Over the last 15 years our company has invested many millions of dollars in expanding and renovating our building, purchasing advanced grinding equipment, installing inspection systems, hiring consultants, etc. Our most impactful investment to date however has been the investment of time in thinking about, writing down, and discussing – on a weekly basis – our company Core Values.
I know that many of you are thinking that this is “rah-rah BS”…..it’s not. Believe it or not, this is hard work – figuring out what you stand for, writing it down, and then the really hard part…living it day in, and day out.
It is a different way of thinking about business. The financials are absolutely important, but if that is all it is about, it tends to get a bit hollow. I learned from someone older and wiser than me that most of us reach a point in our lives when we want to go from “success to significance”. I don’t know how successful I have been – I guess I would like to be more so, but I know for a fact that I do want to be significant. Owning our Core Values, talking about how we want to show up in the world, how we impact our customers, how we impact each other– this has changed my life, the lives of our employees, and the company itself.
This does not happen overnight. It is a process and takes great commitment and resolve. It took some years to get where we are, but we are now all pulling hard in the same direction. We speak the same language. We have the same goals. Value one another. We ALL feel like we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Having a defined, strong culture is not just being a nice place to work – our company is high performing, high pressure, and there are high expectations. Sometimes people can’t hold up and they need to leave – but if you look for culture first (especially when hiring) this happens infrequently.
Improving Company Culture is Win Win for Everyone
Not only have our core values impacted our company by making it a better place to work, more supportive, higher performing, etc… But get this – the values actually opened the door for us to land the largest PO in company history – $1.2MM. At a previous trade show, one of the potential leads was a CEO of a contract manufacturing company that seemed to have significant work well suited for our grinding specialty. After discussing his needs, as he was walking away I noticed that he stopped, picked up our Values card and took a few seconds to look it over. This prospect and I met a couple of days later for lunch. I mentioned that I had noticed that he picked up our Values card. He lit up and said “yes! I did! I loved that. That is the company that we want to develop a relationship with. That card really said a lot about who you guys are….” Our Values had a direct impact on our ability to land this company who has become our largest customer. This relationship could not have been formed (at least not this quickly) without a deep understanding of who we are, and how we want to show up in the world.
Culture is just too important not to pay attention to. Look at it this way – you have a culture in your company that is projected to all of your customers, vendors, employees regardless of whether you put any effort into it or not. It is not just something to make your company a better place to work – it is the only way that your clients can determine who you are, and directly impacts their comfort level in doing business with you. There is a very important question that you should be asking yourself…..If you are not setting the tone, then who is?? Why would you leave that to chance?
Learn more about how to set your company culture at the next Manufacturing Advocacy Series Event, April 24. More information at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/manufacturing-advocacy-series-company-culture-and-growth-strategies-tickets-44221682242