Company culture is the beliefs, behaviour and personality of a company. It influences how employees and members of management work together and interact. A strong company culture can help you to reach your overarching goals, build your brand, and create a nurturing work environment.
Clear Leadership and Responsibilities
A good company culture will have a good leader, but it doesn’t stop with one person. Everyone will be aware of their responsibilities, and employees will know where to go when they need help with something. Having clear knowledge and appreciation of everyone’s expertise means things can get done more quickly and at a higher standard. A business plan can help you to identify everyone’s skills and any gaps that need to be filled, so that you know what to build upon.
A good leader will also have a clear vision of where they want the business to go, and they will deliver this message so that it filters down to the rest of the team. Good communication, regular feedback and consistent messaging is therefore key. This is also true for decision-making. When important decisions need to be made, the appropriate people should be consulted and the decisions should be made with sound reasoning and communicated across the business so that everyone is clear on the vision and why certain actions have been taken. In your business plan, this translates to setting goals with realistic time frames. Your business plan is a great tool for communicating goals and plans to the whole team and ensuring that everyone is on the same page.
Positive Public Image
A strong internal company culture should be visible from the outside, too. A good public image comes from happy employees who have a unified vision and who use the same methods to make their customers happy. This should be the case regardless of what is going on in the business internally. For example, if there are big changes taking place within the business, the company culture should help people to deal with changes positively and productively, and ensure the customer’s experience isn’t affected. Use your business plan to think about your goals, how your company culture aligns with them, how internal and external factors could affect your company culture, and how your actions may be seen from the outside.
Ready to write a business plan that helps you to develop a strong company culture? cbm is on hand to get you there. Contact us online using the form on the right or call 01604 420 420.