Top Tips for Building Company Culture
If you want to build your best team (and keep them), put these tips into practice today.
As a business owner, you're proud of your business. You hope your employees feel the same. But can you do more than hope?
Probably, right? You have a general sense that satisfied employees are willing to pour more into your business. You might have even read that companies with happy employees outperform their competition by 20%. And ultimately, you know how humans work. People who feel cared for and enjoy what they do are more likely to do their jobs well over long periods.
So that begs the question - what can you do to make your employees happy? Besides giant raises, of course!
There is one thing. Think about your company culture, or how your business does things and cares for its customers and employees. Investing in your company culture is investing in the success of your business, as Forbes highlighted in an article last year. Building a positive workplace that functions in a way that's agreeable to your employees can help you attract great talent and actually keep them there long-term.
If you want to build a company culture that helps you draw top employees and limit turnover, these 5 Ts can help:
TRANSPARENCY. This is perhaps the single biggest factor in company culture. Why? Because even if you're dumping countless hours and heaps of emotional energy into building a great place to work, it's going to mean very little to your team until they know about it. If you're going to invest in changing your workplace for the better, share the news with your team and invite their participation. Then, be visible with every step forward. No one likes feeling like they're being kept in the dark.
TRANSFORMATION. Be willing to let things change. Just because you've done things a certain way for X decades doesn't mean that should be your path forward. Employees appreciate a company that's willing to try out something new to improve their lives. Be flexible and be open to change.
TRANSMITTAL. Think about how information and ideas get shared. Is it a one-way flow, from the top down? Or do you have channels open across departments and across roles? Think about how important communication is in personal relationships. When you work on company culture, you're essentially building a relationship with every person in your workforce. Two-way, open communication matters here, too!
TEAMWORK. And don't just make room for everyone's voices (although that's crucial). Actually listen to them! You might be shocked by some of the great ideas your team - the people in the trenches who do the work day in and day out - come up with to improve your business!
TANGIBILITY. Like most other things in life, you can't just talk the talk. It's one thing to tell your team, "We want you to be happy here so we're going to make some changes." It's entirely another for them to see that things have actually changed. Remember, these changes don't have to be major! This could be something as simple as letting people choose their start time within an hour range. Coming in at 8:30 instead of 8:00 (and getting an extra 30 minutes of sleep) could make all the difference to someone on your staff.
In short, be open, be flexible, be a listener, and be a doer. Easy, right?
Investing in your company culture isn't simple. It won't be a one-and-done thing. But it can help you build a staff of people who love where they work and, as a result, want to see their role, department, and your company as a whole thrive.
Do you have some ideas you'd like to implement to improve your workplace? I can help you free up some time. Let me take any copywriting needs off your hands! Contact me for blogging, press releases, website copy, and social media posting.