Are you paying enough attention to company culture?

A recent article in Work Design Magazine by Mike Bahr, a senior research specialist for Haworth, notes that $450 billion is lost every year as a result of employee disengagement — and explains why revived company culture can help solve the problem.

Unspoken rules matter
I agree that culture, including unspoken rules and what's important to management, plays a significant role in the success of any business, and also determines which employees will be successful. Those who miss subtle cues, picking up on what's not being said — such as being humble rather than flamboyant and respecting the power hierarchy — may quickly find themselves on the outside looking in.

This can happen at any company, but it's especially rampant at family businesses, where culture subtleties are often “underground.” For example, some time ago, a client moved from a non-family business, where he was allowed to make decisions on his own, to a family business, where it was seen as disrespectful to act independently without running things by the owner. He erred because he wasn't familiar with that culture imperative.