There is a topic that often gets neglected in the popular entrepreneurial discourse which I think needs a little more focus – culture. The culture of a company or enterprise is often that unquantifiable force that drives an enterprise, guides recruitment and selection and impacts on performance and team retention. Culture is shaped by a mix of a lot of differing factors including the vision of the entrepreneur(s), the company’s approach to recruiting talent and working with people, the practices and ways of doing things on a day to day basis, the style of communications, decision-making and how the company engages with customers, suppliers and partners. A lot of companies even put huge emphasis on manifesting their company culture through the symbols and signs and layout of their offices as they recognise how important it is to reinforce positive culture and their way of doing things.
Unfortunately, I think that culture is under appreciated on the road to success, when in fact it is vital. We often forget that culture uniquely binds people together in a shared approach and way of operating along the business journey. A positive, high energy and driven culture can massively impact the performance of individual workgroups and the enterprise itself. Culture impacts performance. Culture drives work practices. Culture impacts hiring and retention and it is one of the key success factors in scaling your business. It also explains why some companies buzz with energy and performance while others don’t.
I have noticed that it is important to actively reinforce your company culture from time to time. That can be as simple as organising a team trip or team afternoon out of the office. It’s so important to encourage open dialogue and communications among all of the team and there is nothing better than an informal event to let that happen naturally. It’s also a great way of sharing the myriad of entrepreneurial stories or company folklore with new members of the team. This context setting, bound by some fun, can be the most reinforcing catalyst of a company culture.
I firmly beleive that culture is a vital element of any successful entrepreneurial story.
Alan Foy.
There is a topic that often gets neglected in the popular entrepreneurial discourse which I think needs a little more focus – culture. The culture of a company or enterprise is often that unquantifiable force that drives an enterprise, guides recruitment and selection and impacts on performance and team retention. Culture is shaped by a mix of a lot of differing factors including the vision of the entrepreneur(s), the company’s approach to recruiting talent and working with people, the practices and ways of doing things on a day to day basis, the style of communications, decision-making and how the company engages with customers, suppliers and partners. A lot of companies even put huge emphasis on manifesting their company culture through the symbols and signs and layout of their offices as they recognise how important it is to reinforce positive culture and their way of doing things.
Unfortunately, I think that culture is under appreciated on the road to success, when in fact it is vital. We often forget that culture uniquely binds people together in a shared approach and way of operating along the business journey. A positive, high energy and driven culture can massively impact the performance of individual workgroups and the enterprise itself. Culture impacts performance. Culture drives work practices. Culture impacts hiring and retention and it is one of the key success factors in scaling your business. It also explains why some companies buzz with energy and performance while others don’t.
I have noticed that it is important to actively reinforce your company culture from time to time. That can be as simple as organising a team trip or team afternoon out of the office. It’s so important to encourage open dialogue and communications among all of the team and there is nothing better than an informal event to let that happen naturally. It’s also a great way of sharing the myriad of entrepreneurial stories or company folklore with new members of the team. This context setting, bound by some fun, can be the most reinforcing catalyst of a company culture.
I firmly beleive that culture is a vital element of any successful entrepreneurial story.
Alan Foy.
