I remember having a conversation with a green industry business owner a short time ago, where he was venting his frustration on how hard it was to find and retain good people to work for his organization. His company paid excellent wages to frontline employees, and his department heads received excellent salaries, benefits and bonuses. On paper it was a great place to work, but it wasn’t the right kind of culture.
In many ways he was doing the same things that his competition was doing. By the way, his competitors were also complaining and frustrated about the difficulty of finding and retaining good people.
Many of them advertised for help in the same places like Craigslist, LinkedIn and other employment websites. Many of them had the same weak onboarding practices. Many of them avoided having regular meetings because they turned into “complaint sessions.” And, many of them had the belief that the problem was with the people they hired and not with the owners and leaders of their company.
As a result, they didn’t have the right kind of culture to find and retain the right people.
I shared with him that maybe it would be helpful to initiate some strategies to change the company culture.
Like the saying goes, “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you will get less of what you always got.”
If you keep using the same approach that is delivering minimal results, rather than creating the kind of company culture you want and need, you will find it harder and harder to get the results you want and need to run a successful company.
In other words, if you keep using the same approach that is delivering minimal results, rather than creating the kind of company culture you want and need, you will find it harder and harder to get the results you want and need to run a successful company.
Creating culture
One of the first places I begin with my green industry clients to solve this dilemma is examining the type of communication that is taking place within the company. Research shows over and over again that clear and ongoing communication remains the number one challenge businesses face today. Let’s face it, if you don’t have the right communication tools in place, keeping clear and open channels can be difficult. No business owner in their right mind sets out to have poor communication practices in place. It just happens.
People are different. They have different behavioral styles and expectations of how communication should take place. There are excellent tools available to address this area of concern. What I use with all my clients are scientifically validated behavioral and motivator measurement assessments.
As the late management consultant Peter Drucker taught us, the purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. Before you can do that, you must be able to attract and keep the right leadership team and employees. Neither of these are possible unless you have good communication with your team and in turn, they have good communication with your clients and customers.
Next you must create the right kind of company culture. What would the right kind of culture look like in your company or organization? While only you and your team can decide for sure, there are a few ingredients that should be present:
- honesty
- transparency
- willingness to help each other
- a feeling of being connected
- a feeling of sincerely being cared for
- a company vision each person has helped to create, be part of and maintain on a day-to-day basis
- a feeling of knowing that each person is worthwhile and is contributing to a purpose bigger than themselves
- to be accountable to each other
- fairness
- appreciation for a job well done
- an ethical company mindset and practice to do the things that are right, because they are right
The late Fred Rogers, who in his role as Mister Rogers, influenced millions and millions of children to develop a deeper understanding of themselves and their personal values, made a lasting mark on most children and adults who heard his message.
Rogers had a brilliant quote that went like this: “The world needs a sense of worth, and it will achieve it only by its people feeling that they are worthwhile.”
How do you give and reinforce the feeling to your people that they are worthwhile and that they truly matter in contributing to the vision of the company they are part of?
How do you give and reinforce the feeling to your people that they are worthwhile and that they truly matter in contributing to the vision of the company they are part of?
How do you give and reinforce the feeling to your people that they are worthwhile and that they truly matter in contributing to the vision of the company they are part of? When you can do this on a regular basis, you are building a company culture that will attract and retain the right kind of people.
Let’s take this concept of retaining the right people a step further. When you create a company environment where people want to be, you are on your way to making it a reality.
Once people are hired, what kind of an onboarding process do you have in place? This is a critical factor in keeping good people. Do you have a plan that is properly and regularly implemented to ensure that a new hire’s first 30 days are a positive experience? Many companies use a buddy system. That is where a new hire is assigned to another team member who can help them navigate the ins and outs of their new position.
Next on the list, do you have a career ladder that is clearly explained to your new team members at the time of their hiring and when you do their regular appraisals? Remember when we mentioned the importance of your team members knowing that they are part of a company with a vision for the future? They need to know where they fit into that future. What positions can they prepare for and receive on the job and through training and coaching as they remain and grow with your organization?
If this sounds more than you can handle, get a little help. Hire a business consultant or coach to help you implement these ideas. The results will more than pay for your investment.
When you create the right kind of enrichment culture, you will attract and retain the right kind of team members.
