Comments on: Where Does Your Company Culture Rank?

By: Derek Mansfield

Derek Mansfield — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:10:42 +0000

Very interesting article and comments.
My company has 3 main offices – London, New York and Kiev.
When I started our Ukrainian operation 10 years ago the service culture was still very Soviet. Ask for something in a shop and they would say Da or Nyet. But nothing more than that. There was no “I’m sorry, try –” or “One moment, I’ll find out–”
You may think getting people to be pleasant or sociable is hardly going the extra mile. But in those post Perestroika days smiling on the street made you highly suspect.
Similarly, management style to motivate staff was to fine them. If a member of staff didn’t deliver – given a delivery date meant anything …. they lost a week’s pay. There was no culture of personal responsibility, let alone taking pleasure in making sure things worked on time.
Ten years on its starting to be a little different. Certainly people smile on the street, and a retail assistant will try a little harder. But going the extra mile, persistently, continuously, is not main stream culture.
In my own company I’m pleased to say we are achieving it a lot of the time.
We don’t fine people, nor do we pay bonuses.
We’re not a large company so we have regular meetings discussing projects, customers, the company finances. Skype video helps this a lot.
I think our people work so hard because profit is not our primary goal; although capitalism is alive and well our primary goal is to enjoy what we do, and become expert in it. And, a big and, we only work with clients we like and respect.
Additionally, we keep things simple. With several languages to cope with (English is as different to American as Ukrainian is to Russian) we have to; especially as our business is expert and technical (web and sofware development). So we avoid management speak and marketing speak and techno babble. Then we all have clear understanding.
Someone once said to me you need excellence to win a client, and you need to go the extra mile to keep them. I think this is true.
We work to make enough money sufficient for our corporate needs; this generally means we are not over-reliant for income from any one customer and so we’re not afraid to fire an unreasonable client.
Consequently we work in an atmosphere of openness and mutual respect. Working this way, when we need to go the extra mile it’s a given that we will …. because it is a pleasure to do so.
Cordially,
Derek Mansfield

By: Sonny Gill

Sonny Gill — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:02:53 +0000

@Chuck – You’re spot on with your last assessment as the culture being the cornerstone of a company. It shines through and not just through marketing but through all of the business’ strategies. And yes, communication is definitely first for a reason – with any initiative, communicating with your colleagues or clients is vital for its success. Thanks for weighing in!
@Marc – Seems like many companies forget that everything starts from your internal customers. Great point, Marc!

By: Marc Meyer

Marc Meyer — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:18:27 +0000

Sonny, Great first post, but then again I’m not surprised given the author. I’m not sure if I’ve written, blogged or tweeted this next point but it’s this simple: Who’s more an important to an organization and its success? Customers or employees? On the surface it might seem like a simple no-brainer answer, but it’s not.

By: Chuck Hemann

Chuck Hemann — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:07:41 +0000

Sonny – this is an excellent post and certainly very timely. It seems to me that ensuring that the corporate culture is woven into the fabric of everything you do is made even more critical by the difficult economic times.
For one, your employees are on edge. Now more than ever they want to feel connected to something. The only way they feel really connected to their corporate culture is if that culture is being “messaged” from the top-down. Not sure if you did it on purpose, but you did mention communication first, which I think is spot on.
Second, if your employees are antsy about the environment you can probably sure that your customers are as well. If your employees aren’t connecting to the culture, it becomes more difficult for them to portray a positive vibe for the customer, hence leading to customer dissatisfaction and ultimately a potential decrease in sales.
One last thing I was thinking about as I was reading your post…It seems to me that corporate culture is the most important piece of the puzzle. The keystone if you will. Without a strong culture, will your traditional PR, or social marketing, or even your investor relations work the way it should? Probably not.
Anyway, thanks again for the great thoughts!

By: Sonny Gill

Sonny Gill — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:29:04 +0000

Stephen,
Great points to add to the discussion. It’s definitely a very tricky thing to build from the ground up within a company that doesn’t have it to begin with. I’ve been in that type of setting before and forcing the issue doesn’t positively help the culture or vision.
Appreciate your thoughts!

By: Stephen Denny

Stephen Denny — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:10:18 +0000

A few points to consider before you go down the path of culture creation:
1. You can’t instill a culture on an unsuspecting victim: if it doesn’t exist within the company to begin with – usually emanating from the Founder/CEO and management team – you have to hire it from outside. Then, those employees who choose to stick around realize they need to change to mirror those who are being promoted. This is how cultures get grafted onto existing companies.
2. Enforcement, either through incentives or penalties: once you’ve identified the traits you want in your culture, have brought on visible people that embody your cultural norms and have culled those who can’t adapt, you need to reward those actions (and people) who live them and penalize those actions (and people) who don’t. This usually shows up in the review process, where “cultural” scores provided by formal or informal 360 reviews put some thoroughness to the inherent squishiness of soft metrics.
3. Reinforcement: from the top down, these have to be visible every day. If they’re not – and this is why marketing may own the brand development and measurement process but can’t own the “culture” – and the senior management doesn’t embrace it, it’s gone. No one will follow you, regardless of how high you wave the flag.
Culture is a tricky one. It needs to be a natural process that is constantly touched upon and nurtured. It’s easily killed off, too.

By: Sonny Gill

Sonny Gill — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:47:11 +0000

@Aman – Even for those who do it well, continually staying on top of things and re-examining leadership, as well as the vision, will help its growth. Totally on point. Appreciate the comment!
@KJ – That’s fantastic. I felt the same way when I read Olivier’s post. A big point is to followup with your manager and discuss together about things your department and company could benefit from. Thanks for the comment!

By: KJ Rodgers

KJ Rodgers — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:24:10 +0000

I read the Function of the Marketing department and found it so useful that I sent to the marketing manager of my company.

By: Sonny Gill

Sonny Gill — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:07:06 +0000

Ed,
The vision that Brainstorm has instilled nails this whole concept. One look at your guys’ about page shows that you get it and see the benefit of placing such a high premium on this type of environment and strategy.
Appreciate you sharing that example, Ed – and thank you, glad to be here!
Sonny

By: Aman

Aman — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:04:44 +0000

As someone in the leadership role, I completely agree. You have to be able to drink that kool-aid, before having others drink it and actually enjoy it!! This definitely makes me re-examine what I, and my peers who are in leadership roles, need to do to sustain that vision.
Very well-written article. Looking forward to future ones!

By: Ed Illig

Ed Illig — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:46:01 +0000

At Brainstorm we hope to engender just the sort of culture you speak to.
Be it sharing delicious accounts, conducting internal/external listening sessions and project recaps, offering our facilities to clients to work off-site or hold their soccer meetings in our conference rooms, thank you notes, flowers, or even taking in a movie over lunch – we place a premium on knowledge-sharing and connection.
Of course only my customers and colleagues can speak to the relative success of our efforts.
Nice debut article, Sonny!
-Ed