Correlating Culture to Corporate Success

Tawnya Starr’s presentation, “Culture Shock: Wake up your Business with the Right Culture,” discussed strategies for companies to improve their internal culture among their employees and the culture they develop with their customers. Starr, president of PrinterPresence (Booth 4058), shared some of the practices that have been effective for her company, a provider of website solutions for the printing industry. She outlined three steps to building a sustainable culture with both employees and customers.

Developing a strong internal culture, Starr said, stems from the development of strong corporate values. She recommended that companies make a concerted effort to move beyond the typical values often found in many organizations and discover the values that make the most sense for their organization. To discover the right values for a company, Starr explained it should check five specific boxes:

• It is distinguished?
• Are we obsessed with it?
• Will it outlive us?
• Can we actually live this value every day?
• Would we sacrifice money to
  protect it?

Starr noted that once a company has established its core values, it’s important to hire with these values in mind, rather than hiring based on skill and then teaching values.

The third step to creating a strong culture that Starr outlined is living these values every day. She recommended that companies post them throughout their facilities to ensure they’re instilled in the minds of all employees on a daily basis.