9 Tools To Build A Powerful Company Culture
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Company culture is just as important as the product or service being offered.
David Finkel states, “Culture is the invisible force that shapes how your team approaches situations and the default behaviors they act out.”
“The way we do things” is essential to building a great company and offering something valuable to its customer and the team. Often, the values of a company are its core differentiator.
Everything begins and ends with executing what’s most important to the company.
You can’t take one big whack to instill culture into a company.
Culture is built over time and repetition.
David calls this the “1,000 Taps of the Culture Hammer.” It doesn’t take just one big whack over the head with a culture hammer. Instead, it takes 1,000 small taps over time. You never create a culture in one moment — it accumulates over time.
I have found to build a good company culture; these tools work the best:
1/ Stories
These are cultural stories you repeatedly share throughout the company.
Everyone must participate in these stories. In one of my companies, it’s a core value to “accept and solve problems,” given we operate in a complex B2B aerospace market.
A story we share is how a client had a component of their aircraft catch fire in flight and how we helped solve the problem as a team (nobody was injured).
2/ Repeated Sound Bites
Sound bites are short hooks to remind people of specific behaviors.
“Accept problems, then solve them” is a sound bite we often say — and as the CEO, I say it the most to remind people of how important it is.
3/ Behavior Models
Culture starts at the top.
It’s where good and bad culture stems from. A company’s leadership team influences how the team behaves in certain situations.
People are always watching, so the influencers must act the part.
