Corporate culture. It’s important for every business and yet so hard to cultivate and measure. What is company culture you ask? It’s basically the shared values, beliefs and behaviors that define how people work together in an organization. Its what makes a company unique and sets it apart from its competitors.
Why is company culture important?
It is important because if affects everything from employee engagement, productivity, innovation, customer satisfaction and retention. A positive and productive company culture can:
Help you attract and retain top talent
Foster a creative and collaborative workplace
Boost morale and motivation
Increase performance
Increase productivity
A negative toxic culture can do the opposite:
Drive away good employees
Make it harder to recruit top talent
Stifle innovation and creativity
Lower morale and motivation
Decrease production, performance and profitability
So how can a company foster a positive and engaging work environment? Here are some tips that we have learned from our own experience working with, and observing other successful organizations:
Define your core vision and core values
What re the principles that guide your decisions and actions?
What are the goals of your organization, and what do you want to achieve as a company?
Having a clear and compelling vision and values can help align everyone in the organization and ensure that the team is on the same page and inspire them to work towards a common purpose.
Communication - a key for good corporate culture
Communication is the key to building trust and transparency in any relationship, especially in a work setting. Communicate openly and frequently with your employees. Talk about your expectations, provide feedback, recognize accomplishments and support your team regularly.
Encourage your employees to share their ideas, opinions, concerns and achievements with you and with each other. Find out the best channels and methods to communicate effectively with different audiences and in different situations. There is no point in using Slack as a communication channel if your team doesn’t adopt it as a platform of choice!
Employees are your superpower – empower them
Give your employees (even your four legged ones) the autonomy and authority to make decisions and take actions that affect their work. Thrust them to do their best ad hold them accountable for their results. Provide your team with:
Resources
Tools
Training
Coaching
Mentorship programs
to help them succeed. Challenge your team to grow and learn from their mistakes. Take the time to ensure that when things go sideways it is a learning opportunity.
Celebrate
Celebrate both successes and failures. Recognize your employees and reward them for their contributions and achievements. Celebrate the big and small wins – not every win is a big one and small steps create big change.
Don’t forget to celebrate failures too, they are an important opportunity for learning and improvement. By celebrating both failures and successes, you create a culture of appreciation and gratitude where everyone feels valued, respected and belonged.
Have fun!
Inject some fun and humor into your workday. Work doesn’t have to be boring and stressful. Organize social events, lunch and learns, team building activities, contests or anything that resonates with your team that can bring joy and laughter to the workplace. Productivity increases when people are happy. When you are organizing events, ensure that there is balance so that everyone can enjoy their time at work, and outside of work.
These are just some of the strategies you can use to create a happy and productive work environment and a positive company culture. We know that every company is different and there is no one size fits all solution. You will have to find what works best for your company and your people.
Company culture cannot be created overnight or by one person, it takes time to cultivate and requires the involvement of everyone in the organization. It’s a journey that ever ends but is always rewarding!
If you liked this article and found it useful, please share it with your friends, colleagues or anyone else who might benefit from reading it too. If you have any comments, questions or would like to learn more, please feel free to leave a comment below or reach out to us directly. We would love to chat.