Crafting Company Culture

Sensible managers understand the importance of developing the right company culture.

Company culture is a malleable force. It adapts and transforms at the whim of a myriad of factors. The arrival of a new employee, or the departure of an old reliable can lead to an abrupt shift in widely-held company values.

There is an arsenal of tools employers and managers can utilise to mould company culture into a positive force. However, implemented incorrectly, it is far too easy to build resentment towards managerial processes, particularly if your idealised company culture is significantly against the grain of your employees.

Brazilian Beauty has a strong company culture. For businesses without an extended history, it can often be difficult to build a solid, resilient culture that can withstand the burdens of team members leaving, market forces and considerable policy changes.

On the other side of the coin, young businesses also have a lack of company history as an advantage. The clay has never been touched, never before been moulded. This is how Brazilian Beauty developed its culture. From very early on, all involved in the company were completely aware of the culture the company sought to create.

We had a clear mission – to provide the best beauty services available in Australia. Employees were thoroughly committed to that mission, and received performance-based rewards, such as incentives and bonuses when particular targets were achieved.

Effective systems and processes were introduced, to ensure a consistency of performance and an ease of adaptation. Training days at Head Office have gradually lengthened, and total days spent in training has also increased. Of course, we now offer a broader variety of standard treatments, so additional training is necessary to fully qualify our therapists. Retraining is conducted wherever necessary, and each individual salon holds training sessions once a week.

There is a company-wide emphasis on innovation. If you have a concept or an idea for improvement, it is immediately heard, discussed and critiqued by higher management levels. Fresh ideas are what keeps the wheel turning.

The most significant aspect to creating a powerful company culture is trust. Employees need to know they can trust their managers to always make the right decision, and to be able to answer their queries. Employees also need to understand that their managers are people too, who can make mistakes, and who are not above accepting advice and suggestions.

Crafting an ideal company culture can be a long, difficult road. It is absolutely necessary to always understand that your culture is comprised of the people working for the company, so making the right employee choices is critical to shaping your culture.