012 - Company Culture & Why It Matters
For a lot of people, company culture is intangible. But, like many other things, just because you're not paying attention to it doesn’t mean you don’t have it. In this episode, we’ll talk about what culture means to us, share some examples of “good” cultures, and give you some resources and ideas you can use to start putting your company’s culture into writing and practice.
Show Notes
Story of the Show — There’s an extremely well-known company that started in 1985. Their company values were integrity, commitment, respect, and excellence. They were a smashing success. (3:18)
How do we define company culture? (4:48)
How are values and company culture intertwined? (9:53)
What does the Benali culture look like? (14:24)
Where is the right place to start with company culture? (18:13)
How do you discover and identify your values? (23:53)
After you write out your values, here’s the next step. (26:58)
When you discover someone who fundamentally disagrees with your values and it’s disruptive to your team, there’s only one thing you can do. (33:48)
What if you’re creating your culture statement and you think, “this is NOT how our culture is now.” How do you reverse course and get in line with your culture statement? (38:02)
Is there actually value in defining your company culture? If so, what’s the value? (42:08)
Culture can be a competitive advantage (44:14)
Mount Rushmore — Culture Musts (47:40)
Quote of the Day — “I came to see that culture is not just an aspect of the game. It IS the game.” - Lewis Gerstner (53:18)
One Thing You Can Actually Go Do — Make an effort to write out the things that are most important to you. Then, if you have employees who really do embody your culture, review what you’ve written out and see what their thoughts are. (55:13)
Closing the story — The $100 billion company, well, it was Enron. Integrity, commitment, respect, and excellence were their written values, but clearly they didn’t live those values. (56:51)
Ethan’s Insights — Intern Insights is no more! Welcome to the team, Ethan! (58:06)
Quotable Moments
“You want the culture in your company to reflect your values and the things that are important to you.” — M
“To me, culture is about belonging.” — K
“Start by identifying what’s important to you and writing them down.” — M
“If you’re going to have a company culture that really sticks, you’ve got to go do it yourself. You have to be the role model, the example.” — K
“When you have a culture statement and your values written out, you now have something more or less objective to point to and say, this is the issue.” — M
Mount Rushmore
Focal Point by Brian Tracy
Hiring for Attitude by Mark Murphy
Sample Company Culture Statement (see resource list below) — Martin’s GW
Alignment process - present your culture statement to your team
Start with yourself - know how you are and who you want to become — Khalil’s GW
Find companies that fit your values - use them as a role model and blueprint for your company
Employee reviews
Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
Resources
Brian Tracy resources about values
Benali values (Together is better; Always be inspired; Just be real; Make it work; Change is certain; Celebrate good times)
5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Gary Chapman
More from Martin
More from Khalil
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