Does Your Company Culture Need a Jump-Start?

As a relatively new buzz-phrase, “Company Culture” can be very subjective, depending on your perspective. To the company executive, company culture consists mainly of the mission, vision and goals, particularly bottom-line goals. All very important, but not quite the whole picture.

From an employee’s perspective, the culture is how the company makes them feel as an employee. Do they feel empowered? Valued? Do they like coming to work?

From a customer’s perspective, your company culture is what they experience when they walk in the door, buy your product, or experience your service.

In their book, Corporate Culture and Performance, John Kotter and James Heskett detail the results of 11 years of extensive research performed on the cultures of over 200 companies. They specifically looked at how a company’s culture, and their ability to adapt to change, impacts its long-term economic performance. The results were astounding.

Companies that had performance-enhancing cultures experienced a 682% revenue growth over 11 years, while their counterparts had only a 166% revenue growth. These results put the importance of company culture in an entirely new light.

If you want to adjust your culture, or the “personality” of your company, a great place to start is to look at the companies that do it right. Business Insider recently published an article, The 25 Most Enjoyable Companies To Work For, written from an employee’s perspective on what it’s like to work for their company. As you read through, you will pick up on many common attributes that make for a healthy work culture, such as; teamwork, transparency, sincerity, philanthropy, and innovation.

At Biltmore, our culture is one that promotes values, Gracious Hospitality®, and a spirit of service to both colleagues and guests. An employee’s first day at Biltmore is spent totally immersed in the history and legacy of Biltmore and its founder, George W. Vanderbilt. Our CEO & President invests in new employees by spending over an hour talking about our core values during orientation each week. On the second day of the program, new employees spend the day touring the Estate as a “guest” so they may fully understand the guest experience. From there, employees deepen their knowledge of the company, its culture, and how they contribute to it through our unique onboarding process. It is a comprehensive process, and one that yields fantastic results.

For more information on cultivating change in your company, or shaping your culture, visit our website.