Quite often, if we look close enough the tell tale signs of a weak company culture are there for everyone to see. Sometimes, when your company culture is in jeopardy, it’s pretty obvious. Maybe you have employees leaving by droves. Or maybe you have a morale problem that is palpable. But in other instances, the signs of trouble may be more subtle. You may not even recognize them until it’s too late.
Let me show you what I mean. A few not-so-explicit signs that there’s something awry with your corporate culture.
How a Weak Company Culture Will Cause You Problems
Nobody ever talks about improvement or growth. You’ve probably heard the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” There’s some truth to that, yet I’d also say there’s something dangerous about a company that’s content with business as usual. If there is no talk whatsoever of growth, innovation, or process improvement, that ultimately points back to a very stagnant culture.
You have employees who never speak up, because they are too afraid. When’s the last time you had employees come to you with ideas? Feedback? Constructive criticism, even? If your employees never speak up, perhaps it’s because they’re afraid you won’t like it and will retaliate. That’s not the kind of culture you want to have.
Collaborations are very siloed. Having zero collaboration in your company is a very obvious problem. A subtler one is having collaborations that happen only within teams or divisions. What you really want is people working together across departments. That’s the sign of a truly collaborative culture.
Nobody ever takes risks. In a healthy company culture, employees feel free to fail—to take big swings, even if it ends up going south. If you have employees who dutifully do their work but never color outside the lines, that may point to some cultural issues.
Your instinct tells you there’s something wrong. Finally, just listen to your gut. Do you feel like there’s a problem with your company culture? If so, that may be your subconscious trying to tell you something. Listen, and spend some time thinking about what might be wrong.
These are just a few examples of how company cultures can exhibit subtle signs of weakness. But the good news is, all of them are fixable. The next time you feel like your culture comes up short, each out to me to talk about some possible fixes. You can contact Dr. Rick at www.rickgoodman.com or call 888-267-6098.
