J. Williard Marriott, founder of the Marriot Corporation, once said, “Take good care of your employees and they’ll take good care of your customers, and the customers will come back.” Marriott achieved great success, but he would have never been able to do that without his colleagues and employees.
Marriott understood the importance of building a positive work environment. He took the time to learn about his employees’ workplace needs and found a way to meet them. From uniforms to equipment, nothing was too small to help make his employees’ job better. To take it one step further, Marriott made the effort to communicate with employees – showing interest in both their career and personal life. He truly did care. By practicing these two things, Marriott created a workplace environment and culture that his employees thrived in.
Company culture makes all the difference, and the workplace environment and culture you create sets the stage for how team members are treated and valued.
Now you may be thinking that your team should be grateful to have a job in this economy and not expect anything more than a paycheck. And maybe you’re right, they should be thankful (we all should be thankful for what we do have) but if your culture doesn’t empower your team and emphasize the value they add to your company, chances are they aren’t going to stick around. Or worse, they will stick around, but not have their heart in it.
Marriott worked hard. He was successful. And he found ways to encourage and motivate his employees to do the same, which meant treating them as he would want to be treated.
Here at Rock Paper Simple, we believe we should “empower talented people”. It’s on a plaque on the wall in my office. That is one of the most important jobs I have at Rock Paper Simple. If I’m not empowering my team to do their jobs better, I’m a poor leader and am not pulling my weight here.
At our office, we don’t use the word “employee” because we consider every person on our team a “team member,” a valuable contributor who has his or her own unique talents to bring to the table.
In the early days I would correct my Team Members often, “You guys aren’t employees… stop saying that. You are team members!”. And now I find it funny when I slip up during press interviews or financial conversations and my own team corrects me, “Joshua! It’s Team Members!”. I firmly believe they take great joy in correcting me on this, and truth be told, so do I… because it means that component of our company culture has really taken root.
Our meetings and brainstorming sessions are exciting and full of energy because everyone has something to contribute. We often schedule Rock Paper Simple “Hang Outs” where we take off early and enjoy fellowship with each other along with our clients and colleagues. We have a lot of fun at our office, but we also know how to get down to business and get the job done.
Speaking of our awesome team, meet the ‘Simple’ team here!
The company culture and workplace environment at Rock Paper Simple empowers each team member, and as a result, we give our clients only one level of service… awesome service!
I truly believe that what we’ve built is about more than just doing some marketing and making some money, that it’s about people… it’s about the clients, it’s about our team and it’s about the community.
Having a great company culture doesn’t always have to mean the cliché bean-bag chairs and humor-laced company statements, though. Every company is different and yours might take a more serious note than ours… but that’s not what is important. What IS important is that your team grabs hold of the vision, that they feel empowered by the culture in a way that allows them to serve each other, your customers and your community in a big way!
Take care of your people and they will take care of you. I am blessed to have an amazing team and we enjoy a wonderful company culture here at Rock Paper Simple!
