One of the biggest, most important questions that any business leader can ask themself is, “What’s the most important thing to do to grow my business?”
The shortest answer is this: To grow your business, you have to develop a world-class culture. A commitment to building an awesome culture is also a commitment to making all aspects of your business better.
Culture and Employees
Think about it, you need top-notch employees to build a successful company. You’ll never recruit the kind of people you want if your company’s culture is too uncomfortable or rigid. Young, ambitious types of people feverishly avoid this kind of environment. If you have a culture that they want to avoid, you’ll end up with average applicants just looking for a paycheck.
If you build a culture that nourishes and inspires people, entrepreneurial applicants will flock to your company. Who wouldn’t want to work in an environment that encourages everyone to work their best and feel good while they’re doing it?
Culture and Cost
A lot of companies shy away from building a truly great culture. They think it’s either too expensive or not important enough. Well, companies that think like that are probably doomed.
Truly great companies look at the money spent on benefits and perks as investments in their culture and therefore investments in their people. For this, they can expect to be paid back tenfold in the quality of work they will receive from their employees in return.
“You better have a crazy compensation package on your dreary, white table if you think you are going to attract any top talent to your little, beige office. These top talents read enough blogs and watch enough TV to know what kinds of environments the best, cutting edge, start-up companies are offering.” – Cameron Herold
Culture and Success
Look at Google, one of the biggest and most successful companies on the planet. Their offices are bright, colorful, and packed with nap pods, pinball machines, and similar paraphernalia. Now, is Google staffed by slackers and goof-offs? Of course not! In fact, it basically has its pick of the top candidates in any field any time it hires.
“By creating an outstanding reputation, Google gets to pick and choose from the cream of the crop when recruiting. Then, as these innovative new hires inject new ideas and create new revenue streams, the company is able to sweeten their recruitment package even more. It’s a self-sustaining spiral of success.” – Cameron Herold
Some argue that it is high compensation and stock options that create the opportunity for great recruiting for Google. That simply isn’t true. Google’s rich culture is responsible for attracting the kind of talent that allows it to offer such rich packages.
It isn’t just video games or funky furniture that creates a great culture, though. It’s things like vacation time, how you encourage ideas, and even what you stock in the fridge that go far in fostering an environment of success. In other words, there is no blueprint for creating a winning company culture. Companies that get this are the companies that are built for success. Emulate them and you’ll see your business take off.
What do you value in company culture? Let us know in the comments below!
If you have questions or would like more information, I’d be happy to help. Please send an email, and my team will get in touch with you!
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2013 and has been edited for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
