I write often about the importance of company culture. Helping clients create strong cultures of recognition in which employees know how to best focus their efforts is a passion of mine.
How you create the culture you want is the big question facing thoughtful CEOs and organization leaders.
You cannot decree into being a powerful, supportive culture that enables and encourages employees to dedicate more time and effort to the tasks and goals you most need them to achieve. However, you can create and strengthen this kind of culture over time through daily decisions and actions to support the culture you need.
How 2 CEOs think about culture
Look, for example, at how these CEOs think about culture (as shared in Smartblog):
- Your company culture is developing with or without you, and it isn’t the value statement you post on the wall. The small decisions you and your team make every day (good or bad) are building and reinforcing your culture. As the leader, you should help your team understand why you made decisions. It is more powerful to see someone living out the values and culture than reading an employee handbook.” — Eric McGehearty, Globe Runner SEO
- Your company culture is only as strong as you make it. It is not just setting down the bylines of your startup, but living out the culture every day in every decision you make, every meeting that you lead and every conversation that you have. If you see happy, committed employees who share your vision and passion, you know you’re doing something right!” — David Ehrenberg, Early Growth Financial Services
How do you know if your culture is developing?
Your culture is very much a living, breathing entity. It grows and strengthens daily based on how individuals are themselves living the building blocks of your culture – your core values and guiding principles.
So, what’s the growth chart for your culture? How do you know if your culture is growing and developing in the way you need?
It’s through strategic, social recognition in which every employee is encouraged to notice and appreciate others for living the values that you can quickly see where your values are being lived and then intervene as necessary.
How does your company actively support the growth and development of the desired culture?
You can find more from Derek Irvine on his Recognize This! blog.