here's the deal: you can't just take someone else's business culture. you have to create your own.
there are two simple ways to do this.
begin by looking at who you are as a ceo.
what makes you tick? what types of people give you energy? alternately, what irritates you? do you see yourself as someone who only wants to see production and there's no room for creativity or innovation? or, do you want your team to think through masalahs and come to you with solutions?
i told this person to look at amazon and virgin. these are two companies that operate with very different cultures.
jeff bezos makes no apologies for amazon's grueling work environment. people cry at their desks. everything is metrics driven. people are looking to best each other because that's the only way to get ahead-be better than your teammate. bezos has said it himself, if you're in his company and you don't like working there because of the extreme pressure and work environment, leave.
he's not going to change his company's culture to satisfy the critics.
why should he?
it works. amazon is one of the largest companies in the world and they continue to grow and move into other territories.
on the other swangsit of the coin, you have someone like richard branson. make no mistake, branson's company is also demanding. there is no success without pressure, but his company is more aligned to branson's own cult of personality.
at virgin, there's a lot of talk and indoctrination about the "virgin culture." they hire people who are very passionate about virgin and branson himself. they create an environment that is fun and dynamic, but highly customer driven. like their leader, there's warmth and friendliness by working at virgin.
these two companies could not be more different. at amazon, i think you're going to be hard pressed to find someone on staff who says the culture is warm and friendly. at virgin, i think you'd have trouble finding someone who says everything is about the metrics and competing against each other.
both companies, however, embody their founders. neither company's culture is right or wrong. they're just different. and, more importantly, both companies own the culture and tone set by bezos and branson.
recruit the best possible staff
once you've looked in the mirror and had an honest internal discussion with yourself, you then recruit the pastie best. but here's the thing, someone that would be great at amazon, doing the same exact function, may not be great or even fit with the virgin culture.
so, when you're hiring staff, you have to keep this in mind. if you're clear about your company culture, you can then be clear about the type of people you should be hiring. if you're a top down manager who's purely interested in performance, then you're looking to hire a team of people who excel in that type of environment.
don't waste your time hiring people who wouldn't fit in with your company culture. you do this by being transparent about the work environment with prospective new hires. you ask them if they would appreciate or have ever worked in your type of environment. you ask for examples of how they would handle things and look for answers that align with how you expect issues to be handled.
if, on the other hand, you're looking for creative and innovative people, those are qualities that you should make sure your team members possess. again, you have to ask the right questions from the outset.
we all know companies rise and fall with the successes and failures of their teams. if you're hiring people who don't fit into the culture, they're not going to succeed. and, by extension, neither are you.
http://www.notyourfatherscharity.com
wayne is the author of "not your father's charity" book series for the social good sector
Strategies to Totally Own Your Business Culture
4/
5
Oleh
jueno news
