Every company that I have ever been around wanted to have a culture that invites people to come and work for them.
The problem is that most of them are NOT willing to put in the REAL work effort that is required to be that company.
They get too focused on their bottom line and how much profit they could make if they stopped having all these benefits.
Think about it for a few minutes.
What would a GREAT company do for their employees?
I know that some of you might say, they give a vehicle that I can use for personal use. Or I get free lunch every day. Or possible, I can work whatever hours I want to and should get paid MASSIVE amounts of money.
The truth is that none of those things above makes up company culture.
In fact, they actually take away from the culture and allow the employee to take advantage of the company.
Real culture starts at the top and will trickly all the way down.
Culture is how you treat people.
One of my favourite phrases is, “Treat the janitor like the CEO”
And I live by that phrase.
What it really means is to never look down on anyone, for any reason. They might not have the most impressive title or maybe don’t work as many hours as you do. But everyone on the team is equally important.
That ties directly to respect.
When you respect everyone around you, things start to change.
Recently we had an employee who was super nice and respectful when the boss was around. But boy howdy, when he left all heck broke loose.
As a company, you can’t tolerate disrespect to your customers, leadership or team members.
Don’t reward someone when they fly off the handle, take care of the issue.
Remember that people don’t quit bad jobs, they leave bad bosses, and the company suffers because of that.
As a leader in the company, you MUST take MASSIVE action to correct these issues.
That doesn’t mean that you go out and fire everyone. It means that you take time to have a one-on-one sit down with them to let them know there is an issue. If that issue doesn’t get corrected ASAP, then you will have to take other actions.
Taking time to train your people is extremely important to company culture.
Without training how do we know what is expected, or how do we treat everyone.
In today’s world, it is hard to find good people to work with. So when we do find someone GREAT we end up throwing them to the wolves because they are such a good employee that they can figure it out.
That’s the best way to lose a GREAT person on the team.
Training is one of the many keys to success.
When we take time to help others learn about more than just their role in the company we are helping to realize that the bottom line is not all that matters to us.
Also, if we give them a chance to “move up the ladder” it also shows that we care about more than just making money.
I’m not saying that if your company makes 1 million in revenue every year you should be spending 1 million on the people.
What I am saying is that you need to be strong in looking at what would really help your people grow and flourish in their position.
When we only think about money, we have a tendency to lose track of the things that are really important.
Take a new business owner for example. It is easy to work 80+ hours every week to get things off the ground. What happens to their family during that “startup” phase of the company? They get lost in the dust of all the progress they are making.
Make sure to take a few moments every day and think about the people around you.
When you trust those, you work with it’s easier to be more productive.
That’s where an open-door policy comes in extremely useful.
Every member of the leadership team MUST have an open-door policy and live by that policy.
The best company I have ever worked for hands down the owner of the company would gladly invite you into his office and talk about everything. He would hear your concerns, talk through them and then before you left his office you had discussed several things that weren’t related to business at all. Like how your kids are or what you think of this new truck, or what books are the best to read.
My point is that number one unless he was in a meeting you talk to him anytime. Number 2 he cared about his people so much that he would fight for every one of them.
And that tied straight to his values. He was a strong Christian believer and had no problem letting everyone know about it. We prayed before safety meetings. He openly talked about his faith.
He always stayed strong to his values.
AS we grow in life sometimes, we forget what it felt like to be back on the ground level. To build a GREAT culture we can’t forget where we came from.
A great phrase for this is “Humble Beginnings”. In other words, never forget where you came from. Every company had to start from nothing. Every person started not knowing anything, except for how to breathe and sleep. Heck, most of us had to be taught how to eat by our mothers.
Always Stay Humble and Kind.
To sum it up, building a GREAT company culture is not easy, and it doesn’t mean that you give the company a way to build it.
In fact, it’s really pretty simple
- Treat EVERYONE with respect
- Do NOT tolerate bad employees
- Take time to train
- Make your people a priority, not just the bottom line
- Have an open-door policy?
- Be strong in your values, even when it’s hard
- Think back to when you were on the ground level, what did you like most, what did you dislike the worst.
- Be positive
Now is a great time to take a few moments and think about the culture your company has. How can you improve it (every company can get better) where are you killing it?
Take out a piece of paper and write down what you think your company culture should look like.
Here I’ll start so you can see what ours looks like.
Here at Eclipse DOT, we are more than a business, we are family. Yes, we bicker sometimes but at the end of the day we are all blessed to have this family. We look out for one another and work together to make BIG things happen. We all have an open mind and listen to what others have to say. No idea is ever shot down instead we take heart that others care enough about the growth of our family that they bring new innovative ideas to the table. We listen to listen, not to speak which means that we actually hear what others have to say. For us it is not just about getting the job done, it is about enjoying life, because we all make choices, and we choose to be a part of this amazing family. We spend time with each other after the day is finished and when someone is in need we pull together to help them through a tough time. It is because we are a family that we are successful. ECLIPSE DOT IS MORE THAN A BUSINESS WE ARE A FAMILY!
