A Look at the Company Culture of Inspiring Organizations
Locating employees who would be a good fit for your company is a challenge in itself, but convincing top performers to choose to work for your company rather than for a competing company can be an even bigger challenge. Since the best employees understand that they can typically pick and choose which company they want to work for, it is wise to make your company as attractive as possible to potential employees. One of the best ways to do this is to build a company culture that is welcoming and innovative. If you’re looking for examples to follow, here is a brief look at the company culture of inspiring organizations.
Authenticity
Companies like Honest Tea put a great deal of emphasis on creating a culture of authenticity. Truthfulness and dependability are a cornerstone of their success ï and their employees and customers can tell. From advertising to product labels, companies that value authenticity are more likely to attract employees that are also honest in their dealings.
In addition to being forthright about the ingredients in their products, Honest Tea takes honesty even further by creating healthy products that they can feel good about offering to their customers. In both word and example, companies like this one help create a culture where important values like authenticity and integrity are celebrated and fostered. As a result, the company culture of inspiring organizations like these help them to stand out and draw the attention of job seekers who share the same ideals.
Innovation
Although many companies develop detailed processes that are intended to spur innovation, these processes can often seem forced and may even quell creativity in some individuals. Rather than focusing solely on mechanical processes in an effort to spur innovation, work instead on developing a culture of creativity. Welcome new and innovative ideas, especially if they can help improve your services and products, and pay attention to the company culture of inspiring organizations.
One company that does a great job fostering a culture of innovation is Zipcar. This company has developed the revolutionary concept of sharing an automobile between various urban dwellers. Zipcar conveniently parks its various car in reserved parking spaces throughout local neighborhoods. These cars can be accessed as needed by members, then returned to their parking spaces when finished. Members can easily find out where available cars are located by logging into their accounts. The management at Zipcar is open to improvement and is constantly trying to bend to the convenience and decision-making needs of their members.
One way Zipcar fosters innovation and the birth of new ideas is by creating a very open floor plan in their office space. Rather than being sectioned off into various areas of the building, employees are all located in a central space that allows them to communicate easily and effectively with one another. Accomplishments and goals are posted in an area on the wall where everyone can see them. This helps to reward employees for their ideas while simultaneously helping each individual focus in on long-term goals and ideals. Inviting constant interaction between employees is one way to build a culture that is patterned after the company culture of inspiring organizations.
Behavioral Ideals
Smart companies foster desired behaviors in their employees through their company culture, rather than through extensive lists of rules and restrictions. The idea is to get employees do the right thing because they know that is how things work in your company, rather than out of fear of facing reprimands or other consequences for exhibiting the wrong type of behavior. Much like a child responds positively to encouraging feedback, employees in companies that foster a culture of behavioral ideals will soon learn how rewarding it is to do the right thing.
Smartpak is one company that owes much of its success to its company culture of customer service. Rather than encouraging customer service representatives to try to limit their interactions with customers to an established time limit, they are encouraged to stay on the phone as long as it takes to resolve each customer’s issues. This places emphasis directly where it should be ï on the needs of the customer. All service representatives are given thorough training, and all are required to have at least some veterinary training experience as well. This helps them to feel confident and secure in their ability to help callers with their various animal health issues. As a result, customers are more likely to become loyal to the company and employees are more likely to feel satisfaction in their jobs.
As you try to come up with ways to build your own company culture that is patterned after the company culture of inspiring organizations, feel free to use the resources we offer at Mighty Recruiter for inspiration and suggestions.