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6 Tips for Establishing a Healthy Company Culture

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What is good company culture? 

Is it the provision of generous incentives, group huddles, catered meals, branded shirts and hats, or beanbag and massage chairs in the breakroom?

Well, that certainly can be part of it, but most of that is just fluff. Surprisingly to some, healthy company culture can exist without any of the above perks. We’ve put together the basic need-to-knows with regard to developing a healthy company culture that can help you retain a satisfied workforce for longer.

1. Establish an Organizational Identity

While a product or service and a means of providing it are essential for business, such things don’t define the organization. There is still a story to be told that includes history, goals, motivations, strengths, weaknesses, and more. An organization’s identity also takes the following into account:

Values

Why are you in business? Who do you serve? What improvements do you want to make within your industry?

If the answer to the question revolves solely around economic success, the company culture may suffer.

Mission

The mission is a more actionable consideration. What is your organization seeking to achieve? Is this pursuit realistic? Is this pursuit at all unique?

Company culture concept

2. Make Your Identity Known

Once an identity has been established, it needs to be communicated clearly and understood by all members of the organization. An organization’s identity is to be worn on the sleeve—  clear in branding and integrated into processes. Culture will inevitably begin to arise from this identity.

3. Hire Strategically

Around 88 percent of employees say company culture is vital for success.

The irony is that employees are the primary driving force behind healthy culture. If an organization has a defined culture/identity it would like to promote and maintain, it will need to hire around it.

An employer’s responsibility to hire employees who can embrace the organization’s identity and goals shouldn’t be overlooked. Failure to consider culture when hiring can lead to low productivity, high turnover, and impacted morale throughout the organization.

For this reason, diligent employee screening and tactful interviewing can prove transformative for any organization in any industry.

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4. Reinforce Your Accountability Framework

Accountability is a big part of the culture of a company. How is productivity logged and tracked? How is the situation handled when a team member fails to meet the mark?

Employers don’t want employees taking advantage of leniency, but they also don’t want their employees tip-toeing around workplace mines in the form of undue strictness and severity. Reinforcing accountability in healthy, productive ways is integral to a company’s culture.

5. See the Value in Every Role

Finding value in your staff starts with seeing people as more than just workers. Almost every position in your company exists in order to reach the ultimate aim. Each constituent part is valuable to the whole— a thing that needs to be recognized by department heads, upper management, and executives alike.

It is important to recognize the person behind the task or output and understand that an individual is more than just their work. This perspective alone can greatly benefit company culture.

6. Ensure Everyone Is in the Same Boat

There are times when there is resistance in the form of a team member who doesn’t quite have their arrows aligned with everyone else’s. Such a situation needs to be addressed, and if not resolved, may have to result in tactful termination. A workforce must be generally unified when it comes to efforts and goals. This applies to entry-level workers all the way up to chief executives. 

A lack of unity can lead to unhealthy dynamics within the workplace, causing damage to an organization. Just one unfitting piece can cause fairly big problems.

Conclusion

Developing and maintaining a strong, healthy company culture should be top-of-mind for any organization. As it turns out, good company culture can lead to revenue increases of up to 33 percent and significantly reduce employee turnover.

In many ways, company culture is simply a reflection of the organization’s leadership. It can also be thought of as the measure of how uniformly your organization’s goals are embraced across positions and departments. How can a good company culture exist if goals are unclear, poorly communicated, unrealistic, or overly demanding? It can’t. 

By following the tips above, you will be well on your way to creating an environment that people want to work in, where employees and executives alike buy into the future.

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