A company's culture is a critical part of its success. Culture is what facilitates company growth and innovation, retains employees and attracts new ones, says Joe Trammell, author of The CEO Tightrope, in a recent interview with MDM. And a critical piece of developing that culture lies with the CEO.
Will your company be one that dictates mandates from an office? Or will it be one that interacts with the employees at every level to build trust and gather insight?
According to Trammell, the second tactic is far more effective at understanding what's going on within the company and where the business is lacking. As leaders gain more responsibility, Trammell says, the worst thing they can do is assume they know what employees are doing.
But leaders can't expect to instantly have a relationship with every worker; part of building culture is fostering those relationships.
“Start by using the hiring process to begin to build that relationship there,” Trammell says. “The employee will know you voted for them, that you voted to hire them. You’ll always have a little bit of a connection there.”
Over time, leaders should work to build up additional touch-points and relationships with these employees. In big organizations, the leaders won’t be able to interview every person, but putting forth efforts to make connections will pay off.
Read more from Trammell of building a culture for success in How Leaders Can Drive Company Culture.
