Actual combat sharing: entrepreneurship, to first create corporate culture

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Even if you don't instill in your corporate culture every day, you can't do whatever you want, or sometimes think of it as a reinforcement.

Article | Christopher Hann

In the business world, success is not just a bunch of dazzling sales figures, but a deeper business philosophy: What is your business's lifeblood? What value do you want to deliver to your employees and customers? The path to a good enterprise begins with the establishment and embrace of a positive and efficient corporate culture.

5 years ago, Mike West founded the BPV Capital Management company, and the joint venture, which he led, expanded at breakneck speed. In just 2013 years, the company, headquartered in Tennessee State Knoxville, has reached 38 employees, almost doubling. As we explore the mysteries of rapid growth in west, he first mentions hard work and innovation. However, he then pointed out the important role of corporate culture formed from the beginning of the establishment.

West describes BPV's corporate culture as moderate "tension" and "relaxation", that is, Yichi. How does this sound-sounding culture work? I think that if you need to accomplish a task, you have to form a mindset that you should go out and do your best. But if you're going to do creative, creative and constructive work, you need to be free, smile, and relax. ”

Ignite the wisdom of corporate culture sparks, is a start-up company was a very important step in the beginning. But how to continue the spark of corporate culture is a very important day-to-day training for a company to expand from an entrepreneurial team to dozens of or even hundreds of people. Corporate culture training is required for offices in the lead office, down to the mailroom, and even across the country and around the world.

Today, no one speaks and the enterprise culture, without a shoe electric dealer Zappos nodded praise, the enterprise with a high standard of customer service and positive and stable brand reputation in the industry, and "Zappos the home core values" known. According to Zappos Insights manager Christa Foley revealed that, because of its highly sought-after corporate culture, in order to meet the public experience Zappos corporate culture of the urgent desire, Zappos will be located in the former Las Vegas City Hall of the new headquarters to open to the outside world, providing 4 visits daily. It is reported that about 120 people are free to visit every day.

"When you visit Zappos, you can see how employees interact. "You'll find that employees are very happy and intoxicated with their work," Foley says. Our company does not have a uniform dress code, but encourages employees to wear their own clothes. You can also see all kinds of balloons and flags flying around, although it seems a bit messy, but also without losing personality. ”

When Foley joined Zappos, the company had only about 100 employees, and today it has reached 1500, creating more than 1 billion dollars a year. "In the process of rapid expansion of the company, it is not easy to penetrate all aspects of the excellent corporate culture." "It should be a priority for the company and its importance is comparable to creating profits for the company," Foley suggested. ”

BPV Capital Management founder Mike West believes in Yichi

Create an exciting corporate culture

Some companies popularize corporate culture by writing slogans or displaying ideas, while others use uniform clothing or office designs to highlight corporate culture. "I have a very clear vision of how the company is developed and a set of unique values," says Paul Lindley, founder of Ella's kitchen. "Ella's Kitchen" is a British company specializing in the production of baby organic foods. Lindley wants his company to create more profit-making value, and he expects to help infants develop healthier eating habits.

Lindley to ensure that the enterprise culture you create can achieve your vision. He introduced a unique set of words for the company, such as expressing the excitement of ella-ness, ella-fy (informal, natural flow of ideas, vitality often accompanied by the rapid growth of business areas). These interesting words also extend to the field of work: The sales director is called "The big Club of business" and the CFO is "the head of Numbers".

Lindley is eager to create cohesion for its employees. "Let team members toward the same goal, the collective to the same direction, need to pay hard efforts, but we continue to explore under the incentive of corporate culture." "It needs to be a commitment to listen to employees and encourage them to communicate with each other and better understand the development goals of the business," he said. ”

In 2012, Ella's kitchen created 70 million of dollars in sales. The company was acquired by the organic food manufacturer Hain Celestial Group, located in Lake Success, New York State, in May 2013, and Lindley became the group's new global Children's Division CEO. He revealed that the acquisition was not just about financial considerations, but also because he believed that Hain Celestial group could understand Ella's kitchen philosophy.

"I'm sure they know our idea. "I think the leadership of the Hain Celestial Group recognizes our strong corporate culture, so they agree to continue to maintain this independent culture in the areas of infant and child food we specialize in," he said. Our business is based on a unique set of values: creating profits and achieving our vision. ”

Corporate culture is often not confined to the office of this small space. "You need to create and nurture your own corporate culture. "We can't think of creating this culture to be able to show it to others one day," says Ed Moed, co-founder and managing director of Peppercomm, a Manhattan communications and marketing company. "Moed describes his company's temperament as" hard work, serious play "-a typical entrepreneurial atmosphere, a passion for collaboration, innovation, and encouragement of laughter. Led by Steve Cody, another co-founder and managing director of the company, some of the staff took an impromptu comedy show and then staged a show at a New York comedy club, where staff went to watch. For employees, this performance is a thrilling experience, but also a chance to strengthen contact, they are also the corporate culture of the image of the ambassador.

"We take our clients ' business very seriously, but we are not as bitter as we think we are." Moed explained, "the company's atmosphere is pleasant, comfortable, what kind of work to do and how to get on with each other is very important." ”

Peppercomm does attach great importance to the construction of corporate culture, as evidenced by its appointment of senior director Sara Whitman as "cultural leader". The company acquired another two industry elite, the number of employees increased by 24 people, reached 110 people, in this process, Whitman become a bridge to integrate each other's corporate culture. Moed summed up: "After a lot of Chinese food, breakfast and dinner." I am convinced that our corporate culture is appropriate and can lead the company to develop. ”

How to adhere to corporate culture

BPV Capital Management's west believes that it is extremely important for every employee to understand and actively embrace the business philosophy of the company. "You can't go over there and say ' this is our corporate culture ' and then expect these cultures to take root in the company right away. "You need to persevere and focus on a subtle inheritance," he says. When I get along with the management team, I tell them that if we want to create a consistent corporate culture, then our culture must be embodied in them, and every employee is a practitioner of corporate culture. You have to have a very clear understanding of what the company is going to be and what you are striving for. ”

Restoring BPV Company's full name "Back Porch Vista" helps to understand their corporate culture, says West, which is a metaphor for the company's vision of securing the future of its clients ' money. He said the company's development goal is "to help American families retire smoothly." But he joked that if even the employees were unwilling to buy the company's services, that goal could not be achieved.

"If you are in a very promising industry and have a valuable idea, then it will be done." "The implementation involves all aspects of the day-to-day work, the most important of which is the company's employees and their commitment to the business," said West analysis. If every employee understands the company's development goals, then they can be disciplined and able to achieve this: interesting, efficient ideas are embraced, and ideas that run counter to the goal, though playful, are discarded. ”

TerraCycle Company co-founder and CEO Tom Szaky that the key to corporate culture is openness, transparency

The company needs to recruit employees who identify with their corporate culture, and TerraCycle co-founder and CEO Tom Szaky is a staunch supporter of this philosophy. "We are really trying to find people who love this cause to join the team. We do attach great importance to employees ' enthusiasm for work. The real key thing is: what kind of mentality does the new person join our team? We can impart relevant skills, but work attitude is not educated. ”

Szaky, who dropped out of Princeton University in 2003, set up TerraCycle, an innovative resource-recycling enterprise in Trenton, New Jersey. The company started with a team of 6 people, and today it has 120 employees in 26 countries. Employees are mostly around the age of 30, the company has no uniform rules on dress. Our corporate culture is very innovative and vibrant. "Openness is also a very important cultural gene for us," Szaky said. ”

Transparency is a key factor. The head of department not only submits the monthly report to the Szaky, but also reports the contents to the company staff. The company's offices are open and almost all made from recyclable materials. Szaky's desk was transformed from an old door.

Inside the company are everywhere air foam as bullets nerf plastic toy gun. An employee suggested that you bring toys to the company, you can create a whole room with a variety of bubbles feeling. This strange proposal coincides precisely with the idea of terracycle. "Employees can rush into my office and raise Nerf guns to send bubbles to me, which is the best evidence of our open and free corporate culture," Szaky said. ”

In order to explore whether the candidate fits the company culture, Szaky usually ask the person to answer the question of why they want to work in TerraCycle. "There is a clear sense of whether a candidate is passionate about the job," he says. Some interviewers don't even know what the business of our company is, and this is enough to keep the people out. ”

He will also ask the candidate to describe in detail the mistakes he made in his past work. Some candidates even say they haven't made a mistake, "if they answer that, the interview will be over." "As we all know, failure is the mother of success," Szaky said. ”

In the interview to throw the appropriate exploratory questions, to help Szaky find a suitable terracycle corporate culture staff, thus conducive to its culture lasting new. Szaky suggested that "in the process of popularizing corporate culture, we cannot expect to achieve it overnight, but should make it imperceptible." But you can guide it moderately and actively push it. "Translation | Wen Yue