Have you given your company culture much thought lately?
If asked, could your clients describe your firm’s culture?
And what about your team members? Could they define it?
You may be wondering why company culture matters so much. People come to work, they do their job and somehow it works and your business keeps moving forward. I recently came across a company that made me think more about company culture and its greater impact on a company’s growth.
How One Firm Is Making Their Company Culture Work for Them
Right now, we are working with a firm that has a distinctive culture. Every single employee in the more than 20-person firm is extremely active in charity and/or in their communities outside of the office. We discovered this when writing bios for each team member. The similarities provide a theme of caring and giving, and the consistency is frankly unusual.
Now, volunteering outside of the office is certainly not something that causes business success. However, it does define the kind of people that work in a firm, and ultimately, their character. This propensity can often be underestimated as it is a feeling that a prospect or client may get when working with a firm filled with people that are individually purposed beyond themselves.
I wondered if the firm hired for this desire to volunteer or if they mandated it? Actually, when talking to the founders about what I uncovered about their team, they shared that this wasn’t by design or mandated. At least, that’s what they thought. However, upon further conversations with team members, we learned that the founders were extremely strong givers to the community, but also shared that same giving spirit with their actions amongst team members. The culture was absolutely defined by the leaders, and others followed or found themselves amongst like-minded people when being introduced to the firm. People don’t give of themselves in a meaningful way because they have to, but because it is who they are or have become.
This firm is incredibly successful in new client acquisition because their clients are true fans of their work. It is not because their team members are active in charity and the community. That is only a telltale sign of who they are as people.
This may not be your culture, but the question is – what is your purpose and focus? Culture most often starts at the top.
