What is culture?

What is culture?

Company culture is about values, purpose, beliefs, shared attitudes and behaviours, rules that are written and unwritten. In other words ‘it’s how we do things around here’. It’s what the company stands for. No business culture is the same. You can’t look at another company’s culture and copy it. It has to be about your business. Culture is made up of your company purpose, values and behaviours of your business. You could say it’s the personality of the company. It’s the DNA of your business; it’s what makes you unique or put simply it’s what makes you different from your competitors.  Anyone can set up a business and copy what you do but they can’t copy your culture no matter how hard they try.

Every company has a culture

Do you think that culture is something you don’t want to introduce in your business? If that’s the case, I’ve got news for you. Every company already has a culture, but is it the culture that you want? Every business has a way of doing things that has developed over time. I’m talking about the way people are recruited, managed, communicated to or rewarded, how decisions are made and how employees are developed. For many companies nothing is defined. Everyone does their own thing. There is no structure, employees do their job the way they want to and go home. You may be annoyed at how employees do things or the way they treat customers. That is your culture.

 There is some good news.....

The good news is that you can define the culture of your company.

Here are some questions to get you thinking about your current company culture.

• Is your current culture helping you reach your business goals?
• Will the current culture support your growth plans?
• Does your current culture have a purpose beyond making a profit?

 Culture is not just something large corporate businesses do. Every business can define the culture they want. I want you to understand that you too can do this in your business. You don’t have to be Google, Facebook or Starbucks to do this. I promise if you do this your business will be transformed.

As you employ more people you will see your culture start to drift. It’s critical to maintain a strong culture for growth. Business owners who are really serious about their business growth realise the importance of having the right culture. Culture is as important, if not more important than your business strategy. Why? Culture underpins everything you are trying to achieve in your business. Culture is the core of your business and it must be strong. Everyone knows what happens when you don’t have strong foundations. Your business will become weak and start to crumble.