If you are in the position where you want to improve your company culture, the first thing you may wonder about is what is meant by company culture. Well, a company culture is the personality of the company, it is the underlying pulse that resonates through everything. It is the environment in which your employees work. Many factors work together to create this environment, such as your values, ethics, company goals, and mission statements. It is like an overarching philosophy that everyone can believe in. Creating a positive company culture can benefit you in many ways, such as better productivity, high employee engagement and morale, more creativity and innovation, and a reduced turnover, among other things. Okay, so how can you create a positive company culture:
Branding
When thinking about creating a company culture, the first thing you need to consider is your brand. A brand is so much more than a simple, recognizable logo. It encompasses your underlying philosophy. This philosophy is not just attractive to customers. It is attractive to your staff too. So, when you are at the beginning of developing a culture, it may help to start here. Think about why you made your company in the first place. Think in terms of a problem you are trying to solve in someone’s life. Is it borne from a position of care, or maybe it’s more about issues around sustainability. Perhaps you have a great business creation story you need to focus on. Something that happened that helped you develop your business idea. What are your core values and ethical considerations? Try and create a reason for the company, with a clear vision, a meaning, a purpose, and a clear goal that everyone can identify with and believe in. It makes the company culture and your ongoing marketing easier to create.
Employee Wellness
Having happy and healthy employees is essential to developing a fantastic company culture.
If your employees are feeling great and are mentally, physically, and emotionally sound, you are far more likely to have a successful business that is very productive. To enhance employee wellness, you need to encourage opportunities for your staff to have a healthy lifestyle. Perhaps some resources in the workspace, such as a gym and even personal trainers. You could offer free fruit and even have free healthy meals., depending on your budget. Snack machines could be full of healthy alternatives as opposed to crisps and chocolate, for example. You could even have walking meetings. There are many ways you can look to reduce things like stress too. Always look for new ways to boost your employees mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Open and Honest Communication
As a manager, you need to lead by example. First, it helps if you know the names of all your employees, if that is at all possible. Maybe name badges will help you with this if the company is large, learn more about that here. It will also help if you can learn something personal about your staff members, so you can ask them how their family, etc., are doing. This creates a more friendly atmosphere which makes your staff feel seen and encourages people to speak up. If you can have weekly meetings where everyone gets included, and you listen to the thoughts and options of your staff, they will feel more valued, and this, in turn, will help with their motivation. Everyone has something of value to contribute, and if you want a company that embraces change, you need to listen. Encourage innovation, and if someone sees a way to do some process better, they need to have an avenue in which to express it. Open and honest communication means you can drive your company forward into the future with as many open eyes focussed on your success as possible. At the end of the day, your success is their success, and that needs to come across.
Rewards
You need to create a reward scheme where staff can be appreciated for an excellent job, or for great improvement, or for a brilliant innovation idea. There are many ways you can do this, such as offering points and prizes. You can also host a reward ceremony, where people get rewarded properly in front of the rest of the team. Stores can be added to your internal social media pages. Do not ignore a job done well. If someone goes above and beyond it needs to be recognized. And if you reward it sufficiently, you will encourage more innovation and hard work.
Image Credits: Gerd Altmann
Like this article? Share with your friends!