Companies that prioritize their employees’ work environment and happiness are 21% more productive than those that don’t. Strong company culture is the key to attracting top talent and keeping them around.
It starts with a clear mission statement and core values that all team members can identify with. From there, you can establish goals that bring people together and give them something to work towards.
1. Shared Purpose
A strong company culture is the foundation that supports all other aspects of the business. The first step in establishing your company’s culture is identifying your core mission. What are the broader goals beyond making a profit? Professors Rao and Lilly use the example of Mozilla, whose founders wanted to make sure everyone had access to the internet. This overarching goal informed all of their other cultural values, such as being different and embracing diversity.
Once you know your purpose, communicate it to all of your employees. Your leaders should be the biggest advocates of this mission statement, and they should exemplify its qualities. This will help reinforce your culture to new hires and potential customers. It also provides a framework for measuring your company’s progress.
2. Sense of Community
A strong company culture is a vital part of workplace satisfaction and can help with employee retention. Many young workers today prioritize a strong sense of community in their jobs, and this can lead to higher levels of employee engagement and productivity.
One of the best ways to cultivate a strong company culture is by providing employees with a clear purpose that goes beyond revenue goals or market expansion. It should be a shared purpose that unites teams and encapsulates core values.
The leaders of the company should model this common language, values and standards, so that employees can easily recognize what a strong company culture looks like. Then, the culture can be passed down to new hires through training and everyday company practices.
3. Teamwork
Creating a strong company culture requires teamwork. The best way to foster teamwork is by ensuring that employees have the tools they need to succeed.
Sponsoring team dinners, going on a hike together, or forming a sports team will help your employees bond with each other and build trust. This can then benefit their work as they collaborate on projects.
Teams can also work better by clearly communicating with one another and sharing information about their work. This can be done through regular meetings and by encouraging employees to ask for help when they need it.
Managers and senior leaders need to lead the charge when it comes to establishing a team-based culture. They need to model the kind of behavior they want to see in other employees and avoid putting up barriers that would prevent teamwork.
4. Transparency
In a strong company culture, employees feel that their input is valued and that it influences business decisions. This can be achieved by allowing employees to speak with leadership about concerns and suggestions.
Employees should also feel that their managers are approachable and supportive of ideas. This can be accomplished by implementing a open-door policy and encouraging employees to meet with management for one-on-one conversations.
Employees spend on average 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime, so the workplace environment they encounter plays a significant role in their professional happiness. By creating a positive culture, companies can attract and retain talented professionals. Investing in a company culture can improve productivity, create a more cohesive team and support the company goals. But building a successful culture isn’t easy and requires the commitment of leaders across departments and teams.
5. Accountability
It’s essential to maintain a strong culture by constantly communicating your values and standards. Your language, principles and governing structures may need to be flexible over time as your business grows.
Accountability is also critical to a company’s success. When someone doesn’t live up to expectations or isn’t committed to their job, others have a hard time working with them. It’s a vicious cycle that can lead to productivity problems, so it’s important for leaders to keep an eye out for people who aren’t pulling their weight.
It may be tempting to let leadership off the hook sometimes, but that type of thinking can trickle down and negatively impact the entire team. Instead, encourage employees to approach any member of the management team with questions or concerns.
