Is Culture a Part of your Business Model?

Some dollar-producing activities are less obvious to us because they have since been thought of as ancillary or perhaps supplemental to our business and the work we do every day. For example, we all know that company culture is necessary for a successful business, but do we ever think of how it translates into real money? Company culture is, in fact, a source of revenue, but how often is it treated that way? Not often enough.

A promising company culture is no accident. It must be worked at. There are certain activities that contribute to team dynamics, things that purposefully strengthen the overall presence of a group of people working together. You can name these activities. Maybe you have daily huddles, monthly challenges or maybe you consistently make time for recognition and praise. These very practices are the difference between high retention and low retention, so that makes a pretty good case for culture to be a key part of your business plan.

To establish and keep values strong within your team, recite a core value during each team meeting/call as it helps everyone buy into your vision and mission for the business. It also helps remind them to uphold these values while they conduct business.

This process has the opportunity to start attracting a different type of agent to come work for you because when we establish our core values, we begin to use them in the hiring process. Additionally, agents can be released for not upholding the core values. This helps with the hiring process—the team will take the time to hire the right people so they don’t have to pick up that slack.

If you are having trouble knowing which values you want to establish, you can read Andy Andrews’ “The Traveler’s Gift.” The book gives the advice and insights that can also be applied to business or one’s personal life. The lessons in the book are written in understandable instructions; in a simple, straightforward plot that provides a loose map of where to go to develop those values. A more personalized way to create your core values is to use our WSS Core Value Worksheet to provide some further structure and get your ideas out on paper and see which ones speak out to you and your team the most.

Good culture makes people not only want to stay with the team but to also do well at the company. It also reassures them that if they do well, they belong to a place that will always give them positive feedback for their wins. And positivity begets positivity, which earns more money. Bad culture and poor motivation to do well earns less money.

Verl Workman is the founder and CEO of Workman Success Systems (385-282-7112), an international speaking, consulting, and coaching company that specializes in performance coaching and building successful power agents and teams. Contact him at Verl@WorkmanSuccessSystems.com. For more information, please visit www.WorkmanSuccess.com.