As many readers know, we organize the steps it takes to be intentional and systematic about your culture into a simple structure we call the 8-step framework. One of the key elements in that framework is communicating your culture throughout the organization, or making it visible. In this post, I’ll explain why this is so important and offer some simple ideas you can quickly put to work.
It’s a form of advertising
Have you ever thought about why companies spend billions of dollars on advertising? Because it mostly works! The more we see something, the more it starts to feel familiar, and the more it gradually seeps into our consciousness. The same is also true for statements about our culture.
Before I go further, I want to make one thing perfectly clear here. Putting posters on your walls with your vision, mission, and values does
The more, the better
If the only time someone ever sees a visual, written form of your culture is on an 8.5×11 sheet with the corporate values and it’s stuffed into the new hire paperwork, sandwiched between the benefit enrollment forms and the I-9, how likely are people thinking about it? But if everywhere they look, they see statements about our culture, and they’re literally inundated with it, there’s a far better chance that they’re thinking about it, that it becomes part of their daily experience, that it becomes their vocabulary, and it begins to shape how they think.
There are unlimited ways you can do this–see samples. Here are just a few:
As you can see, you’re limited only by your own creativity. But the more people see this around them, the better.
We hear from clients all the time that the Fundamentals™ have literally become their language – the way they speak around the office or the shop. This has a very powerful effect on causing people to internalize the behaviors that lead to success. Making them visible throughout the workplace is a key contributor to this effort.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can put this system to work in your workplace, just give us a call or shoot us an e-mail.