Your company has defined its mission. And now, you’re ready to take your corporate culture to the next level. So, how do you weave those values into the everyday aspects of your business?
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Overcommunicate Your Priorities
In his book The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle studied some of the world’s most successful organizations including Pixar, the San Antonio Spurs and U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six. Coyle discovered the leaders of these groups were not shy about drastically overcommunicating priorities. “Statements of priorities were painted on walls, stamped on emails, incanted in speeches, dropped into conversation, and repeated over and over until they became part of the oxygen.”
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Hire for Fit
Even the most well-planned and thoroughly implemented corporate culture can’t survive with the wrong people. Famous cultures are extremely selective when it comes to their employees. For example, Southwest Airlines hired less than 2% of applicants in 2015, while companies like Amazon and Zappos pay workers up to $5,000 to quit.
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Don’t Expect a Finish Line
Company cultures continue to change, grow and evolve over time. No one achieves a perfect culture and then walks away. As the current CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, writes, “Because I’ve made culture change at Microsoft such a high priority, people often ask how it’s going. Well, I suppose my response is very Eastern: We’re making great progress, but we should never be done. It’s not a program with a start and end date. It’s a way of being.”
How Can You Tell If Your Culture Is on the Right Track?
Although you can’t measure culture precisely, you can get a general idea of how things are going. Here’s famous restaurateur Danny Meyer’s culture-assessment hack. Step 1: Wait for a problem. Step 2: See if the group’s energy level goes up or down. For example, let’s say a waiter drops a huge tray of glasses. If other employees rush to help, the energy goes up. The culture is strong. But, if people start yelling and blaming each other for the accident, the energy goes down. The culture needs more work.
Are You Looking to Add the Right People to Your Team?
Finding talented and good-fit employees can be an enormous challenge especially in today’s tight labor market. If your company is struggling with hiring and recruiting, give Aventure Staffing a call! As the Midwest leader in job placement, our recruiters take the time to understand your culture, mine our network and present your organization with only the best-fit candidates.