It may be your company and for all intents and purposes, you can direct it the way you want. However…… did you hire people to help your company succeed or just to listen to you?
Ask yourself this, do you think you know more about each particular function, IT, administrative functions, bookkeeping, accounting, contract law, employment law, marketing, sales? You may some, but not all. You may even know one or two very well. It may even be the focus of your business. Nevertheless if it’s not, you know your company’s raison d etre and you hired people to perform the functions you either have no time to focus on or don’t know how to do well.
Realize that when you choose these people, they help set the culture you establish. The leaders that you select set the tone and culture of your business, no matter what it is. When you hire the other cogs of your business, you may even think the people you hire are a good value, not because they are experts in their fields and/or enhance your business, but they cost you very little and you could replace them very easily. Whatever your priority is you set the tone. You are the business. You are the company.
In a recent survey published by Cornerstone and BambooHR, Doug Conant, CEO & President of Campbell Soup Company until July 2011, was quoted as saying “To win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace.” He understood that the success of an organization is about the success of its components and these components are the employees, from top to bottom.
You lose more than time when you keep having to deal with bad company culture. You lose productivity, potential for growth and money. 23% of respondents to that survey of people who voluntarily left their employers, left because their boss was a jerk, 17% said they would have stayed if their coworkers were friendly or helpful. Of course people leave jobs all the time for different reason, but these particular issues both have to do with corporate culture and directly related to the owners and leaders of the company.
The creation of opinion sites like glassdoor.com specifically address the issue of good employers and bad employers. Food for thought – why do you typically not see the most influential, productive, profitable or successful companies listed as bad employers. Probably because for the majority of their folks, they are good employers and their people feel valued or see a benefit for staying with that company that goes far beyond salary size.
A 2014 international study done by LinkedIn, stated that 56% of respondents said the MOST important factor in deciding on a company is whether it has a good reputation for being a great place to work.
It seems to me that a reasonable person can conclude from these facts that there is a direct relationship to the success of a company and the happiness and satisfaction of the employees in that company. The happiness and satisfaction of the employees is directly related to the culture of the company in which they work. It has also been established that the leaders of the company create the company’s culture
So… what do you want to create?
