The competition may sign up to attend your company webinars, listen to the podcasts, download the website resources and swipe the marketing materials at the next trade show. But, there’s one thing your competitors cannot do and that’s spirit away the company’s culture under the cloak of darkness. Each company has a culture whether they know it or not and owns their culture, the way they do business lock, stock and barrel.
Let’s make sure we’re all on the same page here. Wikipedia defines a company’s culture this way, “Organizational culture is the behavior of humans who are part of an organization and the meanings that the people attach to their actions. Culture includes the organization values, visions, and norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs and habits.” A company’s culture has more to do with how an employee feels towards, acts and treats a customer than just answering the phone with a friendly voice.
Culture is not a game-face one puts on when entering the workplace, wears during the day and stuffs into a locker on the way out of building. Culture is the lynchpin of who the company is, how they do business, what their aspirations are, where they’re heading in the future, what they truly believe, put into action and how they live out each day. Culture also has a lot to do with who these people really are once they pass out of the building exists. Culture has no boundaries.
Mashable posted an insightful article titled, 4 Sneaky Ways to Determine Company Culture in an Interview. Here’s the gist: 1. “Can you tell me about the busiest times of the year”, 2. “How often does the staff meet”, 3. “Do you have any suggestions for where I can get lunch”, and 4. “Are there family photos at work?” – all great subjects to explore during the interview process.
Create a company culture that no competitor can steal and would have a difficult time copying. Take Zappos for instance. Their fanatical customer service model is rivaled by no other organization on this planet. Members of their team strongly believe in the company culture and live it out each day no matter what comes their way.
