How to Create Company Culture Where People Love to Work
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You Don't Have to Be a Dictator to Command Respect
When I talk to people about creating a positive work environment, they usually start off on the right track or were at least well intentioned.
It normally goes something like this...
"I HATED where I used to work and my boss was the worst. Nobody ever felt valued or appreciated and when I decided to start my own business I swore to myself I would do things differently..."
Now, here's where the stories either go one direction or another, and pretty quickly.
Story 1
"But I tried to be the nice guy, include my people and build meaningful relationships with them and I just got ran all over! They treated me like I wasn't their boss and I feel like they should respect where there check comes from, right!? Now, I've become just like my boss was and I hate that about myself!"
Story 2
"But I'm way too busy with growing the company and far too busy to be involved with their lives. One day, when we've reached out revenue goals, I'll take time to really focus on the culture part of my company."
Now, there is a Story 3 that involves companies that have yet to reach the point of hiring but we'll let them just hang tight on this one.
Let's address Story 1 first.
My Story 1 people is where I fall in this conversation.
I had these grandiose ideas of what a company SHOULD look like and wanted real and meaningful relationships with my employees.
What we did heavily involved having the right labor force in place so it was imperative that we have strong unity within our team.
Well, being in my early-to-mid 20's at the time, what I found was my employees were either right around my age or even older than me.
I felt like they treated me as such becaue of my age and began to resent them and myself.
At times, I even told my girlfriend (now wife) that I wished I had a bit of gray hair.
You know, the Clooney look.
So ridiculous but I literally thought it would help.
Now, given I can't instantly age myself on command because I don't have magic powers, I took a different course of action.
No longer was I the nice guy, it was time to say hello to my little friend.
And no, not a massive, Tony Montana-sized weapon but definitely the attitude.
It was my way or the highway...mane!
Listen to me and what I say or you're out of here.
I don't want your feedback, don't need it.
Just do your job and we'll be fine.
Well, the business grew and we soon found ourselves in the multi-million dollar range in revenue.
Success!
Just be mean and you'll get results...end of blog.
WRONG!
You see, we were growing, yes, but we were also making a silly amount of careless errors.
Customer complaints were through the roof and I found myself putting out more fires than the FDNY.
These MORONS, I exclaimed!
How hard is your job? I mean, really?
You're either stupid or you just don't care...
Ah, right...
You don't care.
Why?
Because you're being treated like you don't matter.
I wish that harsh reality came to me that quickly, I really do.
It took me looking at a full year of crazy growth and realizing our profitability had all but disappeared.
As in, we're making millions of dollars with little to show for it.
Yea...talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
I had to change. I had to grow. And it had to happen fast.
Fast forward one year later and we made about 25% less in revenue.
That's a nasty revenue dip for most companies to endure.
But guess what?
Our profitability blew right through the friggin roof!
In fact, so much so that we had MORE MOOLAH in the bank making 25% less money than we did the year prior.
Unbelievable? Not really...
So, how'd we do it?
Well, that my friend, is a very long and drawn out story.
One that truthfully wouldn't be fully encapsultated in this short blog.
But I'll tell you this...
It started with getting back to focusing on our people.
It started with creating an amazing culture and environment where people felt like they were a part of something, and something special.
A part of a family, a tribe, a fraternity or whatever metaphor you want to use.
We rewarded and celebrated our wins like Rob Gronkowski at a night club after the Superbowl.
We instilled a system whereby going above and beyond the call of duty earned you points and whoever had the most points earned for that month would earn recognition, a picture on the wall and a nice gift card for $50-100.
We built in friendly competition, started doing company retreats to do things outside of the office.
If we had a long day, we ordered pizza for the entire office to reward the extra effort.
And, just like that, right before our very eyes, the ideas starting churning and the comradery was at an all-time high.
But wait, Chris, how did they not go right back into treating you like the red-headed, step child? (Sorry, I love you, Gingers...just a figure of speech)
It was because I read up on effective leadership.
I followed the major influencers that teach you how to command respect.
We now had a well-oiled machine.
We were doing things better than anyone else...and they KNEW IT.
You see, where I thought my age hurt me, it actually began to wield power.
People got excited about this young, 20-something changing things up.
Doing things differently than their previous jobs.
Being different from their previous boss(es).
And appreciating more than if I were just another blue-haired, grumpy dude in the corner office with the door always closed.
People started doing things, crazy things, all on their own.
Like sleeping in a rental car in the parking lot of a job site to ensure our product wasn't stolen when we had no place to store it, halfway across the country.
I didn't, nor would I ever, ask someone to do that.
He called and told me it happened and did it without a second of hesitation.
Or how about two consecutive years without missing a single day of work, weekends included.
Talking work-related calls at midnight but not wanting to bother me so I could get my rest and enjoy time with my wife.
Here's the thing.
You can go far on your own.
You really can!
But you can change the world when you go together.
Yay, sounds awesome, let's go!
Not quite off the hook just yet.
Don't Forget Our Lonesome Story 2
You know, the one that will focus on building culture later and just focus on growth for now because it's what business requires.
Now, more than likely you are under tremendous pressure and stress.
I get it, I really do.
Maybe your investors want results or maybe you're rapidly approaching your runway.
It's possible your barely making payroll every week or every other week.
Dude, I don't envy your situation and I can empathize with you way more than you even know.
But, here's another quick story I'll share with you in hopes that it will cause you to rethink your plank walk.
A dear friend and mentor of mine told me of a story that took place some years ago.
A connoisseur of adventure, this one is, he often finds himself doing wild and crazy outdoor activities.
The kind where you see YouTube videos and think there's no way you'd even attempt such a thing.
Well, on one of his ski trips with a client, he found himself coming over a ridge and grabbing air, as they call it.
The problem is not that he was soaring through the air but rather what waited for him on the other side.
A giant, industrial snow plow.
One of these bad boys:
Unable to defy the laws of physics and move in mid-air, he smashed into it, leaving him temporarily paralyzed.
In other words, the snow plow won.
He laid in a hospital bed, not only fighting for his life but hoping he'd walk again.
Meanwhile, the market crash of 2008-09 was nearly in full force.
His company dropped down to about 1/3rd of the previous year's revenue.
All the while, he's cooped up and unable to do much of anything.
Having already established a phenomenal company culture, he turned to his team.
As he recalls to me, "I told them we had to figure out where to cut waste to save the company."
He threw incentive after incentive to anyone within the company that could find ways to eliminate wasteful spending.
They not only found it, they created new ways that even he hadn't thought of.
Things like re-negotiating lease terms on their office space without his knowledge.
As in, they didn't pay rent for several months until they could stabilize the company!
How on earth the pulled that one of is beyond me, and him!
Here's the thing...not only did they temporarily save the company but when the market turned and the company started to grow again, they didn't even have to go pursue revenue growth again.
The company had increased profitability so much that they had better numbers than they'd ever had!
So, sure, go chase your revenue goals to flex your muscle and show what a Titan of Industry you are.
I can promise you one thing, it's a total vanity play.
And let's assume you do have investors.
You think if you find a way to increase your profitability by 20% by eliminating waste and shore up the foundation of the firm by building strong company culture that they're going to pull the plug on their investment?
Truth be told, I bet they'd double down on you and the company because it shows maturity and effective leadership.
And if not, you might have the wrong investors, my friend.
In which we have an entirely different conversation to have.
People Want to Belong to Something Special
I wish for every reader to experience this...
The moment an employee tells you they want to make a career out of working for you.
That their dreams in life are now a shared dream you once had and made a reality.
It's like someone telling you they love your kid, you did a wonderful job parenting and they'd love to be considered as a Godparent...
I don't know, I'm not a parent, but I can only imagine it's something along those lines.
Either way, you get my point.
People want to believe in something and do something meaningful.
More often than not, they WANT you to be the leader.
They believe in you and your abilities to provide for them and their family.
What greater compliment, am I right?
And here's the beautiful part...it often has nothing to do with the money.
If all my greatest hires would have happened because I had more money to offer than the next guy I wouldn't have had a single one of them accept my offer.
Seriously!
That's not an exaggeration.
Every single one of the best employees I've ever had were given the choice of working with us for less over a more lucrative job offer.
But they chose us.
And it's not because I'm just some savvy salesman.
It's because we shared with them the future of what we envisioned.
We were transparent about the lofty goals we had for the company and challenged them to envision where they fit into that equation.
We valued their input and feedback.
In fact, we often made changes to the ways we conducted business based on their observations.
What greater feeling could an employee have than knowing their idea is helping the company they work for perform better?
People want to belong.
People want to be somewhere they feel valued and appreciated.
And people want to make an impact, at least if they're worth hiring.
Now, recognize this...
It's a learned skill.
You're going to mess up a few times.
I'm challenging you to stick with it.
You're going to have moments where you curse me and everything I'm writing to you right now.
I forgive you and I would do the same thing.
Truthfully, I would.
I'm teaching you to do something that few people in this world are able to do.
Not that people can't innately do it but more so they just never seek out the knowledge, wisdom, open-mindedness and persistence to execute on it.
But the ones that do figure it out are oozing culture.
The Apples of the world.
The Chick-Fil-A's of the world.
The places where people break their backs and sacrifice everything just to get an interview.
And it's not because they just build cool things and serve good food.
It's because they've become a symbol of excellence.
They stand for something where other companies just make stuff.
You're not just a cog in the wheel, you're a valued asset and a part of a movement.
It only starts with you and it's the same person that stares back at you in the mirror when you wake up in the morning.
What are you going to do? Who are going become and what's your company going to be defined by?
A company that just makes money and sells stuff or one that gets used as examples for other business owners to replicate?
Because THOSE companies...Those companies change the world.
Make sure to listen to the podcast for more on this!
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In the latest episode of Entrepreneur Hour, we drop in to chat a little bit about how to create company culture where people love to work and avoid falling into the trap of not knowing what to do when you go from a company of one to one of many.
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