Corporate culture is the way to go

A consciously developed customer-centered culture is a business advantage that will serve you for years — and inoculate you against competitive inroads. Consider for a minute Southwest Airlines and the lengthy list of would-be category killers that have tried to imitate it: United Airlines’ United Shuttle, Continental Airlines’ Continental Lite, Delta’s Delta Express and US Airways’ Metro-Jet.

 What did these companies lack: Money? Name recognition? Hardly. They lacked Southwest’s relentless focus on culture, which none of its pop-up competitors was willing to slow down to emulate.  And all are now bust.

This is why someone leading a business today — preparing a bright future for your organization and perhaps for the world — needs to focus not just on nuts and bolts, techniques and standards, but on culture.

Without a consciously created culture, your leadership won’t last beyond the moment you leave the building.  Any vacation — or even lunch break — you take is an invitation for disaster:  The inevitable complaint I hear from consulting clients and at my engagements as a speaker is this: “Employees act differently when there aren’t any managers around.”  But with a great company culture, employees will be motivated, regardless of management’s presence or absence.

Culture matters because:

 ●The number of interactions at a business between customers and staff is nearly infinite, and only a strong, clear pro-customer culture gives you a fighting chance of getting the preponderance of these interactions right.

●The current technological revolution amplifies the problems of not having the correct culture:  Employees not acting in their customers’ best interest will end up having their actions broadcast over Twitter within minutes.

●Business realities are continually changing, and only a strong culture is going to help you respond to, capitalize on and drive forward these changes in order to serve customers and show your business in the best light.

 Here’s how you can start leading through culture:

●Articulate your central philosophy, in just a few words if possible — a few meaningful words. That’s right: A company’s culture can begin with words, but those words need to represent a decision — something you actually stand for, a decision then expressed in the clearest, and ideally fewest, words. Find a central operating principle.  Think of the Ritz-Carlton’s “We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen,” or Mayo Clinic’s  “The needs of the patient come first.”

 ●Elaborate on your central philosophy with a brief list of core values — a list short enough that every employee can understand, memorize and internalize, yet long enough to be meaningful. Your core values should cover how customers, employees and vendors should be treated at all times.

 ●Include the wider world: Your people want a sense of purpose that goes beyond an ability to exercise stock options at a favorable moment. More inspirational: a version of the “triple bottom line,” such as Southwest’s “Performance – People – Planet” commitment and annual report card.

[The Washington Post]