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Culture is Key

May 11, 2021

For a business to succeed, they need to nail the following three areas: having great products, running smooth operations, and creating a great customer experience.

If a business is truly going to grow and thrive, they must truly shine in at least one of these three areas and keep customers coming back by outperforming their competition.

1. Superior Products
To be a product leader, your business needs an offering better than most of your competition’s. Customers will come to you because they know you have the best burger in town, or clients keep calling because the consulting services you offer yield real, lasting results. Apple is a product leader. Tesla is proving to be a product leader.  It’s why these businesses have such a widespread, loyal, and consistent following!

2. Operational Excellence
Another element that defines a successful business is operational excellence. This means that your business has a system that is superior to your competitors, so you continue to outperform them in a way that matters to your customers. Amazon is like this. Their proprietary products may not be the best on the market, but they have a marketplace and a system for processing and delivering orders that is far superior to their competition. When you need something fast, you’re going to Amazon.

3. Customer Experience
Finally, businesses are often successful because their customer experience is a cut above their competition. People keep coming back because they feel valued every time they come to you. Disney creates this kind of experience for their park guests. They work to make individualized “magical” moments for their customers that keep them coming back again and again.

If you are standing out in one of these three areas, chances are you’ve experienced success, but I believe that there is going to be a fourth element that will be a defining factor for success in the coming years: culture.

Culture impacts all three of the elements listed above because it impacts your team—the individuals your company can attract, select, and retain. Healthy culture is one of the most important factors in attracting new talent, so it should be important to you. The next big front on the battlefield of business will be fought over talent, and I believe the best way to win this fight is to develop and foster a healthy culture within your business. 

Said another way, culture is the ultimate competitive advantage

So, what makes up a healthy culture that attracts talent? Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Values: Compensation is important, but alignment with a company’s values must be present to keep people engaged.
Meaningful Work: Everyone wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves, so the company’s vision must be clear, communicated often, and connected to the individual’s work.
Personal Development: Talented individuals desire the opportunity to learn and grow in the workplace.
Trust: People want to know they can trust their leaders and also that their leaders trust them to do good work.
Purpose Beyond Work: Work is important, but in order to do good work, people need a purpose beyond what they do with your company. 

To thrive, employees must be prepared for their job, passionate about their job, and purposeful both in and outside of work.

The only way to offer the best products and services, maintain the most effective systems, and extend superior customer care is focus on culture. You need high quality members of your team to be successful, so how will you develop or maintain the kind of culture that attracts them?

A compelling culture will help you with your products, operations, and customer experience.

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