We are doing a set of blogs to help you with keeping those good employees. Make sure you stay tuned for the next set of tips…

Changing Culture

A bad culture can develop in what was once a great business. A quick expansion with the business evolving faster than you ever imagined, accompanied by limited strategies and systems in place, this can lead to catastrophe. Company culture is situational — it develops in response to a company’s changes, its vision for the future, and the challenges it has encountered along the way. As your situation changes, your culture needs to evolve with it.

We all appreciate that you can’t run a company of 100 or more people in the same way as a company of 10.

 

Small and Nimble

When you are small it’s easy to make changes fast. Everyone is eager and passionate for you to succeed, and you can be nimble and flexible. As you grow and have less time to think, you may pay a heavy price by losing some of your best long-term employees as you don’t have the time to invest in the processes of change.

As a business expands often a “them versus us mentality” can occur. Employees who once felt integral to your business can now feel like expendable foot soldiers.

At the points of change, you need to re-engineer aspects of your culture if you want to continue to grow successfully and sustainably.

When interviewing and speaking to candidates I often hear why they want to leave a company. Sometimes I hear “I don’t know what is happening in there, we’re not told anything anymore” or “things just happen and there isn’t any explanation we are just told of the change after they happen”. In this case, the common goal and direction is no longer evident. Transparency and openness are gone.

 

Key Advice

Stay true to your identity, and don’t abandon your values and brand. Learn to express them as you change and grow. Promote diversity and inclusion. Be a decision maker and take feedback, otherwise your people may not behave as you wish which may lead to a negative culture.

Plan for the future. If you have plans to grow, work out a plan for the different stages. From family size to tribe size to village and so on as Reid Hoffman’s theory (Hoffman was the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn).

It pays dividends to think about your systems and processes in advance and look at other successful companies that have transitioned. Think about how to retain, engage, and attract new talent.

In my series of short tips, I will give you quick, concise success hacks to retaining your quality employees based on years of interviewing candidates and hearing their thoughts, impressions, and opinions of employers that have influenced their decision-making. I have broken down this information into bite-size chunks just for you.

 

If you are looking for a way to get ahead, we can help you with strategic planning engaging and sourcing strategic hires. Contact us at Arcadia Recruitment today, we pride ourselves in finding the right fit for your business.

Written by Caroline Sanders – Director of Arcadia Recruitment