Creating a company culture is one aspect of building a business that often doesn’t come as easily as operations.
The New Home Co. was honored last year as a Best Place to Work by the Sacramento Business Journal. CEO Larry Webb commits himself to making sure that his more than 300 employees have a great experience on the job and describes his culture as “team-oriented, dedicated, family-oriented, passionate, and innovative.”
But creating that culture isn’t something that’s taught. “We don’t teach our culture, we live our culture,” Webb says.
In order to do that, he has to have his feet on the ground, listening to what is happening with local offices and not living in the corporate “ivory tower.” Webb meets on a monthly basis with senior leaders to bridge the divide between corporate and regional offices.
In this quick video, Webb discusses the importance of being authentic and how he approaches his mission of building the best homes by getting the best out of his employees.
“If what we do is noble and important, then we better be good at it,” he says. “It’s uncompromising. You must love the company and the customers. It’s a simple message—building a better life for our customers and for our team members. It should be reinforced every single day.”
Webb also shares tips on how to interview and select the right people to do the job and fit into the culture. He speaks to the millennial generation and the challenge that it presents to organizations, describing millennials as the most pampered and self-indulgent demographic, but, at the same time, the most intelligent. Millennials can be a change factor in the housing industry, if leveraged properly. Webb offers ideas on how to recruit them and how to give them an environment where they can thrive and do their best work.
Finally, Webb shares the secrets of his internal and external research. Finding out about customer needs should not end with talking to customers. He has found that talking to the customer service representatives on the front line provides valuable and critical feedback that drives long-term strategy.
