Boston, MA The importance of a positive company culture was the subject of a dynamic discussion at a recent ASM  Executive Roundtable led by James Miller of Salem Glass and hosted by Eastern Bank.   There were many “lessons learned” – including these nuggets:

• Company culture helps determine a company’s long term success or failure. 

• If your company is a bus, get the wrong people off the bus, get the right people on the bus, and get them in the right spots on the bus.

• Make your expectations very clear to your employees – before, during, and after the job!

• Knowledge must be translated into action, or it fails.

• Company culture is really defined by what people do, not what management says.

• Experience leads to beliefs, which lead to action which leads to results.

• When there are no repercussions from wrong actions or behavior, change won’t occur.

• Company owners and senior managers must pay attention to culture before things go bad.

It was agreed that changing a company’s culture is difficult – especially in the beginning.  But it’s an essential endeavor – and successful companies agree that it’s well worth the effort.