You are a very busy person. 
After all, you are the head of multiple departments, and the company is resting on your shoulders. Unfortunately in all the hustle and bustle, you forgot to do one thing that is critical to the company . . .
Listen to the culture of your company!
Having a mission and vision statement in place is not enough to assume that the company culture is completely aligned with it. More often than not, executives preach the mission, but they fail to listen when the culture is in serious trouble. This results in deficient performance at all levels.
Here are 3 things your culture has been dying to tell you . . . Are you listening?
Not All of the People in the Company Fit the Culture
It is extremely important that those who make up the culture are a good fit. For example, if you’re a company driven by ROI, you should not have people within your company that are driven by helping others. You have to remember that your culture is your people. Do you have the right people?
Practice What You Preach
You cannot expect employees to live out the company’s mission and vision when you, yourself, fail to do so. When leaders fail to live out the mission and vision, employees notice. What you may not notice is that this leads them to lose trust in you, which leads to the next things your culture is dying to tell you.
Your Employees Do Not Trust You
A culture built of people who do not trust one another, especially the leader, will lead to destructive conflict, loss of productivity, lack of candor, lost communication, and whole can of worms that is destroying the company culture. If employees lose trust in their leader, well to be honest, he or she loses the title of “leader.” Nobody wants to take direction or follow someone they do not trust.
Your culture has spoken, now what?
Having an awareness of what is going on within the company will allow you to hear and see whether or not the culture you wish to have is actually the culture you have.
First of all, be aware of what you are doing and saying. Does it fit the mission and vision?
Assuring you have the mission and vision you desire starts by taking accountability. Before you look to others in your company and point fingers, ask yourself what you can do to create the best culture possible.
Second, build trust.
If employees trust you, you will be able to have a much better awareness of your culture. If they do not trust you, you need to begin establishing this trust. Having trust will open communication and allow you to hear what you need to about your culture.
Finally, make sure employees fit the culture.
Sometimes the culture misfits can easily be sniffed out. The best way to identify people who fit/do not fit the culture though is to measure your culture and team. There are many tools on the market to do this, but we obviously are favorable to ours.
