Why is company culture important? When I work with an organization, the first thing we work on, if it is not already in place, is a vision, mission, and culture. The vision is the big picture, the mission is how we get there, and the culture essentially represents the rules of the game that aligns the team. We work on each proponent of the vision, mission, and culture separately before we tie it all together. The client and I will start on creating the vision, and then we will take it to the team where they tweak and work on it until we finally all agree and say, “Yep, looks good.” Then, we go from the vision to the mission and then to the culture.
When it comes to the culture, the first thing we do is attempt to align the culture with the name of the organization. Let’s just say Command is the name of an organization. We will vertically list down the letters of Command, we will then brainstorm culture-type words that he or she believes apply to the organization to align the team. For example, C may be confidence, O may be opportunity, M may be meticulous, and so on. We’ll come up with those eight words, and then he or she will take them back to the team and encourage them to come up with any additional words. The team might come up with two or three words per letter.
The next week, they’ll vote on the one word that represents each letter of the core values or culture. Once that step is completed, we encourage the team to think of a one or two-liner per word that aligns with the culture and core value of the organization. Finally, through that entire process, no matter how long it takes and how many times we tweak it, we have the vision, the mission, and the culture on which the entire team created together.
Through this process, when it’s all complete, the team is aligned and owns it because they created it. That now becomes one of the tools to keep your team tight and aligned with the core values or culture of the organization. So, when they’re out of alignment on a particular issue, you just say, “Michael, would you be so kind to read the first point of culture”, communication, whatever it says. “How would you rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 in this situation on communication?” He or she answers, “Six.” And you reply, “Are we a six or are we a 10?” “Well, we’re a 10.” “Great, so what needs to happen for you to be a 10 and not a six in communication?” Well, I need to do this, this, and this. “Great, do I have your commitment?” “Yes!” Give them a fist pump and reply, “Great job. Go get ’em.” It becomes a tool to consistently communicate and keep your team aligned with the culture and core values of the organization.
It’s a very powerful tool because they created it. It now becomes part of your review process where they’re rating themselves every quarter or semi-annually to make sure they’re consistently aligned with the vision, mission, and culture of the organization. Instead of previously clocking in eight to five, they now feel they’re part of something because the vision, mission, and rules are defined. And most importantly, if you go to sell that company one day and you have a tight culture, where the entire team is aligned, along with the systems and structure, it’s going to be a lot easier to sell.
That’s the strength and power of having a culture. If any of you want help creating something like this with your organization, feel free to reach out to me, Coach Michael.
COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is a proud Action Coach Franchise partner as well as the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com