In order to develop an unbreakable culture in your business, we must first understand what “culture” is. Culture is typically defined as an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behavior — the outlook, attitudes, values, morals goals and customs shared by a group of people.
Discover Leadership Training defines culture as the warm, living, breathing part of your business. It is the people in your business, their habits, beliefs, knowledge and interactions, both with each other and your customer. Your business culture is simply defined as “the way we do things around here.” It is the fundamental values that are the foundation of ALL of the decisions made in your business.
Let’s take a moment to compare the difference between a strong business culture and a weak business culture.
Strong Business Culture
Positive Environment
The Leader Empowers & Inspires
Environment of Excitement & Enthusiasm
Team members are empowered and encouraged to ask questions
Team members are eager to learn & grow
An attitude focused on the potential of success is created
All team members are special & respected as individuals
Team members are challenged to go beyond the norms and create new possibilities
Weak Business Culture
Negative Environment
The Manager Dictates
Co-workers bad mouth leadership
Employees are afraid to ask questions
Employees make excuses & blame others
Employees see NO future
Judgements are made about individuals
The standards are lowered
How can you know that you have an unbreakable culture? Listen to the conversation your internal customer (your team) and your external customer (your clients) are saying about you. To paraphrase one of my favorite Bible verses, you will know them by their fruit. Said another way, action speaks louder than words. Taking an honest look at the culture that’s been created may be an eye-opening experience, or it may just reinforce what you already knew. Whatever the current state of affairs is, we all occupy the largest room in the house, and that is the room for improvement.
Ready to make some changes? Here are my top 10 ways to positively develop an unbreakable business culture.
10. Emphasize commitment rather than control. Do things with your team instead of to them.
9. Build trust, cooperation, support and cohesiveness.
8. Give feedforward on more than production. You will not be able to separate how your team feels about their work if ALL you talk about is productivity.
7. Innovate, have a sense of what you want and commit to make it happen.
6. Avoid politics and employ teamwork.
5. Meet regularly to discuss quality.
4. Respect every individual. Treat each person as the main engine, rather than an interchangeable part.
3. Be open to suggestions, teach that the foundation of all wisdom comes from all levels of the culture.
2. Have clear cut outcomes and priorities and communicate them effectively.
1. Know your purpose and believe in it. Enroll your team into committing to incremental actions that are focused on the agreed upon, shared vision of the organization. It is true that great organizations operate “on purpose.”
In order to develop an unbreakable business culture, you must practice behaviors that will help you to maintain that culture. These simple ideas will have a positive influence on developing that culture.
Discover Leadership Training has developed a certification process for businesses to create an unbreakable business culture. The first recipient of the Discover Leadership Training Platinum Smokin’ Hottt Culture Award is Shell Federal Credit Union (SFCU).
SFCU has completely embraced our approach to developing a Smokin’ Hottt Culture. Discover Leadership Training has worked with this organization for over six years and as a result, they were ranked No. 1 in Top Workplaces among midsize companies in Houston according the Houston Chronicle. Below is a copy of the article:
“Jose Rodriguez arrived to Shell Federal Credit Union 25 years ago — well before the financial crisis and the digital push that would soon reshape his industry.
He became CEO just before the market crashed in 2008, the first in a string of challenges that would demonstrate his commitment to keeping operations thriving no matter the circumstances. It was also the first in a series of opportunities to prove his commitment to establishing a workplace culture that, day in and day out, made employees feel valued professionally and personally.
Ten years later, Shell Federal Credit Union, based in Deer Park, has earned the No. 1 spot this year among midsize companies in the Houston Chronicle's annual Top Workplaces survey. The company, established in 1937, employs about 275 people in the Houston area.
“Being in an environment where you feel supported and appreciated is wonderful,” one employee wrote in an anonymous survey. “The family atmosphere is unlike any other workplace I have been.”
Credit unions are nonprofit, membership-based institutions that offer loans, mortgages and other financial products. They generally charge lower fees and interest than conventional banks.
Shell Federal has grown quickly under Rodriguez, who began working at the institution as a part-time teller in the 1990s. He rose through the ranks and became CEO at a time when the company had only three branches.
Now, it serves more than 83,400 members in 10 Houston-area locations. The institution last year began managing more than $1 billion in assets, Rodriguez said, a milestone within the credit union industry.
It’s an especially significant achievement as other credit unions shrink or close, challenged by the increasing costs of regulatory compliance in the wake of the financial crisis and pressure to offer new technology to better compete with larger banks.
Rodriguez said he and his team remained focused on finding new growth opportunities and enhancing operations with digital services. But he believes that the credit union’s high level of service is the single most important factor in distinguishing it from its peers, and he and his team have continually invested in building a staff committed to that objective.
“A lot of our business is based upon relationships, and it takes human interaction to have those relationships,” he said.
About six years ago, Rodriguez attended a program offered through Discover Leadership Training, a Houston-based organization focused on business development. Rodriguez said it had such an effect on his perspective that he and the board chose to enroll the management team in a program and bring a classroom-style lesson to the credit union offices.
“That’s the type of investment we’ve made in our staff,” he said. “It’s been a springboard for the huge amount of growth and success that we’ve had.”
Employees agree. More than 100 of them submitted comments explaining why they loved their jobs, emphasizing the positive, family-like workplace culture.
“I have been given everything that I need to succeed at Shell Federal Credit Union,” one employee wrote. “I feel valued here, because I know that my opinion will be heard.”
Developing an unbreakable culture will not happen overnight. It will only happen when deliberate choices are made to move toward an agreed upon, shared vision of the outcome. Take the first step and contact me personally at [email protected] for your free Culture Check-up. Discover Leadership Training is ready, willing and able to help your team develop a Smokin’ Hottt Culture today.
