Sports/Entertainment
Laying a foundation
How to create a fanatical culture by going the extra mile
By Carolyn LaWell
Smart Business | June 2009
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Employees have literally laughed in Frank Fiume’s face when he’s admitted mistakes to them.
“They don’t expect it,” he says. “But you become a real person, and they respect you so much more.”
To lay the foundation of your company’s culture, you have to create a connection with employees, and one way to do that is to confess your blunders, says Fiume, founder and CEO of i9 Sports Corp., an amateur sports league franchise. He partially attributes the growth of his company — to $14 million in revenue and 109 franchises in 2008 — to its fanatical culture.
When establishing your culture, communicating with employees obviously is essential, Fiume says. But the process also includes understanding your staff and company, and to do that, you sometimes have to show your staff that you’re part of the team. Other times, you have to be honest with your employees — and yourself — about the decisions you’ve made.
Smart Business spoke with Fiume about how to establish a culture by being honest with your employees and going into the trenches with them.
Roll up your sleeves. To create a fanatical culture — (this goes) back to the CEO — he or she has to roll up their sleeves and be willing to do the same that he would expect from his staff.
When your staff sees that you’re willing to go into the trenches and help them, they feel a closer connection to you. When you have a group of people doing this, the cool part is you’re raising the expectations and the standards so that the person that is maybe the slacker or the person that is not really getting the job done, it becomes abundantly obvious that person is not fitting into the culture, and they’ll self-eliminate themselves out of the company.
You know the old saying that, as a CEO, we need to work on the business, not in the business. I completely agree with that; however, there is a ‘however’ that I think is missed. If the CEO doesn’t understand what ‘in the business’ means, then they’re missing something.
For example, we’re rolling out a national call center for all of our franchises. I had an opportunity while I was developing this strategy for this call center to explore and see exactly what my franchisees go through when those phone calls come in from the parents.
Because I was literally in the process and really in the business seeing it, I had a greater appreciation and understanding for the challenges they face.
When a CEO rolls up his sleeves and is willing to do whatever it takes, you gain the respect from your employees and you get to have your finger closer to the pulse of what ultimately needs changed. The role of a leader is to influence change, and the only way I can influence change is if I know what needs to be changed, which means, from time to time, you need to work in the business.
