Whether your business is just getting started out and you don’t have a team yet or you already have a fully staffed business, you should always be thinking about the company culture that you want to create. Your company culture is made up of all those little unwritten rules. The ones that no one ever says but everyone knows about. These are the things that determine your employees habits, your work environment, and much more.
So how do you create a strong company culture that reflects your morals and values?
1. Be Transparent
Be transparent with your employees and to a large degree your customers and clients too. If you maintain a culture of transparency you will simultaneously build a culture of trust. The goal is for all employees to feel they know the thinking, responsibilities, and strategy at various levels of the company and feel welcome share their ideas and feedback.
Not being transparent unfortunately will only create a culture of suspicion. Regardless of what the real intentions may be, if your employees, customers, and other stakeholders don’t have a clear understanding of your decision making process, they won’t trust you, and will ultimately be suspicious of your actions.
2. Give Your Employees Time Off
Why you definitely want to foster a culture of hard work, but we all need to hit the reset button once in a while. There is a need to properly balance work and life, and if you want more productive employees you should understand how significant it is to make sure you have personally fulfilled, clear-thinking people working for you.
3. Empower and Give Freedom
You empower people by giving them the freedom to make decisions on their own. Micromanaging and giving overly specific and detailed directions doesn’t help your team to grow an mature as leaders. Instead it makes them dependent on you for instruction and ultimately unfulfilled in their positions. Informed employees are more involved and empowered to grow a company. And the more freedom people have to take on tasks, manage them, and solve problems on their own the more they feel connected to and woven into the company’s culture.
4. Physical Space
If you haven’t watched Susan Cane’s TED Talk on introverts, you should. According to Susan, most American businesses are built for extroverts, even the way the office spaces are designed. I know that it may not seem like it has a huge impact, but the layout and design of your actual office space has a hug impact on your company culture.
While open spaces tend to look amazing and a great for some, other people need privacy to be able to be their most productive. Consider the comfort level of your employees when trying to determine what type of office space to lease.
5. Team Building Activities
The truth about team building activities is that they’re necessary, no matter how cheesy they may seem. People who only spend time together outside of work, getting to know one another tend to be stronger teams. While it may seem a little like the first week of summer camp, especially the first couple of times, spend time together outside of the office, so that you can work as a better team when it really counts.
These are just five tips for how you can build a strong and thriving company culture in your organization so that your business will continue to be successful. Remember that the success of your business is built on the people that work in it with you and the people that you serve. Creating a strong, healthy company culture helps you to serve them well.
