Company culture comes from every individual in an organization, not just one place or one individual. Culture is steeped in how employees interact with each other, how they treat each other, how information is communicated, and what the company values. Ronda Conger, Alyssa Titus, Chris Hartley, and Chad Sanschagrin shared several key elements to each of their respective company’s strong cultures during the session “The 7 Secrets of Creating an Award-Winning Company Culture” at the 2020 International Builders Show in Las Vegas.
Love Belongs in the Workplace
Conger, the vice president of CBH Homes, said that the culture of a company needs to be rooted in love. Love is a basic human need and when there is love in and amongst employees, there is a greater feeling of team, greater customer service, and greater financial results. When love is present in a company, employees feel listened to and validated, which are keys to better performance.
“When you take care of your team, when you fill them with love and play with passion, they naturally want to take care of your customers,” Conger said. “When that happens, the profit comes naturally.”
Kudos Empowers Employees
Giving compliments and kudos to team members on a regular–sometimes daily–basis can empower team members to go above and beyond for the company, Titus, the director of marketing for Schell Brothers, said. Daily kudos makes those giving and receiving the compliments feel better and makes employees strive to earn kudos for their own work, inherently increasing the quality of service provided. Titus said another key to strong culture is empowering employees to feel like they own the company. Many employees can feel disconnected, especially when starting a new position, and by ensuring new employees feel welcome can go a long way to retention and stronger performance.
“Keeping employees informed and in the fray empowers people to feel like they are a part of something bigger and better,” Titus said. “[Doing this] helps employee retention and builds a team that cares and is personally invested in your success.
Communication and Cohesion Develop Strong Teams
Hartley, the vice president of sales and marketing for Trendmaker Homes, stressed the importance of constantly communicating with employees to promote a strong company culture. Honesty and transparency goes a long way, as the alternative can result in bad morale. When employees are kept in the dark about major decisions or initiatives, leaders risk losing the trust and confidence of their entire team, Hartley said. In addition to communicating regularly with employees, Hartley said it is essential to make all employees feel they are part of a team, no matter how small. Leaders should be invested in creating a strong sense of unity among team members to prevent employees from feeling isolated and insignificant.
“If you do not know the why behind your team, you are failing as a leader,” Hartley said.
Celebrate Behavior, Not Outcomes
Some company cultures are often destroyed when companies are focused more on results and outcomes than processes and behaviors, said Sanschagrin, the CEO of Cannonball Moments. If employees are constantly told they are only as good as their last outcome they will begin to believe they are only valued by what they produce, rather than who they are. Sanschagrin instead suggested celebrating behavior, attitude, and repeatable excellence. Understand how and why employees achieved a certain outcome can be a great teaching tool and a stronger recipe for success than if leaders only focus on the end result.
Sanschagrin also said that the mission statement of a company should be devalued, and great attention should be focused on individual missions. Mission statements are often created at a higher level and there is likely a strong degree of turnover since the mission statement has been crafted. Focusing on mission statements rather than actual missions also creates a dissonance, as employees rarely have the same mission as their superiors.
“[The biggest culture killer is] when you as a business owner or a leader have a certain mission and you have the audacity to believe this is the same mission your people are on,” Sanschagrin said.
