Culture is a subject that can make or break any organization, big or small. It’s not just a buzzword but the heartbeat of your business. Joining us on today’s episode of The Small Business Show, we have Culture Strategist, Author, and Keynote Speaker- Robert Richman.
Richman spent years conducting audits of company cultures. His heart would sink every time he would hand over a report. Things didn’t change dramatically until he discovered that information doesn’t change people; experiences do! As soon as he made the connection, energy was released everywhere. Since then, he has given hundreds of keynote speeches and changed the cultures of numerous organizations, including Lowe’s, Google, Whole Foods, Zappos, and many more. Richman worked so much magic in changing corporate culture that he started a line of business teaching other businesses how to do the same.
Key Takeaways:
1. According to Richman, culture is easily defined as a means of “What contains it.” When asking others their definition, Richman gets a plethora of answers, but the only solution that is most useful of what contains it is:
- Who company let in, and
- Who company’s kick out.
2. Culture is commonly known as a naturally occurring phenomenon. However, Rickman asserts that it’s communication-based, and what contains it is the two bookmarks.
3. The number one rule of culture is to co-create. Indicating that it’s key to involve your team in the process of creating a policy within a corporation. Executives can accomplish this by soliciting feedback during the experimental procedure.
4. Employees are more receptive to the newly introduced policy when they feel heard.
5. Culture is based on trust. Richman implies that establishing trust depends on the agreements businesses enter into. For instance, Morningstar, a financial services company, operates entirely on agreements.
6. There are four factors of company culture that Richan mentions executives should consider when evaluating their own business.
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- Progress
- Control
- Relationships
- purpose
7. Ultimately, we’re all people, and understanding how we operate is the difference between making or breaking company culture.
“We need environments that foster negativity because organizations need to get all the positions out of the system.” – Robert Richman
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