Today, we give you some corporate culture mistakes done by leaders that even though they had good intentions, they failed big time.

1. +
Some corporate culture
mistakes that are very
common in the business
world
By David Kiger
Image courtesy of Scott Beale at Flickr.com

2. + Before even starting, let’s take a look at a definition of
corporate culture in Investopedia “Corporate culture refers
to the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a
company's employees and management interact and
handle outside business transactions. Often, corporate
culture is implied, not expressly defined, and develops
organically over time from the cumulative traits of the
people the company hires. A company's culture will be
reflected in its dress code, business hours, office setup,
employee benefits, turnover, hiring decisions, and
treatment of clients, client satisfaction and every other
aspect of operations”
It takes too long to build an accurate corporate culture that
survives any change the markets throws at the company.
As a matter of fact, corporate culture is the most difficult
and delicate aspect a company has, sometimes over their
revenues or sales. If there is an effective and healthy
corporate culture, the company will always have the best
resources and employees that will in turn become assets
and knowledge that will impact the return in investment in
the long term.

3. + But what happens when this corporate culture gets
interrupted or affected by internal forces? For example, a
CEO that doesn’t understand how things work; or a
manager that still is on the old days of saving every penny
without acknowledging employees or their work. Today, we
give you some corporate culture mistakes done by leaders
that even though they had good intentions, they failed big
time.
Image courtesy of
Dice.com at
Flickr.com

4. + Mistake 1: hiring staff that doesn’t have the energy or
the spark for the company.
When companies are looking to hire staff, they often look at
the most experienced ones and the ones that can give the
company stability and accurate approaches. Often, young
candidates are underestimated because they may not have
what it takes and have not seen many battles. Big mistake.
Sometimes this can have a negative effect on the
organization because the new person, with all of his or her
experience, pulls in a different direction than the team.
Employees with passion and drive for a company´s mission
will ultimately be a better long-term fit, even if they have
slightly less experience. When staff feels the mission
statement as their own, productivity starts to grow in an
amazing way and a strong corporate culture starts to takes
place.

5. + Mistake 2: not motivating the staff as the company
grows.
When companies get bigger, problems and work start to
increase, sometimes, staff and their needs are seen as
important but secondary. If companies lose employee
engagement in the processes, they will lose a big asset. It
can be as simple as adapting meetings for the staff so they
feel the company is still there for them. It can be as simple
as changing the way a meeting is conducted so everyone
can have a go at their opinion or can shoot questions to the
speakers. A common corporate culture mistake is that as
the company grows, management or owners tend to forget
about employees lives and only keep track of growth. This
can end in people leaving the company or having a bad
image for the market

6. + Mistake 3: forgetting about corporate values and not
reminding them to the staff.
Corporate values are hanging on the walls of every company that
is out there. They are said in training and they are seen in flyers
and brochures. But does the staff really know them? Do they
actually care? It is not about making the people remember them
by heart, but it is more about trying to teach and remind them that
values are there to be followed. People have to be reminded
about the corporate culture because it is something that doesn’t
just happen, or at least good corporate cultures don’t just appear
out of the blue. It takes constant attention and ongoing
conversations. A clear example of this is the open door policy that
many companies try to apply. Saying there’s an open door policy
doesn’t mean people will proactively take advantage of that.
Multiple channels have to be established for people to give
feedback and suggestions and that they feel that there is a
company that not only says they care about employees, but that
they also demonstrate it by making things easier for them

7. + We all know and have read about a company’s culture
and how it can benefit the company or make it fail if it
doesn’t work in harmony. These are just some
mistakes that can be seen out there and that
eventually can slow down productivity in a company
and diminish morale in the staff. These corporate
culture mistakes can teach future generations to be
careful and to manage staff with the same
commitment as they manage the financial and sales
department within their companies. Learn more on
how to be a great leader here