that a happy employee will work a lot harder, and bill out more for you than a sad, and overworked one. Put it simply:

Happy employee + Happy Client = Happy business

Sounds like a lot of fluff eh? Well, if you actually want to find out how to drive the success of your business through cultural change then get in touch. If you want to challenge our thoughts on this then get in touch.

If you don’t actually care about your employees happiness, please do not get in touch, instead you may have other things you need to focus on first… like how you’re going to find your next replacement employee quickly… because they strangely all keep leaving… I wonder why?

Thanks

Dan - danwillis@whydigital.net - whydigital.net