As Coaching Actuaries grew, Coach K (Dave Kester) and the team began asking why the company exists. These answers, he writes, shaped our culture, sharpened our focus, and led to one of the team’s toughest decisions.
One fast way my brain shuts down is to hear buzzwords. A buzzword example is company “culture.” I’m sure you’ve heard how important culture is to a company. But I’m drawn to tangible problems, and company culture seems abstract—something only for large companies.
Years ago, I hired an HR director as part of our leadership team. One of his first goals was to identify our core values. We identified several, but at the top of the list was this: we value clarity of purpose. We’ve done our best to live by that value in large and small decisions. This was only one core value that has helped define our culture.
Now, several years later, our company has grown. I have seen firsthand the importance of company culture. It truly makes a difference for your staff and, eventually, your customers.
It Starts With Why
How do you define company culture? It starts by asking the simple question, "Why?" that develops into other questions:
- Why does the company exist?
- Why do people come to work?
- Why would customers choose you?
We asked these difficult “why” questions. The answers set the foundation for the company. They influenced hiring and firing decisions. They helped decide which projects we pursue and which lines of business we exit. Ironically, as the company has grown, we are in fewer businesses than we were several years ago. Less has been more.
These decisions were possible because we identified why we existed and what our culture was. Clear answers made it easier for staff to understand the company’s purpose. It simplified things. People could not only agree with the decisions—they could embrace them.
Of course, nothing is perfect and there are always different opinions. But we now have a clear path of where we want to go and how we want to get there.
One Hard Call: Leaving Consulting Behind
One difficult decision was to exit the consulting business. Consulting had been part of the company from the beginning and provided almost all of our revenue for our first 15 years.
There were a lot of advantages to consulting. But we realized that our core business was now online education—and consulting requires 100% attention to be successful. So we made the difficult decision to let it go.
I underestimated how beneficial this would be. It allowed us to be more focused and less distracted. Often, we don’t realize how much distractions weigh us down until they’re gone. Once we eliminated them, I found myself wondering how I’d survived while juggling so many projects.
I’ve also learned how important the HR department is to a company. If people are your greatest asset, then HR is one of your most important departments.
Final Thoughts From the School of Hard Knocks
In my recent blog entries, you might have noticed that I've shared more of my failures and struggles than our successes. But struggles are where real learning happens.
You may be going through your own difficult time. Remember, there is light at the end of the tunnel. When you get there, take a moment to identify the key concepts you learned.
You can’t beat the school of hard knocks to really understand the world.