Published on September 20, 2014
My career so far for more than 15 years has demonstrated me multiple examples of small, medium and big organizations’ growth paths. Though multiple factors are impacted for building a strong, consistent, competent, technocrat, giant, unfold and successful company; one of the most effective component in my opinion is an organization’s culture.
Live entity of an organization is its employee-base who creates, demonstrates, inherits and even take the cultural flow further at long ways.
Culture in simple term is reflection of ideas, thoughts, social behavior and custom. As a family you expect certain qualities like ethics, honesty, discipline and punctuality for staying and growing together; think about your organization – a place where you are spending more than 1/3rd of your daily time. Would you want to ignore these components in your professional life? And if yes, you are coating your life with these discouraging attitudes and that’s the same that is driving you everywhere and making up your personality!!
Organizational culture in similar manner reflects these characteristics which has a huge impact for a consistent and valued growth:
- Stay Disciplined
Justified success and constant growth is next to impossible without constant persistent and discipline in your personal or professional schedules.
Disciplinary culture in terms of punctuality and behavior plays an important role in achieving potential results with satisfactory success values. School days disciplinary lessons on being on time, being a team player, study-play-meal balance, charge against breaking rules etc… inherits from your childhood and plays a very important role in building a disciplined culture at your workplace too.
- Be customer centric
In service or product whatever industry you are operating, very well understood fact is that your customer is the most important person for you. Indirectly they provide you bread butter and status. Being in different time zones, working on multiple stuffs or due to other family or social responsibilities, you may have to do periodic adjustments at your personal end for managing customer’s schedules and timelines. Customer interactions requests should be managed happily by balancing out your other priorities at some period of time.
- Be in system
You cannot change the system if you are outside the system. Be the part of it – be a recognized contributor and evaluator to bring the positive change.
- Give rewards
A very obvious human nature! Don’t forget appreciating and acknowledge those who are really making difference! And do this periodically and consistently rather than waiting for yearly or half yearly review cycles. It’s not only money that matters. Extra rewards for extra ordinary participation helps in boosting up that team employee’s enthusiasm level and sets up a great example for other employees as well to showcase their best out of them and receive acknowledgement.
- Freedom of raising voice for right reason
Though there is a thin line between extreme discipline and freedom of raising voice (due to multiple reasons which I will not cover here), it is very important that your organization has an open culture where right talent, right reasons, right concerns, right perceptions and right intentions are heard at the RIGHT time.
It is essential that they are evaluated in details and taken further, put on hold or closed with a right spirit based on their coverage.
- Being heard
It’s well seen that rather than don’t telling your team ‘How to Do it’, tell them ‘What to Do’ and they will surely come up with fantastic solutions and approaches! Lead them. Guide them. Hear them. Hear them with the correct perception. This will create respect in their hearts for the management, their core concerns will be well heard and route cause analysis with solution driven approach finding will become smoother.
- Respect the individual
The most important morality beyond any level each individual carry is their self-esteem. Whether at any position, department or level the other person is, treat him / her with a high level of respect. This attitude reflects in your welcoming, voice, treatment, write-ups and every single action you perform. Make sure beyond any designation, organization, department or type of work, individual’s self-respect is maintained. This also reflects your decency level and organizational culture.
- Help others and expect help from others
I always love the concept of ‘Growing others to Grow yourself!’ this is the best way to grow yourself and be competent wherever you go.
This is the best approach for growing in parallel, growing in multiplications, growing with fun, growing with trust, growing with mentoring, growing with recognition and growing with competency and growing in a right direction.
