Company Blog
Culture Club
by Adam Zack — January 31, 2018
The culture of caring is painfully absent.
Your company’s culture starts at the very top. There’s no way around it. If the boss is a moody a-hole, the company vibe will be that of moody a-holes. Think about places you’ve been to and consistently get indifferent, or even terrible service. Convenience stores, Walmart, Sears, the DMV all have reputations for marginal – at best – service. In businesses that rely on repeat customers the emphasis is often not on making those customers want to return, it’s on improving the bottom line. The culture of caring is painfully absent. And it’s not just customer service that flows down from the big boss, it’s cleanliness, organization, efficiency and more. A messy and disorganized office of the CEO gives employees no reason to be organized and neat. I was fortunate enough to go to Littlefield, Texas last week and spend some time with the folks at Lowe’s Markets. They operate 155 stores mainly in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. It’s a lot of stores to maintain a culture of caring. And it’s not just the customer service at store level that I was impressed with, it was the feeling of respect that proliferated the office buildings I visited and people I met. The grocery business is notorious for going cheap when it comes to office furnishings, flooring, paperwork and facilities. These guys were just the opposite. From the owner and CEO Roger Lowe all the way to the ladies who prepared lunch for everyone who worked in the corporate offices (Yes, for $5 a day, you can eat in the very elegant corporate dining room with meals made from scratch by three wonderful women!) the feeling of pride was astounding. I couldn’t stop talking about it (and obviously still can’t). So take a look at your surroundings, starting with your own office. Look at your break rooms and back rooms. What would a stranger think the first time they walked in? You only get one chance to make a good first impression, and whether it’s a new employee or a salesman, your company’s culture starts with you.
Read More – Acceptance
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