Why your company culture is so important - even in a company of two!

Culture - it underpins who you are, what you stand for, how you behave, what you value and what your customers can expect from you as a company. Culture is more than just a mission statement - it binds the company together and informs how staff behave. Companies with 100s of employees need to identify and reinforce their company culture to ensure all of their staff are aligned in the profile that they present to the world - but isn't that just as important for an SME or a two-man band? If your company culture is healthy then everyone works for the benefit of the organisation, pulling together to ensure the customer is satisfied; in an unhealthy company there are frequent instances of individuals working to benefit themselves and their own needs. Company culture can make or break a company!

                                                                                                                 Picture: Stuart Miles

Where there is a healthy company culture, where Directors, Management and Staff are all valued for the job they do and the contribution they make and are recognised and rewarded equally, stress and anxiety are minimised; staff retention is reduced too. There is a buzz about the place, employees are proud of working for their company and company reputation soars. As reputation increases, so trust increases and sales increase - if sales increase then salaries and bonuses can increase.

Companies experiencing high levels of staff absenteeism and presenteeism and reduced productivity due to stress and anxiety in the work place often only need to look dispassionately at their culture to see where things are going wrong. Aligning teams to a single goal, viewing culture as a strategic tool and training staff to be emotionally intelligent are interventions which take a relatively short period of time but have been proven to improve individual performance and company productivity.

                                                                                                                      Picture: Renjith Krishnan

Release Your Potential works with senior and middle management initially and then facilitates team involvement to ensure your company culture is working for you, to release the potential of your staff and your company.