Setting Your Business Culture
Before you started your own business, you probably worked for someone else and occasionally thought: “I’d do things differently if I was in charge.” That’s the beauty of being an entrepreneur. It’s your show. You can do things the way you think they ought to be done. Every aspect of your business reverberates with your beliefs and your style.
Until you grew large enough to hire a staff, you may not have thought much about how you’re going to communicate those beliefs to others. It’s a critical part of your business that shouldn’t be overlooked. When dealing with the outside world, your employees represent your business just like you do, and how they feel and act will go a long way to determining how successful your business is.
Communicating your business culture
You’ll need to set firm expectations about the kind of business culture you want. The best way to do that is by laying out those expectations at the beginning. It saves time and avoids confusion. Let employees know upfront what you expect of them and what standards you want them to uphold. You want to be as clear as possible. Don’t just assume you’ll be understood. Make sure of it by using precise, easy-to-understand language.
Document your business culture and expectations
You’ll also need to make sure you follow through on any incentives and adverse consequences you’ve laid out. Few things are as toothless as an idle threat. For example, if you’ve clearly stated that certain behaviors will warrant disciplinary action or termination, it’s imperative that you follow through if they occur. Otherwise your staff will begin to question your integrity, and you risk undermining the company culture you’ve worked so hard to build. You also must apply these incentives and disciplinary actions equally. There will likely be employees that you like better than others, however a system must apply to everyone equally or in reality it doesn’t apply to anyone.
Walk the walk, talk the talk
In addition, you’ll need to set an example through your own actions. You can’t expect your employees to work hard if you’re in the office playing Bejeweled or trying to level up your World of Warcraft character. Likewise if your employees see you don’t value or respect a particular client or employee, they’ll tend to treat that client or colleague poorly as well. The list of examples could go on and on, but the bottom line is that employees need to see you as a living embodiment of what the company stands for.
Leadership isn’t always easy, but if you lay out expectations for your staff at the beginning, follow through on those expectations and set an example by how you conduct yourself, you’ll be able to create the company culture you’ve always wanted to be a part of.