5 Ways to Build Good Business Culture

With industry often focused on cost-cutting, some leaders have resisted the short-view in corporate decision-making. Instead, they have honored the loyalty and longevity of productive employees. Now in return, a strong sense of dedication to the owners and corporate officers of these businesses is paying them back with better sales and profits.

Because people are the most important business driver, we will investigate 5 things to focus on for improving company culture while improving internal customer service and growing the bottom line of your financial statement.

1. Hire the Right Talent. Companies expect great things from people who get hired and become employees. They need loyal people who can innovate, affect sales, control expenses, and influence customers to be loyal to your brand. However, some statistics show that the typical job interview is less than 50% effective. This is supported by job candidates who believe their interview could have gone better if the interviewer had prepared and asked relevant and probing questions. The focus of the job interview is to find the most qualified person with the skills and experience that match the job; therefore, access to a well-written job description is vital. Use that document to craft your interview questions. When you use a job description as a guide, and you focus on the specific skills needed for the job, you can more easily find the individual who has those skills. Learn how to ask the right behavioral and situational questions to discover your candidate's qualifications; then ask follow-up questions.  
2. Invest in Educational Opportunities for Employees. Although some people don't like check-the-box-training (training just for the sake of training) most will appreciate employee development and skills training. When a person engages in both internal and external educational experiences or seminars that challenge skill level, they most often excel at work. Remember that learning new things can be both rewarding and fun. When your company embraces continuous learning and career development, especially when it comes to understanding how your business and your industry work to make money and stay in business (business acumen), employees contribute more to your success. And training is not as expensive as you might think. You already employ subject matter experts (SMEs). They may not be mentoring other employees; get them talking!
3. Recognize How Positive Recognition Impacts Your Team. Companies that effectively recognize excellent performers enjoy a financial return on their efforts. Generally, people are recognized when they perform extremely well. And praise cannot be vague or non-specific. It should be a form of positive reinforcement in a verbal statement, email, text, or personal note. Managers should deliver good feedback immediately following a good behavior, and as a result, the behavior occurs more often in the future. As you treat your team well, they will manage your customer's expectations. Employees realize that your clients are buying more than products; they are maintaining critical customer relationships.
4. Teach Your Team to Take Care of Company Assets. Assets are anything the company owns that has value; property, plants, and equipment - or intangibles, such as operating procedures, trade secrets, and intellectual property. Share the responsibility to protect company assets and ensure their efficient use. Take care to avoid loss, damage, destruction, theft, unauthorized or improper use, and waste. Remind employees that their pay and any bonuses they might receive are directly related to operating expenses and profitability. Presenting this perspective will shift crewmember’s attitudes to one of more accountability towards their tools and equipment.
5. Trust Employees to Affect Sales and Control Operating Expenses. A healthy culture is about fostering trust. When managers and employees trust each other they do the things they say they are going to do. They are approachable and friendly with one another. They even show support when team members make mistakes. Remember that aligning your words with your actions may be one of the best ways to create trust in the workplace. With trust comes engagement, and engagement adds to the bottom line.

As you work on building your corporate culture, your employees will help you make smarter, more informed decisions. They want to succeed and they are more than willing to contribute to your company's financial success.