4 Basics Of Culture
by Miki Saxon
Culture is finally at the forefront of the corporate mindset.
For Boards, CEOs, executives and managers at all levels it’s a case of ignore culture at your peril.
Almost every article and comment regarding the workplace is, directly or indirectly, a comment on culture—what works, or not; what’s needed, or not. Want to innovate? Change the culture. Increase retention? Fix/keep the culture.
Keeping people (customers, employees and investors) is the key to sustainable success and culture is one of the main reasons that people join/buy/invest in a company—and its demise is a major reason why they leave.
Think of a stool with customers, investors/stockholders, and employees comprising the legs and culture being the seat that unites them. Over-favor one leg and it will get too long, ignore another leg and it will shrink, but the end result is the same—the stool tips over.
For everything that’s been written here and other places about creating good, let alone great, cultures you still need to start with the basics:
- Practice open, honest, constant communications and insist that others do, too
- Never kill the messenger
- Accept and act on input from all levels
- Walk your talk
Sure, there’s tons more you can do, but I guarantee that if you do only these four you’ll be well on your way to creating a positive, sustainable culture.
Image credit: Sarah and Nic
November 5th, 2013 at 1:15 am
[…] surprises won’t work under any manager (you) where failure hurts advancement opportunity or the messenger is killed. Flickr image credit: Simon […]