Organisational Culture That Eats Strategy For BreakfastCulture is Unique to a Business, it's the Reason Why Companies Win or Lose.

A company's culture is its identity and personality. Since this is closely linked to its brand and how it wants to be viewed by its employees, customers, competitors and the outside world, culture is critical.

The challenge is understanding that culture contains unwritten rules and that certain behaviours that align to the culture the company is nurturing should be valued and cherished more than others.

Paul Kent, Richard Flack and Stephen le Roux are the driver's behind Sureswipe's organisational culture. The business has grown from height to height thanks to its incredible team, and Paul, Richard and Stephen believe the company's unique culture is a strong factor in its success.

Here is their advice on building a strong company culture.

At Sureswipe, the core of our culture is that we value people and what they are capable of.

We particularly value people who are engaged, get on with the job, take initiative, are happy to get stuck in beyond their formal job descriptions, and who sometimes have to suck up a bit of pain to get through a challenge.

We include culture in everything we do, so it's a fundamental element in our recruitment process. In addition to a skills and experience interview, each candidate undergoes a culture fit in the form of a values interview.

We look for top performers who echo our core values (collaboration, courage, taking initiative, fairness and personal responsibility) and have real conviction about making a difference in the lives of independent retailers. If we don't believe a candidate will be a culture fit, we won't hire them.

If we make a mistake in the recruitment process, we won't retain culture killers, even if they are top performers. This is such a tough lesson to learn, but it liberates a company and often improves overall company performance.

Culture should be cultivated, constantly communicated and used when making decisions.

At Sureswipe, we often talk about what it takes to win and have simplified winning into three key elements: A simple, yet inspirational vision; the right culture; and a clear and focused strategy. The first and third elements can be copied from organisation to organisation. Culture on the other hand is unique to every business and can be a great influencer in its success.

Catch phrases on the wall are not the definition of culture. A strong culture is purposeful and evolving. It's what makes a company great, but also exposes its weakness. No company is perfect and it's important to acknowledge the good and the bad. Without it, we cannot ensure that we are protecting and building on the good and reducing or eradicating the bad.

Mistakes happen. That's okay.

But we are very purposeful about how mistakes are handled.

Culturally we're allergic to things being covered up or deflected and have had great learning moments as individuals and as an organisation when bad news travels fast. It's liberating to "tell it like it is' and almost always, with a few more minds on the problem at hand, things can be rectified with minimal impact.

Culture should be built on values that resonate with you and that you want to excel at.

In our case, some are lived daily and others are aspirational in that we're still striving for them. In each case we genuinely believe in them and encourage each other to keep living them. This increases the level of trust within the team, as there is consistency in how people are treated and how we get things done.

We are always inspired when, after sitting in our reception area, nine out of ten visitors will comment on the friendliness of staff.

We hear their remarks about how friendly the Sureswipe team is or a potential candidate will talk about the high level of energy and positivity they experience throughout the interview process. These are indicators that our culture is alive and well.

It's these components of our culture — friendliness, helpfulness and positivity — that cascade into how we do business and how we treat our customers and people in general. Being able to describe your culture and support it with real life examples is a great way to communicate and promote the type of behaviour that is important and recognised within the organisation.

Culture doesn't just happen.

We are fortunate that culture has always been important to us, even if it wasn't clearly defined in our early days. As we grew it became important to be more purposeful in the evolution of our culture. About four years ago, the senior leadership team and nominated cultural or values icons were mandated to relook all things cultural.

A facilitator said to us, "You really love it when people take the initiative, and get very frustrated when they don't." That accurate insight became core to our values. We love to see people proactively solve problems, take responsibility for their own growth, initiate spontaneous events, change their tactics or implement new ideas. It energises us and aligns to the way we do business.

We celebrate growth and love to see our staff getting promoted due to their hard work and perseverance. We recently had one of our earliest technicians get promoted to the Regional Manager of Limpopo. It was one of the best moments of 2018.

Be purposeful with culture, describe it, communicate it and use it in all aspects of business.

Culture should change. Don't allow phrases like "this is not how we do things,' or, "the culture here is changing,' to stifle the growth and development of your culture. When done correctly change is a good thing.

Culture is driven from the top but at the end of the day it's a company-wide initiative. Design it together with team members from different parts of the organisation to get the most from it. And then make sure everyone lives and breathes it.