Home is Where the Heart Is: Modeling Your Corporate Culture After a Home

Home is where the heart is. We see it on every Pinterest board for home décor and hanging on top of every living room couch. But what does it really mean when it comes to business? 

In my family, we had rules. Rules for the home. Rules for the adults. Rules for the children. My parents sat down before they even had us kids to discuss and write what the rules and values of the home should be. Being raised in a home with structure and rules that we all agreed on and followed such as to not raise your voice at anyone, I‘ve never raised my voice at someone out of anger. I never have been inclined to act in this way because kindness and respect were values that were instilled in me and reinforced daily by the tone with which we talked to each other. 

I cringe every time I hear a company refer to themselves as a family. Most of the people I know, whether they are searching for a new job or not, consider a company referring to themselves as a family as a big red flag. This could be for a couple of reasons. Some families take advantage of each other or have co-dependent relationships and those are qualities that nobody wants in their employer or employees. Some families are tightly-knit and are there for each other, regardless of what mistakes one may make and unconditional love doesn’t really have a place in the workplace.

A company is in no way like a family. You are paid to deliver a very specific skill set in an efficient manner and do so in exchange for financial compensation and a wide range of benefits. Accepting any mistake, whether it costs the company $100 or $100,000,000, is not in the best interest of the company. Sure, the company and leadership could attempt to remedy an unfavorable behavior. But believe me, any second and third chances are not given solely out of the kindness of their own hearts but out of trying to salvage the investment they poured into the employee. I’m sure most companies want to deliver quality goods and services while creating quality jobs with livable wages and generous benefits, but most do not operate with unconditional love, nor should they.

Though a company probably should not operate as a family and its complex relationships tethered by unwavering love, your organization could create a solid unit that mimics a home. Your organization needs to be aware of your brand purpose, what that looks like, what that doesn’t look like and how to handle anything that strays away from your values. As a growing company, you need to develop, reevaluate, update and treasure your internal documentation. Your organization’s internal documents connect the daily tasks of each role in your organization with the mission statement and purpose. Contact Heritage Writing Co. to ensure that anything written for internal use follows a structure and expresses the set values similar to a healthy home with structure and routine, with room for creativity and innovation.