Corporate Culture

Hi world,

We're a few days nearer to getting ourselves off the ground and looking to the company structure and culture. We all know that the culture runs top-down, and we are happy to say that at the top is a fount of optimism. We want to make sure that everyone who works with us in any capacity feels that infectious joy that comes from an easy laugh and happy optimism but it is a fine line to walk between nice and too-nice.

In a society that respects the dragons and sharks of the business world, there is a delicate balance between fun and efficiency, kindness and respect of authority. So what kind of culture does one choose to foster in their new business?

Most companies start out with grand ideals, a concept of corporate culture like Google¹ has, envisioning workers getting to choose if they take the stairs or the slide, to have meetings in the boardroom or the meeting eggs, and being able to go to the gym or do their laundry at work to make them feel comfortable and productive. Unfortunately, many new businesses either cannot afford such luxuries or simply do not have the space to work with to allow for such ideals. So one by one, they cut out the benefits, convincing themselves that they will get to that next year, or once they break a million dollars and find that ten years down the road, they have precisely what they started with: a company that holds up money over employees.

Not to say that that is necessarily a negative thing: money is important. Slides don't build themselves and those free, healthy lunches don't grow on trees, as it were. But if that is the goal of your company at your inception, then how do you encourage that when you are at your most vulnerable?

A report from MIT's Economics Department² shows how much of an effect corporate culture can have on productivity and ethics within a company, big or small, new or well established, and an article from the Houston Chronicle discusses the impacts the culture may have on employee behaviour³. That the culture and style of a company can alter the effectiveness and efficiency of that company is a well known concept, and one which deserves a deeper look, for if one can, within the limited means of most startups, foster an environment conducive to hard working, happy employees from the outset, then surely one ought.

We are going to be borrowing from Sir Richard Branson, who listed his top three leadership principles in an interview with Forbes⁴ on September 23, 2014 as listen, learn, and laugh. The Virgin ideals led to a company which listens to their employees and staff, promotes from within, inspires people and is willing to laugh and have fun to enjoy work. That's an impressive thing to be able to say. Most employees work to live, but the staff at Virgin, or at Southwest Airlines, as Katie Morell writes about in her article “6 Ways to Create a Positive Corporate Culture”⁵, enjoy working, laugh frequently and often, and are happy to go the extra mile. In Canada we see this echoed with WestJet, where jokes to captive audiences keep passengers from getting anxious and general friendliness has created a loyal customer base.

So no, world, we won't be starting with slides and free laundry services, but listening, learning, and laughing are all free and promote a culture of welcoming ideas and suggestions. Companies all over say their employees are their biggest asset, but too many espouse the idea without implementing it. If two minds are better than one, then it would follow that fifty are better still. Each employee with us is more than a number, and everyone's ideas have value, even if they are ultimately rejected. The differing perspectives each individual brings gives us all the opportunity to think out of the box and keeps us open to learning. It is too easy to fall into the trap of your own outlook and hold that as the gold standard. Listening to customers, consultants, employees, friends, and family not only keeps us safe from that particular pitfall, but gives us something we cannot buy, allowing us to constantly move forward.

We trust our staff; we hired them for a reason. Each one of us brings something different to the table, has different strengths and resources, and we would consider ourselves fools to not take advantage of what we have right here. With continued efforts to ensure we are always hiring the right people, not just in terms of their areas of expertise but their personalities and willingness to be a part of our team, we are hoping to guarantee that our corporate culture will be one of openness, transparency, sharing, and at the risk of sounding overly sentimental, caring. We want everyone we work with to feel the encouragement and optimism we feel.

What do you think, world? We want to cultivate the best you have to offer us so we can reciprocate. Please leave comments or questions below or through any of our other areas of social media. Your voice counts!

-SWW

1 Directly from Google - http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/culture/

2 The Value of Corporate Culture, Guiso, Sapienza, and Zingales - http://economics.mit.edu/files/9721

3 Organizational Culture & Employee Performance, Davoren - http://smallbusiness.chron.com/organizational-culture-employee-performance-25216.html

4 Richard Branson's Three Most Important Leadership Ideals, Schawbel, Forbes - http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2014/09/23/richard-branson-his-3-most-important-leadership-principles/

5 https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/6-ways-to-create-a-positive-corporate-culture/