In Minor's League:

I am the president of a mid-size landscape company. How much time should I devote to creating and maintaining a positive culture in my organization?

This is a fantastic question and one that I perceive to be very intuitive. Most business owners do not understand how critical this issue is. Before getting to the specifics of the question, I would first like to address this concept of culture and why it is so important.

Let me start by sharing with you what I consider to be the ideal company. The ideal company is, first and foremost, profitable. It has margins that exceed its industry averages. The company is growing and is strong financially (i.e., it has a strong balance sheet). The ideal company has happy, satisfied customers and a happy satisfied staff. Certainly there are more characteristics, but this covers the ideal company in broad terms.

What is interesting about the ideal company is that the staff is what helps you grow, make money, become financially strong and keep your customers happy. That said, it is absolutely critical that you create an appealing environment for your staff. That begins with your culture. It is important that you understand that the associates of the 21st century want more than a paycheck. They want to be motivated, inspired and energized by their company’s leaders. They want the ability to take the initiative and they want to be part of something great.

Unfortunately, many employers just do not understand this idea. They are insensitive to their associates’ needs and wants, they continue to run their organization in an autocratic, dictatorial fashion or, worst of all, they give lip service about being sensitive and talk a good game regarding culture but they don’t live it every day. They just are not passionate about making it happen.

What you as a leader have to understand is that associates will choose the employers with the best culture. They want employers who are caring and sensitive and who do the little things for their people. Furthermore, I think associates want to work in an environment that is fun and where they think their work makes a difference.

Because of this, it is imperative that you as a leader spend time creating and maintaining a great culture. You will be rewarded many times over, because your organization will attract, optimize and retain the best talent in the marketplace. Your people will most likely win more business than the competition and be more responsive to your customers. The end result will be happy, satisfied customers, and improved financial performance for the company.

In addition, don’t underestimate that your grapevine for employees will improve because people will line up outside the door wanting to work for you. Just look at the example of Southwest Airlines. Southwest is generally recognized as one of the top 10 corporations to work for in America. Year in and year out, Fortune magazine proclaims Southwest as one of the best. Did you know that it is harder to get a job at Southwest than it is to get into Harvard Business School? That is an astounding statistic. It does not take a genius to figure out why. It is because they have created a culture that is the envy of most businesses – a culture that prospective employees want to work in.

Why can’t your company be the Southwest Airlines of the landscape industry? There are many things you must do to get there – too many to cover in this article. What I can share with you here is the simple fact that you, as a leader, have to be committed. Creation of a positive culture starts with you. This is not something that you can delegate to someone else. You must convince yourself that this is important and that you are willing to commit to making this a long-term approach to doing business.

Again, this focus has to be at the top of your list because not only do you need to be committed but your managers need to be as well. Evaluate everything you do in the organization with goals and timetables to improve them. Understand that change does not happen overnight, but if you make the commitment, then your culture can be phenomenal.

How much time should you spend? That is a hard question to answer, but I will say this: Be passionate about creating an outstanding culture. Live that passion everyday. Put it at the top of your list and I guarantee you will be glad you did. Just look at the success of those who do.

In addition to serving the industry as a consultant and speaker, David Minor is the William M. Dickey Entrepreneur in Residence and director of the James A. Ryffel Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to joining TCU, David was the president of Minor's Landscape Services, a 300-employee, former INC. 500 award-winning company he founded in 1978 and sold to TruGreen-ChemLawn in 1998. Readers with questions for Minor can fax them to Lawn & Landscape at 216/961-0364 or e-mail them to bwest@lawnandlandscape.com.