Teach you how to build a company culture

"Corporate culture" is an elusive word, and many people equate "shaping corporate culture" with "building happiness or creativity", ignoring traditional corporate values and making changes and pushing for change.

Google and Zappos are all companies represented by a happy corporate culture, Zappos, for example, said in a press conference on April Fools ' Day that Disney claimed to be "the happiest place in the world" and wanted to "bring the latter to court"-because it was clear that the Zappos company deserved the title. People can not help but feel that the reason why Zappos and Google have such a good corporate culture, and they provide free service, to Bankian work around the desk, leisure massage is inseparable.

But people who work on corporate culture (organizational development) advice are different, proposing a more realistic definition of a "good" corporate culture--that can support the company's business strategy. For example, large companies in many mobile departments need stricter "culture" rules for each employee's role, and can play a certain part in innovation and employee speaking. In contrast, companies with innovation as the driving force and center need to make other articles in the corporate culture, leaving employees with no qualms about bold innovation. The appropriate corporate culture is not simply "full of energy", but the establishment of a reasonable strategy. Zappos or Google's atmosphere is lively, and has not left the "work" of the center, its high economic return is proof.

People who promote the importance of "corporate culture", in the face of potential customers, will first think of helping companies to establish the corresponding business objectives-how to obtain economic benefits, the commitment to increase oxygen to customers, and other suppliers how different. After these things are confirmed, they can use this as a basis to determine what kind of "corporate culture"-what kind of people to hire, how to manage, how to instill work values. Sharon Dye Consultant has 17 years of experience in enterprise development consulting, and has served as a consultant on the acquisition of the compact Hewlett-Packard (cultural Conflict Code for technology companies), and has serviced more than 20 start-up companies, including clean Fuel connection and ITK FX.

In her view, it was sometimes unreasonable to give the business goals that were hammered out. For instance, a tile company named Trazzio, who worked with Dye, originally wanted to sell tiles in Home Depot, and wanted environmental-conscious interior decorators to focus on their products. But such a business goal is inherently contradictory: if a client's income is high enough to pay for an interior decorator, the low-end stores such as Home Depot are usually not included in their sourcing locations.

After a change in business objectives, Trazzio defined its product as a high-end product for a Californian interior decorator. Only by establishing the right business objectives can we further determine how the "corporate culture" and the Associated Personnel employment, and so on, should unfold.

Also take Trazzio as an example, in order to let the target income group understand this brand, the company invites these potential customers to visit the display product, and invites the interior decorating designer to communicate with them. And sales people must open a car-after all, only second-hand Honda sales staff can not make a good impression on these customers. And as a start-up company, capital constraints, in the invitation to visit the day or even Mercedes-Benz to support the scene. Free drinks are also available at the site--the organizers are doing everything they can to show the high-end market as a high-end brand to match. But if it is to advertise at Home Depot, it can only be surprising – it is easy to see that different business plans lead to a distinct corporate culture.

Determining the company's business plan not only determines what kind of car the salesperson should drive, but also defines what kind of employee they are suited to hire. According to the previous company's general sales targets (including recycled glass tiles), as long as environmentalists can be included in their employment options. But it will only go further and further on the wrong business strategy. Once they are determined to upgrade their target users, their hiring requirements have changed – those who are simply good at environmental groups such as Greenpeace are often not suitable for sales to high level customers-companies looking for, in Dye's words, "people born with a rich temperament, Someone who can drive a rented Mercedes and let the customer know nothing. While the former may be better suited to sell or showcase in Home Depot or rural markets and fairs, it can be seen from this example that corporate culture has been changed by business strategy.

In the "Corporate culture" consulting-related consultants, it seems that a good corporate culture is not just the pursuit of employee Happiness index, the company atmosphere active, relaxed management style, but to find to promote the operation of the company, the most suitable for a specific company management. Corporate culture is actually a part of the overall strategy of the company.

Bill Schneider has been working on organizational development (corporate culture) for 40 years, and has written many related articles and books. He cited Microsoft's example to show that corporate culture is not immutable, and that changes in business strategies often need to be adjusted accordingly. "At the beginning of Microsoft's inception, working 16 hours a day is part of the corporate culture, divergent thinking on every possible idea, and experimental work permeates all aspects of the company." "But now Microsoft has established a lot of mature products, occupy a stable and broad market share, corporate culture from the attack." In fact, this conservative corporate culture has also given Microsoft a lot of bad reputation, such as leadership, policy, procedures, and other performance of the bureaucratic style.

Schneider said that the company's leaders want to determine the company's strategy, first of all to find out what the company's commitment to customers-whether it can provide the industry's best products (professional leadership)? is the company behaving as a controllable, normal operating system service provider (deterministic)? Does this strategy fully tap the potential of the company and its employees (predictability)? He also said that the company culture is not necessarily single, if the company does serve two different customer commitments, then this should allow them to do their own way, and should not interfere with each other, in an attempt to establish a representative or communication between the corporate culture. ”

Microsoft clearly did not deal with these three areas of demand. For designers and engineers, to design a revolutionary product and achieve a professional-leading goal, you have to get rid of the company's stock price, but for the sales department or the product department, the company valuation does guarantee the lifeblood of certainty and predictability.

New startups are also plagued by corporate culture. Dan Collett, a partner with the consulting firm "Spencer,shenk,capers and Associates", has worked with over 100 companies. In his view, the founders of startups are often based on importing products into the market, ignoring the sustainable development of enterprises. and constantly promote product development is the driving force of the enterprise, which includes strategies, standards, procedures, personality and other corporate cultural elements really work, the company determines the long-term survival situation.

Collett the entrepreneurial people to parents, and their start-up companies compared to the baby, "parents are always afraid of others to touch their children, but this" do not let others meddle in the mentality is often counterproductive.

The company itself, in the employment behavior, rewards and punishments measures, the establishment of values to make the right choice, the first to find the most suitable for their products or services leadership style. In May this year, the 50-year-old California S&h Aerospace Corporation acquired a 20-member space organization called Melkes Precision products. S&h's president, David Fisher, listens to outsiders on the issue of two corporate culture, please come to Sharon Dye for advice.

' In the beginning, we've been making adjustments based on customer needs, ' Fisher said. Thanks to Dye's help, our team is able to handle it freely. From the specific requirements of the product, she built a leadership style of democratic cooperation and a management approach. Dye special emphasis on the role of flexibility in this corporate culture: some aerospace accessories need to be strictly on time and efficiently completed, for fixed use, the team needs to be strictly in accordance with customer requirements for production. Others require teamwork, innovation and brainstorming.

In the final analysis, the development of a "team culture" is because development is inseparable from the culture of "understanding and managing employees". As Schneider said, "Corporate culture is the most difficult part of a company's development because it deals with individuals who are thousands of different." ”