As a business owner or leader within an organization, growth projections, goals, and sales are often high on the priority list. Numbers and statics are among the usual suspects in determining success and the common denominators in finding areas of improvement. However, within those dollar figures and customer counts are the people who make the everyday operations possible.
Creating a Team
A lot of moving parts have to come together just right to meet revenue goals and make a company successful. From the sales manager who contracts a client or the accounts department that runs billing and makes sure the electricity bill gets paid, all the way to the janitor who sweeps the floors and shines the sink. Each of these positions come together to create a team.
While an effective team consists of all the necessary positions to accomplish the day-to-day operations, it all comes down to the people chosen to fill those positions that determine the success of your team. This is why employers will talk about their need to hire “go-getters’, “self-motivators”, and even “do-it-your-self-ers”. A lot of thought goes into the hiring process. Increasingly, the personality and culture compatibility are in just as high regard next to experience and knowledge.
The question then isn’t if business leaders are customizing their hiring process to attract the movers and shakers, but rather what are they doing to keep these people once they’ve got them.
Evolving your Culture
In the words of my friend Vaney Hariri, Co-Founder of Think 3D – The Culture Consultants, business owners and leaders need to customize their business. Find what works for the people within your organization and do it.
In various speaking events, workshops, and direct business consulting, Vaney and Think 3D work to change a business’s culture to create environments that foster leadership and engagement. People demand to be a part of a culture. A long time ago we as humans decided life as a community was better than on our own. We decided that our individual quality of life should go beyond our own abilities, and we therefore care about what others might be able to provide for us.
One of my favorite examples of how leaders in an organization can customize their business to optimize for the individuals they value is from HubSpot’s Direct of Marketing Operations. Featured on Medium.com, Melissa shares her story of balancing life and how HubSpot helped her make the most of where she was in life while at the same time sending an overwhelming message of support and encouragement to the rest of the team.
Establishing a work culture isn’t a new concept, in fact, Entreprenuer.com continues to post lists of how to create a winning or strong company culture. The 8 Essential Steps to Building a Winning Company Culture and 6 Steps for Creating a Strong Company Culture are among the most popular even with publication dates going back a couple years.
When living and working with others demands a culture, we have the opportunity to customize that culture, to make it one in which to thrive in or allow it to be acidic and destructive. One might argue that work cultures should establish themselves or that leaders within an organization don’t have enough time to worry about the atmosphere in which their employees function. But with 51% of U.S. workforce admitting to feeling disengaged in their job, and another 51% looking to leave their current position, decision makers may want to reevaluate their priority list.
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