For businesses of all sizes, nurturing a business culture is imperative to success. Creating a business culture before an organization matures and grows will help prevent growing pains and mistakes that negatively impact your bottom line, but mature businesses also benefit from creating a business culture if they don’t have one already or employees aren’t responding to their current internal climate. Unfortunately, many would-be successful businesses fall victim to misinformation and myths lead them astray. If you’re unsure about developing a culture to help nurture your employees, make sure you avoid the following myths and pitfalls.

If It Can’t Be Measured, It Can’t Be Managed or Controlled

Many business people are highly critical thinkers who tend to be left-brained, and they respond to quantifiable numbers better than those of us who are right-brained. As such, they have a hard time digesting the idea of an organizational culture instead of interpreting it as a buzzword. But the truth is that organizational culture can have a heavy bearing on employees’ subconscious thoughts and conscious decisions. Your employees spend the majority of their week in a work environment that you control, and knitting the work environment together with an organizational culture can impact their productivity, motivation, efficiency, the quality of their work, their mood, any many, many other factors that influence your bottom line.

Genuine Change Takes Years to Accept

A lot of people have the misconception that it will be impossible to change the current organizational culture and that their employees won’t be able to learn and adapt to changes. While it is true that most people are resistant to change, at least at first, you would be surprised how quickly things can turn around when you work with a professional. Instead of doing things a certain way simply because that’s how they have always been done, an organizational consultant will be able to help you identify areas of weakness and inefficiency and change them rapidly. No, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it doesn’t have to take years and years to change your organizational culture.

Culture Development Should Be Handled Internally

Another mistake that organizations frequently make is thinking that they should do all of the development of their culture internally. But this is a mistake because members of an organization may not be able to see everything that’s going on. Interactions between various coworkers and organizational units is taken for granted and not properly analyzed. Instead, you need an objective outsider to assess and develop your culture, because they will be able to see things that you take for granted. Too often people go through the motions of their day-to-day tasks and fail to see opportunities for improvement.

Seeking Assistance

Fostering a business culture from scratch or trying to move your organizational culture in a new direction is extremely difficult if you try to do it alone. Fortunately, you can contact John M. Ruh and Associates today to start moving your organization in the right direction.

The culture that you nurture within your business is more important than you might think. While some people feel that business culture is a buzzword or that time is better spent on scaling your business, you absolutely need a strong and clear business culture to reach your goals. But this isn’t only true for massive companies with thousands and thousands of employees – it is equally important for small and medium-sized businesses as well.

Shared Values

But why on Earth is business culture so critical to the success of your organization? First off, consider that your business culture defines how your business interacts with people – both internally and externally. Not only does it act as a moral compass to help guide employees’ decision making processes in their day-to-day duties, but it also affects how members of your organization interact with partners and suppliers. As your company grows, it is imperative that your employees understand how they are expected to behave professionally, and they won’t have a solid idea of these expectations without shared values. And having these ideas in place will help ease growing pains as your organization matures.

Connecting with People as Human Beings

After going through all the trouble to hire top talent in your industry, it would be a real pain if your employees sought other opportunities because they weren’t happy working in your organization. But business culture will not only help you retain the employees you have already hired, but even attract new talent and partners. People will want to engage your organization more frequently if you share common goals, ideas, values, and beliefs. Though your product or service may be extraordinary in its own right, you will find greater success if people believe in what you stand for. Business culture can be the “why” behind all of your plans, goals, and actions – which will make your business more personable. And it can really help your business stand out from the crowd. By differentiating yourself from your competitors that lack clearly defined values, you can make a greater impact in your industry.

The Bottom Line

Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, has an intimate understanding of the importance of business culture. Essentially, he believes that hiring someone who doesn’t fit into his organizational culture can poison his bottom line by harming productivity, crushing morale, and causing all sorts of other problems. When Zappos was experiencing growth in its infancy, he made some hiring decisions that he believes costed the company $100 million dollars. Though you may not run an organization anywhere near as large as Zappos, one thing remains clear: lacking a well-defined organizational culture can cause massive setbacks down the road. They say that a smart man can learn from his own mistakes, but a wise man can learn from the mistakes of others. As such, it would be wise to learn from Tony Hsieh’s mistakes to help your business reach its goals for the coming year.

Reputable Assistance

If you know you need to create a solid internal business culture but just don’t know where to begin, contact John M. Ruh and Associates. We can help your business in a variety of ways such as developing a business culture and creating a business plan for the coming year.