Your Competitive Advantage 3. Why Company Culture Is Important

Your Company Culture is key element 3 of 7 in the formula to optimise your competitive advantage over your industry opponents. It is just as important as the other 6 elements, but it is often undervalued and unfortunately when it is neglected it is one of the most difficult elements to turn around because it primarily is dependent on human emotions, attitudes, and behaviours.  

An accomplished business leader will nurture a company culture of shared values and vision and cohesive attributes. 

The best practice in this element is to define your company culture, assess the current perceptions of management and employees and agree upon the desired outcomes.  Your company culture is important to you the business leader, your employees, suppliers, and customers and it is visible in the expression of your employee brand, your supply chain dynamics, your customer service and the profitability and resilience of your business.   

There are 4 types of Company Culture deployed in every business with one type being dominant.  The Clan Culture is one of collaboration, focused on the wellbeing and functionality of its internal stake holders.  The Adhocracy Culture is about entrepreneurship and creativity with a stronger focus on the individual and disruption causing positive change.  The Market Culture is dynamic and competitive and focused on profitability and market share.  The Hierarchy Culture is based on formal structures, efficiency, and predictability. 

No matter which is dominant in your workplace 94% of employees believe a defined company culture is important to a business’s success which is understandable given that we all want to feel valued especially when we many of us are spending the greatest portion of our awake lives at work. 

A great culture helps us understand our purpose at work, it gives us a sense of community and unity and it gives us opportunities and potential successes.  It is fundamentally critical to invest in this aspect of your business.  Ignore your company culture and you are statistically on a slippery slope down, get it right and you will have your critical advantage element 3 sorted.

There are 3 steps to building a great company culture:
1. Management and Leaders discuss and agree upon what a great culture looks like.
2. Employees reveal what a great culture looks like to them.
3. Management and employees formulate a plan to bridge the cultural gap.