If you were asked “What is your business culture? Would you be able to give an honest and clear answer?  When businesses are going well and the owner’s expectations are being met does it matter?  When a business is failing the key question is how are we going to turn this around?  In both scenarios business culture plays a critical role in building and maintaining long term success and value.

Business culture typically refers to the behaviors and beliefs that influence how your staff interact within the work space and outside with your clients.  For you the owner It is the connection between your beliefs and behaviors that is the true test of leadership.  This defines the culture of the business.

Businesses that are unsure about their culture are often not working to their fullest potential.  A murky definition of culture can lead to conflicts, uncertainty, and other challenges.  You can see this when individual managers don’t appear to work well in a team instead adopting a silo mentality.

Defining or changing a business culture can possess challenges for business owners.  Having a healthy business culture can show a higher performance value and better profits.

Some businesses decide that they need multiple cultures to work to their fullest potential.  Having multiple cultures can lead to healthy competition, innovation, and provide a greater form of diversity.

Well what does it mean to have a healthy business culture?  Here are some ground rules to apply:

– You and your key staff are content about the environment they operate in.

– The numbers don’t lie: Your team and company is succeeding or not.

– Change is acceptable and ideas are valued.

– Everyone is clear of their responsibilities and accountable for them.

If these questions were scored say from say 1 to 10 how divergent would the responses be?

From the owners perspective the judgment call is simple: you are not frightened to tackle the issues.  You would be amazed how many owners fudge this.  It is a fundamentally strategic task so plan it out and resource properly.  Its why consultants can be the right solution to make this happen.

So how do you get there?

Change doesn’t come overnight.  Your culture should not be expected to switch overnight either.  How do you know that you need to change your culture?  As a business owner, the best thing you can do is ask.

Ask your team what they think their culture is in the work space, surveys or questionnaires can be a useful tool.  They work in that culture, so they are the experts to say what they think is working and what isn’t.  That combined with how you want your business to be ran can be the first steps in building a business culture that your company can be proud of.

– Be accountable

Your change should start with you.  You and your team should be the leaders and guardians of your business culture.  Everyone should be held accountable for their responsibilities and actions.

– Be consistent

The change you want doesn’t have to be a tremendous change, several slight changes can be equally as effective as a substantial change.  The consistency of the change needs to be prominent.  Your team needs to be serious about the change.

– Be specific

Change needs to come because the results that you are receiving aren’t up to par.  There needs to be specific changes that need to be made.

– Be clear

To develop a culture, you need to be clear with you and your team about what needs to change.  If things need to change, give reasons.  “We are changing this… because of this…”

– Be realistic

Know that not everything needs to change, there are habits that can be kept that is working.  Changing everything about how your company works, isn’t realistic.  If your plan isn’t realistic your team won’t react well.

Each company is different.  Your culture should be unique to your business.  And if you are in the business to change your culture, be patient and be prepared to provide help during the transition for your team.  Change can be hard, but can open your team to a better future.