Everyone talks about culture and every Job Advertisement I see, without fail, states what an awesome culture the hiring organisation has.
But what does that actually mean?
I have been fortunate in my career in that the few companies I have been employed with all have good cultures and people. However, whether you are a business owner or employee, surely we all want to be part of something which is better than “good”.
Just last week I met with a business owner at his premises. He has a team of around 25 employees and walking around their premises I was struck by how friendly the office ‘felt’. It is difficult to define exactly what it was but as soon as I walked in, knowing nobody except the business owner and 1 other staff member, it was immediately apparent to me that this was a very welcoming office. Each and every staff member who walked past, smiled and said “good morning”. Simple but so effective.
I commented to the business owner about it and his hiring philosophy was very often based on ‘gut feel’ rather than the quality of the Resume. Once they are hired he gives all his employees enough freedom to do their jobs and ensure they are comfortable enough that they can make decisions without having to go through a management chain.
Which brings me to 3E and the culture we are building in our business.
We are huge on empowerment and encouraging our colleagues to make decisions on their own and if the decision happened to be the wrong one we discuss openly throughout the group.
Each member of our team has inherent trust in each other.
We don’t refer to each other as ‘Directors’, ‘Managers’ or ‘Staff’ – we are all colleagues, regardless of our role in the company.
When we are hiring, as we are at the moment, we are very clear about hiring for attitude rather than skill set. We can train new colleagues to give them the required skills but we can’t train to change someone’s attitude.
Although I am a little biased, we have an amazing culture at 3E, which rewards high performance and enables our colleagues to thrive on the freedom and empowerment we all have.
When you come into contact with any of our colleagues you will be treated with manners, courtesy and respect and in our offices you will always be met with a smile.
Author – Brian Swan – “challenging the status quo for the benefit of our clients and partners”