What is a Company’s Culture?
Culture is everything in business. Every company has a culture regardless of whether they know it or not. Companies within the construction industry are no different. A company’s culture is what defines their existence through the values that they adhere to.
Leaders and Culture
In the construction industry, there is a general culture that tends to revolve around safety, quality, productivity, and accountability. Leaders create the culture of companies and ultimately set the tone for their teams.
The most successful leaders control the culture and the environment of their company.
The actions of the leader are hugely important to the culture of a company. Leaders should make every attempt to stay consistent with the culture of their company, because ultimately, the culture is how a company is viewed from an outside perspective.
Richard Branson once said, “Take care of your employees, and they’ll take care of your business. It’s as simple as that.”
It is a leader’s duty to their company and to their employees to be held accountable and to follow the rules. If workers see their leader following the rules in a responsible manner, they will be inspired to do the same.
Signs of a Bad Company Culture
As a leader, if you have no plan, that is your company’s culture regardless of whether it is productive/efficient or not.
That being said, a company’s culture can be positive or negative.
Leaders should make every effort to prevent a negative company culture because customers and other businesses will look at your company in a negative way.
A culture is something that can be changed with enough attention and effort towards truly making change.
Some signs of a weak company culture are employees being preoccupied or unproductive. This can be coupled with evidence that people are clearly uninterested and unenthusiastic about their jobs.
Additionally, this can be deciphered through how employees talk about your company. If they use the pronoun “they” instead of “us” and “we,” it shows that they separate themselves from your company. This shows that they do not pridefully identify as being part of the company.
Values
Values are understanding what matters most to your company and creating them in such a way that they aren’t just simply words. They have distinct meaning and there is consistent and purposeful action taken revolving around those values.
Generally speaking, companies tend to create a list of 4-6 values that are the most important to the identity of their brand.
It is highly important and worthwhile to take time to understand and articulate the values of your company.
Values are ranked in order of the level of significance and importance. These are the things that you reward and celebrate within your company.
The values that a company has are essentially the purpose of their brand, and the purpose embodies a sense of meaning –– something that your team and company as a whole is always aiming for. It helps answer the question, “why are you doing what you’re doing?”
Be Remarkable
Seth Godin once discussed the importance of being remarkable.
Either you are remarkably good, or remarkably bad. Negative remarkable experiences tend to be the most memorable experiences with your customers and employees.
Because of this, leaders should emphasize the importance of showing gratitude and thanks towards their customers and to their employees in order create a positive remarkable experience for each and every one of them.
