Company Culture: "The Steering Wheel of Any Company"

Are you planning to establish your own company? Are you an employer ? Are you a new employee in a
company? Or are you a graduate wishing to work for a certain company? If so, I can assure you that, you
are not lost! You are absolutely on the right path towards acquiring valuable knowledge about Company
Culture. Hopefully, this article will be very beneficial for you. After reading this article, you will gain a
better understanding of company culture.

Research confirms that company culture plays a significant role in the development of any company in
the world. Gary Vaynerchuk once said, "Company culture is the backbone of any successful company."
This means that in order to have a successful organization, you are supposed to have a strong company
culture.

According to research concerning company culture, 90% of employees thought about leaving their
current companies due to poor culture. 72% of employees rate their organizational culture as average,
while only 32% of employees rate their company culture as good. Based on the statistics, an average
company culture is not good enough for the development of any company. Therefore, the founders and
employers have to play a great role in building the best company culture.

Recent studies show that many employers struggle with building a company culture. These studies also
indicate that new employees often find it difficult to align with the company culture. As a new
employee, it is important for you to be able to embrace the core values of the company in order to fit in.
Don't be surprised if you find that the culture of your new company is different from the one you came
from. It's similar to moving from one country to another, where you will encounter different foods,
dress codes, and languages. It is advisable to approach joining a new company with a "blank slate"
mentality, allowing your mind, heart, and body to adapt to the values that guide that particular
company.

Consider the steering wheel and how it operates within a car. If you understand the functions of the
steering wheel in a car, it could be easy for you to understand company culture.

Company culture refers to the principles or core values that govern all actions of the staff within a
particular company, such as integrity, teamwork, transparency, and hard work.

In an interview with the co-founder of Bhumwi Company Limited, which deals with hotel booking
services, particularly in Tanzania, Miss Eunice Lazaro compared the company culture with family values.
Just like each family has its own values, the same applies to companies, where every company has its
own values that guide them in conducting their activities. Consider the illustration below:

In "Family A," everyone eats dinner at the dining table, while in "Family B," everyone eats dinner at their
chosen places So, when a person from Family A visits Family B with family A's mentality, he or she will be
surprised by the culture of Family B and perceive it negatively this is because they failed to understand
Family B's culture . This is comparable to companies, where there is Company X and Company Y.
Company X is customer care-oriented, prioritizing the customer, while Company Y is profit-maximizing
oriented, caring only about maximizing company profit and not about their customers. Therefore, if a
person from Company X, which is customer care-oriented, shifts to Company Y, which is profit
maximization-oriented, they should be a blank slate in order to adapt to the values of Company Y. This is
because these two companies have different values when conducting their activities, and if a person
comes into Company Y with the mentality of Company X, they will fail to align with Company Y's culture,
and this can make them lose their job.

According to Miss Eunice Lazaro, if a person wishes to work for Bhumwi Company Limited, they are
supposed to align with the following values, which act as pillars of the company. These values include:

● God: Prioritizing God in everything they do.

CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPANY CULTURE

Now that we have already fed our minds with the knowledge of what Company Culture is, let's move on
to the next step and discuss its characteristics, which are:

● It can be learned: As a new employee, it is your individual responsibility to assess yourself and
determine if you can align with the company's values before joining. For example, at Bhumwi
Company Limited, new recruits typically undergo orientation on the company's culture before
joining.
● Transmitted: Core values can be transferred from one person or group to another within a
company.
 ● It is varied: The core values of one company can differ from those of other companies. Each
company tends to have its own principles of operation in terms of behavior, standards, beliefs,
and attitudes.

ESTABLISHING OF STRONG COMPANY CULTURE

Employers and founders of the company are responsible for constructing a strong company culture.
Employers should know and understand the various ways of building company culture. According to
several research studies conducted on the construction of a strong company culture, it can be built in
various ways, including:

Discovering the core values, mission, and vision. This involves understanding and setting the principles
to guide all company activities and then matching them with the company's goals.

Alignment with the core values of a particular company is also crucial. This involves practicing the
values set by the company. As it is known, practice makes perfect, and a person cannot perform well if
they do not practice a certain issue. The daily practice of those values can make a person adapt and
make those values a part of their life. Having a strong mission is also essential. In order to build the
strongest company culture, a person must practice those company values in their daily activities to
attach them to their mind and heart. It also includes measuring those particular values on how they
bring positive impacts.

Hiring the right people is also important. "Birds of a feather flock together." A sparrow cannot flock with
crows. In the process of hiring, do not forget to look at who you hire at all levels of your organization. As
an employer, you have to ask yourself if those employees you employ in different positions match the
company's core values. In some cases, attitude may even be more important than skill set when
choosing the right employees for your team.

Role Model Expectations: Ensure your leaders from different units and departments do their part to
uphold your company’s work culture. This means developing a strong, consistent internal culture that all
leaders follow. You may even create formal guidelines to help them standardize their approach to
promoting positivity at your company. If needed, consider providing training opportunities to teach
leaders about toxic workplace cultures and how to prevent them.

Prioritizing Your Staff: At the end of the day, the staff is the ones who keep your company running. If
they don't have the resources they need to thrive, they can't perform well in their company
responsibilities. Your first step to fostering a positive workplace culture is to learn about your employees
and their needs. This means creating opportunities, to have meaningful, honest conversations with
employees of your company. For instance Ask them about current barriers keeping them from doing
their best work and involve them in brainstorming solutions that address their specific needs. Set a
precedent of open and honest communication through wellness surveys or soliciting other forms of
feedback. Additionally, establish an upward form of communication in which the staff could express
their views and opinions towards the management.

Recognize and Reward: Jonas Salk once said, "The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do
more." Once the employee gets any reward, which is not necessarily a material reward, from his or her
employer, it will encourage them to perform their responsibilities and duties in a better way. In order to
combat a toxic workplace culture, find ways to practice gratitude daily. Simple gestures like thanking
your employees for their work can go a long way. Recognizing successes, both personal and
professional, can make your team feel appreciated and foster a greater sense of belonging. Employees
who feel like their company values their effort are likely to feel happier, which can improve workplace
attitudes and contribute to a culture of celebration rather than toxic competition. Another way to show
gratitude is through rewarding small prizes like gift cards and snacks can demonstrate appreciation for a
job well done. Don’t wait for a special occasion to show gratitude. Make it an intrinsic aspect of your
company’s culture.

IMPORTANCE OF COMPANY CULTURE

Below are the Benefits in which a Company could enjoy after building strong company culture,these
include:

Collaboration: Core values help create cooperation and unity among employees in fulfilling different
duties within the company. It also helps in building cooperation between the staff of the company and
their customers.

Easier hiring of staff: It helps in hiring the right employees who match the core values of the company
and who will work according to the principles that govern the operations and activities carried out
within the company.

Easier firing of staff: It also helps in removing staff who do not match the core values of the company to
avoid the destruction of the company's vision.

Improved performance: When employees within the company adhere to the core values of the
company, it will influence the production of better products and services, building a positive image and
reputation for the company.
EFFECTS OF A WEAK COMPANY CULTURE

Have you ever thought about what happens when a car has a faulty and broken steering wheel? The
answer is clear: the car will lose its correct direction, even if the driver uses all their effort to steer it in
the right direction. This is similar to what happens when a company has a weak and toxic company
culture. The company will lose its direction towards the road to success. This is because the company
culture guides how the company operates in offering its services and goods, as well as how employees
behave and how people perceive the company.

Patrick Whitesell, the Chief Executive Officer of WME, once said, "You can have all the right strategies in
the world; if you don't have the right culture, you are dead." This means that if a company lacks a strong
and right culture, it is already dead.

Failure to establish and maintain the strongest company culture can cause different challenges within
the company, including:

Reduced employee engagement: Employees will not invest their power and energy towards achieving
the organizational goal; instead, they will invest more in their personal interests.

Higher rates of loss: Failure to build strict principles can lead to the highest expenditure of company
income unnecessarily. If this situation becomes unstoppable, it can cause company bankruptcy.

Greater rates of absenteeism: According to Theory X by Douglas McGregor, it is assumed that people
dislike work and must be coerced, controlled, and directed towards organizational goals. Furthermore, it
is believed that most people prefer to be treated this way so that they can fulfill their responsibilities.
Therefore, if there are no strong values that compel employees to be at the workplace on time, they will
come to the workplace according to their own schedule and it will affect the growth and development of
company.
Decreased feelings of psychological safety in employees: This mostly happens when the values of the
company are based on undermining the employees. This makes employees feel unsafe in the working
environment.

More company expenses: If the company lacks a culture that guides office expenditures, other
unscrupulous employees may use company money for their own purposes, causing the company to
spend more than its income and leading to a financial crisis.

You want a successful company? Then build a strong company culture. You want to be successful in
your career at the company you work for? Then allign and respect the values of that particular company.