As the leader of your organization, it’s important to remember that people will not always like you, your company, or your culture. While this may sound discouraging, it’s actually liberating in many ways. If you realize that no one has to like everything about your business, it frees you up to focus on the things that are most important to you and what makes your company unique. It also means that there are going to be people who don’t like working at your organization because they don’t fit into its culture – and that’s okay!
Every organization is a cocktail of personalities, attitudes, and dispositions. And every single person in your company is a variable in that mix—some adding to it and others watering it down. It’s important to understand who fits into your culture (and who doesn’t), because while they might be top-notch talents on paper, they could spell disaster for your corporate chemistry. Identifying these bad fits sooner rather than later will allow you to make changes before they cause too much harm.
There are hundreds of billions of dollars at stake in branding and corporate culture, so you need to be extremely careful that you don’t step on anyone’s toes. Before you brand your organization with a name and logo, make sure that there is nothing out there like it (including your competitors). This will help avoid any cases of confusion. Once your name and logo have been trademarked, try to make them as simple as possible. Culture is about creating your uniquness in everything, not just employees’ attitudes.
While it may feel great to have a ton of people who like your organization, it is more important that you weed out those who aren’t a good fit for your culture. You want those who believe in what you’re doing, and if that means saying goodbye to someone else then do so. Always remember, not everyone will like your company culture but that doesn’t mean you should change it or worry about others opinions.
You hire an employee, who then comes in and tries to do things exactly how they did them at their last job. You had a problem with that behavior before, and you’ll probably have one now, too. Instead of expecting your new hires to conform to your company culture from day one, focus on helping them understand why your organization does things a certain way. Then give them some time—and space—to figure out if it works for them. They may surprise you by coming up with better ways of doing things than what currently exists within your organization.
Small things can have a big impact. For example, many organizations have regular all-hands meetings or other gatherings that are designed to help keep employees in touch with each other and keep everyone connected to what’s going on in different parts of your company. One company might have a practice of calling out an employee’s birthdays at every meeting, which may seem like nothing—but can make a huge difference for someone who may be feeling lonely or disconnected from work.
Check out this article – The Power of Purpose: How to Unleash your Team’s Potential
See what to do when the Culture is Not a Good Fit