If you think that culture is built with motivational posters, foosball tables and pizza parties, you’re failing to see the forest for the trees. Company culture is all about how people are treated. No amount of pizza can make up for an environment that makes people dread coming in to work every day.
Culture also isn’t just about making your company a more attractive place for talent. It’s what facilitates the changes that will be necessary for distributors to thrive going forward. And to cultivate the sort of culture that can do that, your leadership will need to loosen its iron grip on the command and control structure that has guided many companies for decades.
Committed or Compliant?
The distribution business is less stable and predictable than it used to be, which means the old ways won’t work. Change – big change – is absolutely necessary. You’ll need to reconsider your approach to sales, embrace new technology, properly leverage data, and understand what new talent is looking for in a job. Recognize opportunities and threats early and respond to them quickly. And in order do that, you need a team of highly engaged people behind you.
Ask yourself: Are my employees truly committed? Or are they merely compliant?
Compliance makes things feel easy, of course. People do what you say and don’t question it. That’s a great way to keep your ego well-fed. But it’s not a strong foundation for transformative change. A team of people who are committed, who care about the mission and strategic objectives of the company, and who are willing to speak truth to power will help you meet those objectives.
That may sound like a nightmare to an old school business leader who’s used to ruling by fiat. But transformation requires real buy-in by the entire staff, and that’s not something you can simply command into existence.
Transitioning from Command and Control Culture
Today’s most successful distribution leaders don’t say, “Do what I say.” They say, “Here’s what we’re trying to accomplish, and this is how you can help, and of course I am interested in your input as well.” They’re transparent about goals and processes. They lean on their workers to exercise their judgment and give them a level of autonomy that makes them more likely to commit rather than comply.
Millennials, and especially Gen Zers, want to do work they believe in and can get excited about. They want better work/life balance (which, by the way, looks to be more productive economically, because it forces you to make better decisions about your limited resources). And they want to feel they’re making a difference in the company. A culture of command and control offers none of that, and it’ll push young talent out the door in a hurry—if they bother applying in the first place.
But what if your CEO resists the idea of a more egalitarian and engaged culture? Point to the fact that in this labor market, good people have more opportunities than there are good people to fill them. You can’t treat them as interchangeable cogs to churn through. To have any chance of attracting top talent, treat them like valuable problem solvers. Let them in on the company’s strategic objectives so that they know what they’re working toward and feel invested in reaching them. The people closest to the work will always know more about what makes a company run than the people up the hierarchy, so listening to them can only pay dividends.
If your CEO is still resistant, ask, “Is it more important for you to be right or successful?” If they care more about being right, well… maybe you should think about following those GenZers out the door.
Leading with Culture Helps Distributors Win
Distributors that play to win are looking for good people who have the same commitment to winning. And despite all the changes in recent years, this industry is still, at its core, about relationships. Get your customer experience right, treat your suppliers well, align all your teams on where they’re going and you’ll succeed. If you augment all of that by choosing and implementing the right technology, you’re going to be unstoppable.
That’s why billion-dollar distributors are throwing out their employee handbooks and committing to doing whatever they can to not just keep talent, but keep them committed. Instead of hiding behind a handbook, be responsive to employee needs and show them a level of commitment that they can return. That’s what culture is really all about.
For more on leading with culture, you can listen to this episode of MDM’s QuickTake podcast. I talked to Tom Gale about why culture is so important and how distributors can use it to push into the future.