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There is no doubt that a strong and positive culture will boost the productivity and profitability of your business. A business with a poor culture, however, is never going to achieve the best possible results. As a leader you need to be on the alert for signs that your culture is suffering or has become fractured. We outline the key things to look out for in our article “Seven signs you have a culture problem”; however, in short you need to watch for an escalation in resignations, high levels of absenteeism and customer complaints, and a drop in business performance.

The thing about a poor culture is sometimes it is difficult to work out quite how it happened, as it is likely the culture has been eroded and has been changing for some time, which can make it harder to turn it around. However, as a business leader it is essential when you realise you have a problem that you start working on a solution as a matter of priority. We have all experienced a business that did not feel quite right and the people were obviously not enjoying working there. This feeling and energy spreads like a virus through the business and impacts everyone the staff come into contact with inside and outside of the business.

The good news is there is a cure! In every business the culture will work from the top down. You and your leadership team hold the power to turn your culture around so it is more positive and rewarding. People by their nature want to work in a positive environment, which will help you to kick-start your culture change. However, there is more to sustainable change than just sending a memo or holding a staff bonding session. It will take some hard work over a long period of time. In fact, as a leader, nurturing your business culture is an ongoing process. This article will give you some tips for fixing a poor culture.

Step 1 – Take responsibility

There is an old saying that a fish will always rot from the head down, and this holds true for your business culture. As the leader you need to take total responsibility for your business’s culture. It might sound a little harsh, but the reality is that culture always travels from the top down. Here are a couple of key questions you need to ask yourself:[wlm_ismember]

• Are you transparent with information about your business?

Good culture stems from building a connection between the business and the people. If you are secretive about your business, your people are less likely to be connected to you or the bigger business picture.

• Do you lead by example?

Your team will mirror you more than anyone or anything else. You cannot expect to have an upbeat and positive environment if you grump through the office or slip in the back door without so much as a good morning to your team.

• Do you put profits before people?

We all know that without profit you do not have a sustainable business. However, it is important to understand that your people are going to have the single biggest effect on your bottom line. An engaged workforce will always perform to a higher standard than a disengaged one, so it is essential to think about the true cost of a culture problem.

Once you have taken responsibility, you can then move onto the next step.

Step 2 – What needs to be fixed?

There are two parts to this step, which is by far the most important step when working to repair your culture. The more you know about what is causing your culture problem, the more effective the solution will be.

Part one of this step is to identify the issues and part two is to find solutions. The best way to do this is to look for tangible signs that your culture may be suffering and start investigating the cause. You can then start thinking about the different ways you can work to rectify the issues.

We will use frequent staff resignations as an example to explain how to complete this step.

A high employee turnover rate can be caused by a number of factors. Here are some common ones and some suggested solutions:

• Poor orientation process – no matter how well-qualified a person is, there is always a transition period when starting a new job.
  • Solution: By implementing a new orientation program, you will be able to not only support the new person as they settle into their role, but also clearly outline the values and standards of the business from day one.

• Hiring the wrong person – finding suitable people can be hard, and often the pressures of having no one in a role can result in bad hiring decisions.
  • Solution: Make sure you have a clear job description for every position, which accurately reflects the skills and knowledge that are required. It may also be necessary to put some additional resources into training if these skills are difficult to find. Remember, it is always better to hire on attitude rather than skill; if the person is the right cultural fit and they have the desire and ability to learn, then the additional time and effort required to get them up to speed will pay off in the long run. If you are having trouble in this area, start by reading our “Introduction to hiring” learning article and then work through other related articles.

• Physical environment – old equipment and unattractive surroundings can cause people to seek out other employment. If you do not provide your staff with a pleasant and efficient working environment, you are sending a message that you do not care about them.
  • Solution: If you invest in some infrastructure you might find that the level of employee satisfaction and engagement rises and your turnover rate drops.

• Lack of empowerment – people who are empowered in their job will always perform to a higher standard and tend to show greater loyalty to the business. If you do not allow the people in your business to make decisions, or you berate them when they make a mistake, you will create a culture built on such negative feelings as fear.
  • Solution: Encourage the people around you to be solution driven. Create a mindset where making a mistake is okay so long as you learn from it. Problems can start to mount when people are afraid to make mistakes and cover them up. If you share your vision for the business with your team, they will feel they are part of a bigger picture and will work to help you to reach the business’s goals. Think about creating a bonus or profit-sharing scheme so your people will believe they are important to the business.

Step 3 – Don’t over-promise

It is important that once you determine what is negatively impacting the culture, you do not over-promise on the solutions. Many business owners will make grand statements about what they are going to do, only to find that they do not have the ability or the resources to carry through with the promise. This leaves the team feeling let down and will only cause more damage to the culture.

For example, if you find your computer system is causing some issues, it may be tempting to simply buy a brand new system as a solution. With further investigation, however, you might find that there are a number of hardware, software or finance issues that do not make this as simple as you first thought. Rather than making promises that you cannot deliver on, it is better to acknowledge the problem and then outline a solution; for example, you could set up a task force to investigate and design a solution. Staff will be more tolerant of existing issues if they know the problem is understood and there is a commitment to solving it.

Step 4 – Communicate

Communication is one of the keys to fixing culture problems. Often as a business grows, the owner becomes less visible and the symptoms of a fractured culture such as resignations, complaints and a downturn in results can make life at the top harder and lonelier. This may be followed by a downward spiral, with your staff feeling more disconnected, and the culture suffering even more. In these situations, business owners are swamped with yet more problems, further isolating them from their staff and demonstrating unhelpful behaviour.

It is important to be more visible when there is a culture problem. Make more time for face-to-face interaction with your people. Let everyone know what is happening with the business, and be open and upfront about the difficulties with the culture and show that you are committed to a solution. Use technology to help; a weekly update email to all staff, a weekly meeting or Skype-in session can work to re-connect your people even if they are working in remote locations. Connection is one of the keys to a solid culture and it is your job as the leader to ensure that your people are connected to you and to the vision of the business.

Step 5 – Follow through

One of the common mistakes that business owners make is to forget this final step. They make changes and are initially enthusiastic, for example sending weekly messages, doing a morning walk around the office or upgrading facilities, only to let the work rate drop off after a culture crisis is averted. To maintain a positive culture, you need to work on it every day, week in and week out, year in and year out.

Summary

Remember that all businesses have a culture, no matter how small or large it is. Similarly, a business will experience culture problems whether it has a couple or 500 employees. The earlier you start caring for your culture, the stronger it will be while your business grows and evolves. Use this article, along with the others in the “Business strategy” and “People management” sections of the website to build your skills as a business and culture leader.[/wlm_ismember]

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