The 7 Ingredients in Your Corporate Culture
& 10 Ways You Can Feed Your Culture Remotely
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
I was thinking about how different Fridays feel these days. No “going home for the weekend”. It’s more like staying home for the weekend. So, how we close shop and set things in a good state is very different.
Just as we typically look forward to the weekend, I want you to look forward to Mondays. I am hoping to share a few thoughts that will help you get in that mindset. It’s even something that can apply to the people you are “locked up” with if that is the state of your home these days.
Sometimes I focus on to-do lists, budgets, and processes. But I never forget that it’s mostly about the people. Whether it’s the people you work with or live with, culture rules the day. I think of corporate or family culture kind of like I think of jambalaya. You can take the basic ingredients and add this or that and it’s a whole different thing, for better or for worse.
Here’s the recipe for corporate culture:
Start with a mission, add shared values, whip in vision, then bake at the temperature of your communication and interaction with one another. Let it cool on the business goals and sniff the aroma of the organizational atmosphere. You can almost smell it.
Corporate culture is not optional; you have one. It may taste sweet like cupcakes or look more like a fine wine. We just don’t want it to smell fishy. Whatever it is today, it can be even better by Monday. Believe it!
Getting a sense of corporate culture is why I love to visit you in your offices. It is harder for us to get that sense when we are social distancing, but I know that it is possible. Let’s see consider how to do it and, if we get this right, you’ll have something to look forward to on Monday.
If every team member begins to think about what they are personally throwing into the corporate culture and how it mixes together, you can begin to sweeten the pot.
Let’s say you tend to be a Debbie Downer (I’m not saying you are) but that is an ingredient that you probably don’t want your culture to taste like. You can even think of this in the way you communicate remotely. Have you ever looked at the “FROM” line of the email and thought immediately, “Oh no, what now”?
We need to work on the mixture between the reality of our current situation and the vision of our collective future. We might need a bit more optimism. We might need someone to write the recipe out for us if we don’t know the vision of our organization.
Even so, here are 10 things you can do, even if you’re working remotely to help begin to build a better culture today:
Get a taste for the long-term vision of your organization
Understand how what you do impacts your clients
When you’re working, give it your best, but don’t be a perfectionist
Determine to be resilient
Write a story about why you like working where you do
Think of ways you would be able to contribute to building the organization
Tell one of your colleagues something that you appreciate about them
Determine to turn-around something that has been troublesome for you
Offer to help a team member that has been struggling when you have a few minutes
Congratulate yourself for the good work that you do
Your leaders will be able to make a big contribution to the culture of the practice, but don’t leave yourself out of this equation. If you have ideas to make, share them. Everyone wants to have meaningful work and a way to contribute to society in a lasting way.
Have a great weekend and come back to “the office” Monday with a smile on your face.
If you’d like a mission, vision, and values template to review the ingredients that are making up your culture, request it from Kris Hartland.
About the Author
Bernie DeLaRosa, CFP®, ChFC®, CRPC®, CLU®, APMA®, CASL®, BFA™
Managing Business Consultant
- Mergers/Acquisitions/Practice Sales
- Legal Agreement Definition
- Advisor Leadership Skills
- Initial Practice Assessment