Today is a very personal post. It's about our deepest inner self as an agency. And it's about nothing less than our corporate culture!
As a small agency, you live your corporate culture almost automatically. But we can say from our own experience: the more you grow and new employees join, the more it becomes diluted. This creates uncertainty, because it is no longer clear to everyone how to behave in certain situations in order to act in accordance with the corporate philosophy. And customers also notice this. So, at some point it's time to put your corporate culture into words and anchor it. For us, this is now the case!
Why a corporate culture for agencies?
Companies need values and guidelines that shape their decisions, actions and the behavior of their employees. In short: a common basis for how we treat each other and how we behave towards customers and partners. The corporate culture, or in our case: the agency culture, not only promotes a good working atmosphere, but also has a positive effect on economic success. Everyone pulls together, is motivated and productive. They know where to go! This in turn radiates outwards and contributes to a positive perception by customers and potential employees.
How do you build a corporate culture?
So far so good. But can a culture really be created? Or isn't it just there? Our findings on this topic are as follows: The founders of an agency - or any other company - bring a certain spirit with them. They have their attitudes and values and act accordingly quite automatically. If they grow, they seem to have done something right - customers and the market appreciate the way they think and act! When the first employees join, they are usually still so close to the founders that they also live this spirit. No special words are really needed. So, yes, the corporate culture is there right from the start. Even if rather unconsciously.
Now it's getting dangerous!
But the faster the company grows, the greater the distance between the founders and the new employees. Now it becomes dangerous! Suddenly, individual employees are acting contrary to previous values. Especially in an agency where people work together to produce a service, this quickly has an impact on work results. Customers don't recognize "their" agency! This creates frustration. Even with new employees who don't understand why clients react with defensiveness.
The thing with recruiting
To prevent this from happening, everyone must know the corporate culture and act in accordance with it. The "old employees" must help the new ones and exemplify the culture. However, if many of them have not been on board that long, you need more. The corporate culture should also be accessible to everyone in writing and visually. Ideally even before you join the company!
Attract suitable employees
If you know the values of a company, as a potential employee you can think about them in advance: Can you identify with the company and act in its spirit? If not, it's probably not the kind of job where you will thrive, feel good and perform at your best.
Hiring the right employees
Conversely, there is also no point in hiring the "wrong" person, even if they are the right person for the job! It is important for the company's success to attract the people who really fit in and will help the company move forward. Otherwise it often ends in an exhausting tug-of-war. That doesn't get us anywhere. On the contrary - this intensive but completely unnecessary preoccupation with ourselves actually hinders us in achieving our goals!
Existing employees receive orientation
The corporate culture gives existing employees guidance on how we should behave in certain situations. For example, towards customers and partners, but also when dealing with colleagues. This means that a line manager does not have to dictate everything in every situation, but employees can act on their own initiative in the interests of the company and move it forward.
Our actions have an impact on our customers
At this point, it should be clear to everyone why we are so intensively involved with our culture: We are doing nothing less than ensuring the company's success. We cannot and do not want to constantly deal with internal questions such as: "Do I have to go here or there?", "What should I say to the customer?", "What would the boss have done in my place?". We should be clear about how we should act in the interests of the agency. Our values are deep within us, we don't have to do anything other than live them!
What values is Mark building on?
We're working on it. You'll find out more in the next post!
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash