There is a well-known phrase that says ‘politeness costs nothing’. The right attitude can make all the difference.
If someone presented your business with a way of gaining the upper hand over your competitors, and it cost next to nothing, you would jump at the opportunity. Creating the right culture within your organisation can be established at little cost, but provide enormous benefits.
Culture change is a leader’s role – their initiative, their opportunity, their personal signature on the organisation. A leader needs to instigate, deliver and establishing a strong, committed culture that delivers outstanding service and high standards. It is only successfully achieved when the team have unwaveringly and habitually adopted this approach day after day after day. This is you, as the head of the organisation ensuring ‘this is how we do things around here’. It’s your collective ‘way of life’
In terms of customer service, ensuring the right culture exists within your company will probably be the only point of difference you have between yourselves and your competitors, and believe me that matters.
Instilling the correct culture improves a team’s attitudes, habits, and approach across the whole of their working life. It takes a while to establish, to become everyday life, but it can be done.
Companies hold themselves back because they allow their structure to replace a culture. There is a feeling that once the business is organised and everyone knows their roles (not wrong in itself) the business will in effect run itself effectively.
This is the same as assuming every house is a home.
It is the people within the company who matter, not how well-organised your business may be. We all adopt the company culture that exists when we walk through the doors of our workplace, or set out on our company’s business. This establishes the expectation of how we act, react, invoke, initiate and conduct ourselves during the working day. To a degree our characteristics are pre-determined, as we all crave conformity, and shared values.
A ‘Culture’ is a value that needs to be at the centre of every one of your team’s working lives.
Look upon the culture you create as being the ‘atmosphere’ that everyone breathes. I love the phrase ‘Working in an atmosphere of…’ as it sums up the ultimate culture – where team members cannot avoid living and breathing in the positive work ethic you have created.
Breathe life into the individuals who are your company, and the whole organisation will come alive. You are not telling anyone what to do, just encouraging each of them to realise what can be achieved with the right approach.
Establishing a positive culture is ensuring everyone accepts a collective synergy.
A culture can be effective in a large organisation, or a small team. It can be applied to any business, any environment and any situation. It is not a pre-determined blueprint or set of absolute rules you can apply but retains the flexibility to be applied to each and every situation in work. The culture within every business will be completely different, personal to them. It will reflect their history, the personalities within the organisation, the location their business is in, and what their company does, as well as the demands of its shareholders, owners and customers.
Your people welcome a clearly defined and understood culture, feeling comfortable with guidelines and expectations as to how they should conduct themselves. By creating the right culture you can raise standards and improve performance. Just as a child looks for guidance, leadership and a role model from its parents, people learn a huge amount from their leaders example of values, standards, actions and conduct.
Walk the walk
The significance of a culture and the number of people who subscribe to it will be determined wholly by your attitude as a leader.
The influence a parent has on their child is without measure. As a leader you will be amazed how much you can influence your team’s performance through the example you set. Watch any team for even a short while and you will soon notice they adopt the values and characteristics of a strong leader. Creating a positive culture simply recognises this process and enhances it.
Develop a culture that upholds the values, objectives and methods that are essential for the existence of trust. You will not alter or change a person’s character. Nor will you force the adoption of a ‘culture’ onto a person. Instead you let it infuse every part of the business or the team, until everyone ‘has it’.
It will not occur overnight, but by staying true to your values, you will be surprised by the positive influence it has. For example being ethical, moral and fair in all your dealings sends a clear signal to your team – this is how we conduct our business here. Your conduct also provides the opportunity to display your intention to treat your team fairly, and that you would never take advantage. Rank may have some privilege, but this must be clearly defined and transparent. Deal with your team in the way you wish them to deal with you, and how you expect them to deal with each other, suppliers and customers.
Your signature
A culture, approach or attitude can reflect anything you wish to encourage within your business. It could be a strong culture of customer service, or standards of quality. Your company may benefit from introducing a culture that emphasises rewards for outstanding work. It may be that you need to emphasise the need to reduce errors – anything that can become a way of life to those who work for your business. As long as you believe in it, live it, act it out and encourage others to do likewise – it will work. Remember it is not the creation of rules but a ‘lifestyle’ for success in your business.
A good example is encouraging a culture that recognises the absolute importance of the continued health and safety of everyone at work. Health and Safety issues are mandatory rules and regulations when read in legislative books, and compliance can be seen as an expensive hindrance to achieving profitable success. By embracing a culture of safe working, setting a personal example and making it a clear priority, this will cascade down through the workforce until it is an accepted way of working life. Soon individuals are seen to be out of line if they do not consider all the safety implications relating to their work.
A way of life
An organisation’s culture does not just affect its own employees – it also has a very strong influence on the experiences of its customers. You can influence customer service with your approach to your team, and their attitude towards work and each other. This above all is the greatest reason and benefit to working on creating the right culture for your company. We have already explained the need for you to set a personal example in order to create the right culture at work.
The essential elements a leader needs to deliver an effective culture are passion and commitment. Acting in a particular way at work may just be seen as professionalism on your part, but if you display one hundred percent commitment to what you believe in, and believe it with a passion, then it suddenly becomes infectious! It will begin to influence the thoughts and actions of your team, until they will be able to ignore it no longer. An outstanding leader is passionate about the outcome they wish to create, and boundless energy needed to achieve it.
