Live your culture
The idea of living your culture each day is a broad topic that you might find diff
icult to completely define. Living your culture might mean embracing good ethical practices, demonstrating desired behavior through the examples you set or a number of other interpretations.
That’s why, much like he does with his communication, Steiner takes a strategic approach to building the culture and maintenance of that culture.
“One of the ways you can live a culture is certainly by doing it strategically,” he says. “You need to make sure you develop a plan where it’s clear, where people know that you’re going to do what you say you’ll do. A great culture doesn’t happen by virtue of an immaculate conception, so you really need to have that plan, have a calendar of tasks and actions that will support the mission, vision and values of the company.”
In addition, you need to get your employees excited about the job they are performing each day by showing them how their daily tasks contribute to the overall mission of the company. At Gamesa, Steiner wants to cultivate employees who are eager to further the cause of renewable energy.
“That’s one of the main things we communicate with regard to culture — our belief that we have an amazing place to work because we are transforming the world through creating technology and sustainable energy,” Steiner says. “We focus our employees on that idea that, at this company, they have an opportunity to better the world through their work each day.”
Your hiring practices also affect your ability to build and sustain your culture. Though the task of making hires might fall on the shoulders of your human resources staff, your company’s philosophy on hiring and how it affects your culture begins at your desk.
Gamesa’s human resources staff attempts to find cultural matches through the interview process. A willingness to embrace Gamesa’s cultural principles is one of the primary criteria upon which each job candidate is judged.
“We do attempt to evaluate candidates along those lines during the hiring process,” Steiner says. “We want to gain a picture of the attributes they are bringing with them from other work experiences, attributes that would indicate a higher probability of success in the Gamesa culture.
“One of the keys to the hiring process from a cultural standpoint is to see if the people you are looking to hire are excited about working at your company. Just like the people we already have in-house, we want to know that the people we are going to hire are excited about working in this sector. We want people who are going to be excited about the field of renewable energy, excited about how we’re contributing to the issue of fighting global warming and carbon emission problems.
“That’s what you’re trying to find out during the interview process: if they have a passion for what you are doing as a company.”
Once your culture has taken root, you need to tie it back in to your communication strategy by continuing to make yourself accessible to your employees on a daily basis. Employees need to continue to see you demonstrating your company’s cultural values and hear you talking about them.
“Simply put, if you lead by example, your communication strategy and your culture will work,” Steiner says. “If you have a lot of policies but don’t walk the talk, what you say is going to be meaningless.”
How to reach: Gamesa USA, (215) 710-3100 or www.gamesacorp.com
