Advisory Works Stress The Importance of 'Culture' in Your Business

Business culture permeates every aspect of a company, from whom and how you hire, to how you structure work, to how decisions are made, wins are celebrated, setbacks overcome and changes navigated. Because of this, culture is the first of Advisory Works’ Four Cornerstones, and is vital to a successful business.

Advisory Works explain that if your culture is the heartbeat of your company, then your values and purpose are the arteries that deliver life-giving blood through the business, and they often ask a Senior Team, “What is your culture?” Every business has a culture, although they may or may not be able to articulate it. The important first step is to figure out the culture you have, and then use your values to align the company with the culture you want.

As the Advisory Works team say, “Ask yourself what needs to happen in order to create the culture you want in the future? When it comes to aligning culture to your strategic plan, you need to be asking the tough questions, challenging the current culture without offending others, and parking your ego.”

In the Advisory Works’ framework, culture also encompasses the way your company engages with and celebrates customers. Your company probably has a mission statement and a set of core values to back that statement up. But few companies base those core values on customer feedback and engagement. The best businesses seek to own the voice of the customer because as John Spence states, “Whoever owns the voice of the customer, owns the marketplace”.

When employees feel safe and free in their work environment, they achieve the greatest results. When you engage your people they display greater commitment, involvement, and enthusiasm. When your people are highly engaged, they give you their discretionary effort – they go the extra mile for the business.

So, to achieve greater productivity, improved customer satisfaction and increased profitability, and to find out more about Advisory Works’ Four Cornerstones of Strategic Execution, go to the website at http://advisory.works/ .