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| Your culture or values are your behavior |
As a business person you want
clients and the approach you use to reach them is very important. You need to
communicate effectively. To reach them you should be able to speak their
language and understand their ways of living. This is similar to knowing a
person very well; it helps you to know the buttons to press for the person to
listen to you. Culture is a way by which you can reach these people.
On the basic level it is
described as the way of life of a people. If people use the internet as part of
their lives then it means you have to go through the internet to reach them. If
they use offline like reading news papers and so on then you have to use the
same means. If you are going to sell clothes to them, then the design of those
clothes should be that of their culture. If the people don’t ware skimpy skirts
and you sell something similar, you will have to wear those clothes yourself.
Every level you use should
reflect their culture or ‘their way of life’ because it is through that means
that you can reach them. Our marketing has not been that successful because we
want to use ‘just’ any media to reach our customers. For instance, in Ghana, I
understand our internet penetration rate is 5%. Therefore, doing social media
marketing alone will not give you much sales, you have to use off line
advertisement as well.
What kind of language do those
people speak? If it is English what kind of English? Because you might use some
big terms that those people don’t understand and you will not reach them. The culture
permutations should be broken down to smallest level.
In all of your approach as a
business person first look at the culture of the people. Then to make it great
for them heighten it or make it better. Thus, using their culture with a little
touch to it can go a long way to make your programme a success.
Combine values with culture.
Your values are your standards or
code of living; they are the internal culture of a company. They are the
unwritten codes that guide your business.
For instance, some people value competences more than dedicationl;
people with this preference do their job with great skill. However, because
dedication is not part of their values, you will not see them at work when you
need them. You can see that value shape the person’s way of doing things. Values
give a person ‘a way of life’.
As a business person you have to
choose your own values as your guidance code. Choosing the right set of values
can transform your business. You will be known by the values you work with. You
will have certain clients because of the values you exhibit; moreover, some
industries need specific values as well. For instance, in the banking industry,
truth and accountability is a value that is respected. This implies that, if
you are deceptive, very soon you will be known by it and no one will patronize
your services. Therefore, in choosing
your values, look at your industry and the kind of reputation you want to
create for yourself.
Some values that you can work with
Speed
In a busy environment speed is
golden. There is a whole demand for certain sectors of business because of
speed. When companies have existed for long or they are alone in that field,
they disregard this great value. For
instance, I know of a popular internet café in my area that would delay you a
lot at certain busy days. This creates a
demand, if you decide to open a café with speedy delivery, you will have the
market.
Care
To most people, this is great for
the hospitality business. However, other sectors too can practice care. It is a
shame that you will call the customer care of some companies and they won’t
pick or worse they will keep you on the line till thy kingdom come. Of course
when they commence business they are not like that until they have numerous
customers then they change quite radically. As a free lance business person,
you cannot do without great care. You have to be attentive to your customers in
the minutest detail. Care brings great
customer satisfaction and very soon you will be identified with it and positive
implications are a lot.
Respect and empathy
These two values would make you
have great employees to work with and keep them in your company for a very long
time.
When you respect your employees,
you don’t talk to them with disrespect. You esteem them high and therefore they
feel honored. However, there are some immature ones who will abuse this that
you have to handle with care. If you are soon using a harsh approach to more
than two or more people then it implies you have breached the respect code.
Empathy is putting your feet in
the shoes of your partners. You are able to feel for them and take initiatives
that help them to succeed. When an employee comes to you with a need what do
you tell him or her? Do you say you
don’t have the money while you buy expensive things for yourself? People can’t
be fooled for long.
Dedication and competence
These two cannot be separated.
When you are dedicated it means you are always on the job giving the120% needed
for the success. No matter how good you are if you are not dedicated you are
considered unreliable and therefore you great gifts are nullified. Competence will give you the respect and the dedication
will earn you the trust. The truth is that everyone wants the best, we are
tired of mediocrity. The competition is keen and we are not settling for trial
and error.
Great leadership
Great leadership stands for a
person’s ability to have foresight and great influence at the same time. A
person with vision is able to see into the future and work at the puzzle right
from the beginning.
When you are myopic or short
sighted that is when your actions are towards short term gratifications. You
can see this when some leaders practice corruption, they only see today and not
tomorrow.
A great leader also knows how to
combine lots of assignments together and succeed at many things. For instance,
a leader may have lots of projects and his ability to delegate some will
determine if he can achieve them. A good
leader knows when to assign positions in a group; for instance you know that at
beginning you don’t assign posts but you assign functions. The posts become
theirs when they have proven that they are equal to the task.
Frankness
This is also a great value that
has to do with people. It is not good to keep people in the dark and try to
manipulate them with lies. Bring the matter to the open and let’s deal with it.
It is not the matter you are dealing with but how you go about it is what makes
the difference.
Summary
You can see that we have an
external culture and an internal one. And with the external culture there
exists a subculture too. You have to do your research well and understand you
external customers and let your decisions be informed by what you learn.
With the internal culture or
values, some of the cultures I have listed here can be personal to you or used organization-wide.
The leader should say it and live by it then everybody else will follow suit. Using
these values I have provided here personally will turn your life around. Culture
makes you sharp like a pin, understand its power and use it to your advantage.
Thanks for reading.
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