“Company culture”

Speciality Bites with

Paul Hargreaves

Chief executive of Cotswold Fayre

• Becoming a B Corp
• Top trend predictions for Christmas 2021
• Self-sacrifice: The importance of building a leadership legacy centred on others
• Undercover Boss
• Can/should bosses really be close friends with their staff?

One of the subject areas I have been thinking about for my book is ‘company culture’

Yes, it’s out of the bag now – deliberately, as I hope if more people know I am writing a book I will be encouraged by others to crack on with it a little more quickly. Alternatively, they may tell me to give up on the whole idea!  Either way, I did not realise it would be so difficult to find the time, aside from the day job! 

Anyway, back to the subject of company culture. It is not difficult to see how a very small business is an integral part of the owner as she or he makes most of the decisions and sets the tone for the operation. However, this is also true of larger businesses, where the culture set at the top infiltrates down throughout the company and affects in a positive or negative way the way staff behave with customers and suppliers. In truth, it is a mix of the two. Take, for example, a company whose culture is to make as much money as possible at all costs, and where integrity and honesty are not held in high regard at the top. Of course, an employee within that company can buck the trend and behave in a much more honest and upright manner. This was actually me around 28 years ago, and I have never been employed since. Through choice, I hasten to add, although I think I am unemployable now, as most business owners are!

There is a tremendous responsibility as company directors or owners for the people within your company. This is people’s lives we are talking about here. Are your team thriving under the culture you have set? Or may they have some ideas that may help take you forward as a company. Certainly, a culture that encourages staff to take initiative and be creative is always a good one. And companies where the team feels that they are not important, and the directors and owners are taking all the profits mitigates against this. Our staff are about to receive a significant profit-share bonus in their April pay packets, and the time since we implemented this has seen a much higher impact on engagement with our mission and purpose. It’s not rocket science really is it?

See you at one of the three shows we are at over the next two weeks. I would be delighted to discuss in more detail, as you may be able to give me some more content for the book!