BAJAN SUN MAGAZINE
OCT 2014
Tips For Keeping Your Company's Culture Alive:
C
hange is never easy but it is essential for your
business to grow, despite the many challenges
that you may face. New customers, new spaces, and
new employees: amongst the flurry of change, it can
be too easy to lose hold of what made your business,
your business.
No two companies are exactly alike, and a company
that was founded with a particular mission, ethos, or
mindset should try and preserve what made it
different: that cultural inspiration is likely
responsible for at least a portion of your success. In
my experience, I’ve been able to cling onto the
magical spark that makes my business special by
following these tips.
1. Allow the environment to determine rules
Businesses have to evolve organically—there is no
way around that. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed some
serious issues with business owners who try to adopt
weird techniques or tricks that they read from a
book, or heard from a seminar.
Don’t get me wrong: a lot of that advice is useful, as
long as you don’t just take someone else’s model and
try to shoehorn your business into it—there is no one
-size-fits-all solution to running a company. If your
office has a relaxed atmosphere, and is doing really
well, there’s no reason to turn that on its head. The
same goes for more formal workplaces. Really, it’s
all about what feels right to you, and your style of
management. After all, it is your business. Figure out
what fits right early on in the business’s life, and set
your policies accordingly. That way, whatever
culture you develop is comfortable and functional.
2. Foster cooperation
Nothing will kill a company’s culture faster that
disunity. I’ve seen far too many good businesses go
down the tubes because the management thought that
strong competition would weed out the weak, and let
the strong rise to the top. That whole mentality has
been roundly disproved—your top people will leave
if they don’t like how the business is being run.
Your staff should buy-in to your company’s culture,
and should feel supported and happy within it.
Everyone is different, and some people will gravitate
to more rigid or loosely designed work
environments. Find people who mesh well with your
management style, and who feel they can flourish in
your business’s culture. Then foster cooperation—as
your employees work together, they’ll strengthen
and fortify that culture.
3. Protect your mission
Never forget why you started this business in the
first place. Very few people start a company to
simply make money. Trust me—there are much
easier ways to earn a living. Rather, people begin
businesses to pursue a passion or goal. It doesn’t
matter if that goal is something as simple
as providing good customer service, or as lofty
as making an impact on society. Your company’s
culture should spring from that mission, and from
your passion. Forgetting why you started could kill
the very soul of your business. So never lose sight of
that mission, and do all that you can to fulfill it.
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