The Microbrewery Handbook

Chapter 18Common Barriers to a Strong Company Culture

WHAT GETS IN the way of building a strong culture? There are countless resources online for how to build a strong company culture, but I've highlighted some rules and tactics here that can trip up your quest to create a great place to work.

As the owner, head brewer, or both, whether you like it or not, you set the tone for your entire company. How you act, how you treat people, and how much you pay attention to the little things will spread through the organization.

I like having open conversations with my staff about these barriers because they are prevalent, and I want to keep employees aware of these traps to prevent falling in. And if I hold our leadership staff accountable in these areas, the expectation is that those leaders will do the same with the operations staff.

We/They

I'd be willing to bet you this is happening at your organization right now. In fact, there's a good chance you are doing it as the owner or manager right now, and you don't even know the negative impact it has. It's very easy to fall prey to this, and at one time or another we all do it.

It's called we/they. I learned this from Quint, and even though I still make this mistake time to time, I'm glad I'm aware of it so I can try to minimize it.

We/they is when an owner, manager, or employee, in essence, takes the wins as their own and gives away the losses by blaming/rationalizing those on someone else, most commonly the owner, manager, or ...