Driving a Company Culture

Dave Rothacker of the GoTime Success Group defines the difference between those who lead and those who just pass on skills simply. 

“We teach what we know,” Rothacker says. “But we reproduce what we are.”

Rothacker, writer of GoTime’s blog titled The Starship Freedom, has studied and written about leadership for decades. And he emphasizes that inspiration comes from who a leader is, not what he or she says. And he believes in the power of great leaders to transform the companies they touch.

“Exemplary leaders don’t impose their visions of the future on people; they awaken dreams,” he says. “Transformational leadership is when your actions inspire people to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. (It’s) when you influence people to think, speak and act in ways that make a positive difference in their lives and the lives of others.”

And that leadership also builds a culture that encourages others to inspire dreams in those they touch, as well. It establishes a set of shared values, goals, attitudes and practices that characterize an organization. 

It should support and nurture the employees and is key to a company’s success. All home service companies, regardless of their trade, should strive to develop and nurture a strong, positive, and healthy culture among employees.  

The culture is usually established by the owners and leadership teams, who choose and develop employees who emulate the values and characteristics most important to the company. 

But a healthy, productive culture can take time to implement. Transformational leaders must be patient, consistent and clear about the culture they want to cultivate. 

That’s the process Trapper Barnes, who worked with Rothacker on the culture at Infinity Texas Air in Forney, Texas, outside Dallas, followed. 

“I had somebody tell me this – it brings us back into sports, but that’s my wheelhouse, I guess – that we want to win on the field, we want to win your mind and we want to win your heart,” Barnes says. 

“Then the coach turned around and said, ‘Let’s invert that. We need to win your heart, we can win your mind, and now we can win on the field if we can do all three of those things.”

That’s the path Infinity Texas Air followed. 

“It turns that into caring about people,” Barnes says.