Corporate culture – avoiding unnecessary risks

Terry Thompson, Surrey, BC, CYBF Mentor, tesh@shaw.ca

Managing Corporate Culture article series

The following items are easy to implement and can help any organization minimize potential risks to their corporate culture:

Recruiting

As mentioned in my previous articles, my preference is to use proven external recruiting agencies that recruit specifically for the position(s) that you want to fill. Growing organizations should always be assessing current employees and recruiting for new ones (even if you don’t need them now).

The best ongoing recruiting idea that I have ever heard was one devised by a former business partner of mine. Once he found a good contingency agency for a specific position, he had them send him any good candidates they had for the position(s) they recruited for, whether he needed them or not. This allowed him to always have a pipeline of good candidates when he needed them. It also allowed him to act more quickly if he had an existing employee who was “on the bubble” and minimize the normal tendency to wait too long to let someone go. It’s amazing how much more objective you will be in assessing a mediocre employee when you have good candidate(s) waiting in the wing.

Spending time in the field

Without a doubt, some of the highest returns on my time were earned from the time I spent in the field riding with operations and sales people, meeting a representative mix of clients and suppliers, and attending employee meetings etc. There was never a trip into the field that I did not learn something valuable about the needs of our employees, clients and suppliers. Ensure that you devote sufficient time for this essential activity.

Treat every position in your organization as a profession

Every position within your organization deserves the same respect. If you treat all of them as a profession and recruit people who feel the same way, you will be miles ahead in building your corporate culture. Do not make the common mistake of having lower standards for clerical positions than for management positions. You want self-motivated, emotionally stable, team players at all levels of your organization.

Should you have any questions or feedback regarding the content of this article, please email Terry Thompson at tesh@shaw.ca ©