There was once an easy-going entrepreneur who said to his human resources manager: "I don't like the current corporate atmosphere. I no longer want the current corporate culture to continue. I don't need every employee in the company to only say yes when they see me. I don't want to see every employee dodging me like avoiding a tiger. I want every employee to take responsibility for the survival of the enterprise. I want you to change it."
After receiving the task, the HR manager consulted many professionals and hired a consulting company. From research, making plans, to training, it took nearly half a year. Slogans such as democracy, independence, honesty, trust, etc., were plastered all over the company. People-oriented and performance-oriented practices gradually spread across various departments. The HR manager felt that this corporate culture reconstruction was carried out with great fanfare. He thought that the task given by the boss had finally started to bear fruit, and the consulting fees spent weren't wasted. But after a few months, the employees returned to the state of "just doing their work," and the boss gradually lost enthusiasm.
This HR manager's theoretical study of corporate culture could not be called shallow, and the plan made by the professional consulting company could not be called incomplete. So why did he fail? The reason lies in his neglect of two key points in the process of building corporate culture:
1. Removing the barriers between employees and managers. You will often hear this sentence: "Your job is to do your work well and follow my instructions. Don't worry about anything else." When the company's managers inadvertently keep injecting this theory, the employees come to believe that their job is just to do their work. When we walk into such an enterprise, we see a group of emotionless employees standing there. They only obey orders and won't take initiative or assume responsibility. They always make excuses for their own mistakes, always blame others for their errors, and always push problems onto others. They are not only dissatisfied with the company but also dissatisfied with themselves. Therefore, to change the previous corporate culture, deliberately removing the barriers between employees and managers is very crucial. It can unite employees and enable them to pool their efforts toward the same goal. As a manager, what you care about should be what the employees care about. If you care about the company's profits, then let the employees know how to make a profit. Teach the employees how to measure performance and achieve success, and let them understand the relationship between their income and the company's profits. If employees do not understand the company's actual financial status, they won't understand your actions, which may lead to inaction or wrong actions. And when the company fails, they will blame you. Therefore, if you want to run the company well, first teach each of your employees how to operate the business. Remove their mentality of being just an employee, let employees think and act like you, and let them get used to not needing others to direct them. Let them have all the knowledge, information, and confidence needed to make decisions, and give them the willingness to act quickly.
2. Eliminate the barriers between employees. Make employees realize that they are in the same team, sharing honor and disgrace. Make employees realize that achieving the company's goals requires mutual dependence and pooling of efforts. This will allow employees to have a more comprehensive understanding of the company's operations and gain a broader perspective. Therefore, when we consider establishing a corporate culture plan, we must always focus on the team's performance and results rather than focusing on individual success. Let employees understand that only by uniting, full of vitality, and actively participating in the team's goals can employees receive the greatest rewards. Let employees understand that this is the best way to achieve success, which is much more meaningful than individual success. In reality, we unintentionally create many barriers. For example, many companies promote the target responsibility system. The operational responsibilities of the enterprise are divided very specifically, even to the point where they unintentionally overlap and conflict. When an employee (department) achieves its goal regardless of the interests of other employees (departments), they might say: "Whether you achieve your goal has nothing to do with me. The key is that if I don't achieve my goal, I won't get a bonus, won't get promoted, will lose my job, and my family still depends on me to support them." When you hear these things, you deeply feel the fear in the hearts of employees. This is often a relatively common phenomenon exposed by some enterprises, and it is also a kind of culture, "fear culture." Upon careful consideration, fear stems from loneliness, and safety comes from cooperation. Therefore, as a manager, you need to let employees know that everyone is on the same boat, they are not alone, and they don't have to bear all the problems alone.
When operators no longer think that lower-level employees cannot understand the company's problems and objectives, when middle-level managers no longer have to be caught between the operator and the employees, and when employees no longer misunderstand the company's actions, that's when you truly have your own corporate culture.