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According to research conducted by worldwide talent acquisition firm LHH, more than half of HR professionals believe their company culture has deteriorated over the past year. As such, it’s now more important than ever to ensure your business bucks this trend and gets its company culture on an upward trajectory.
I’ve put together a list of 4 simple things you can do to immediately promote positivity in the workplace and build a company culture that rewards loyalty, while ensuring employees are consistently valued.
1. Focus on the good, but don’t neglect the negatives
In the same way that you don't want to spend all your time talking about what's going wrong, you also shouldn't purely focus on the positives at the expense of acknowledging any potential problems.
Finding the right balance between celebrating successes & acknowledging shortcomings can be tricky – however the first thing to remember is it’s vitally important to ALWAYS celebrate wins across the business – no matter how big or small! This is a vital component to ensure all employees feel valued and of worth to the company. By actively promoting employees shouting colleagues out and sharing success – you’ll create an increased loyalty amongst your employees that will simply breed further success and harmony within the workforce.
The key here is to not gloss over issues or be overly optimistic about those elements of the business which may not be as successful – if you only shout about success and don’t highlight weaknesses, employees will start to ponder whether leadership are aware or even want to tackle these issues – creating a lack of transparency about the company’s goals. With any negatives, be sure to be clear, consistent and avoid ‘blame culture’ - look towards the solutions to problems and employees will be more receptive to any constructive criticism that may arise.
2. Recruit to fit your culture
Recruitment is a key component when it comes to building and maintaining a positive company culture. It’s imperative that everyone on your team fits in with what you're trying to do, and ultimately buys in to your overarching mission statement.
When hiring new employees, look for people who are excited about your mission and values - and not just because they want a paycheck. Ask them to give specific examples of how they believe their values align with those of your business. If someone isn't passionate about what makes your business unique, there's no way he or she will be able to communicate that passion with customers or clients!
3. Be transparent about company values and goals
If you want your employees to feel like they're part of a team, it's important that they understand where the company is going and the values that they are expected to uphold.
Through being open, honest and straightforward about company goals, revenue and just generally how the company is doing – employees will buy in to the culture you’re trying to build and will be much more likely to want to stay and work within the business long term – as they feel part of something that they feel proud of.
In addition to sharing the company's goals and values with employees, be open about sharing feedback when things don't go according to plan - both positive and negative feedback will help employees feel empowered at work and keep them motivated throughout their career at your business.
4. Celebrate success with out of work events
It's always a good idea to celebrate success, as it’ll help everyone within the business feel good about what they're doing, while also keeping them motivated. Celebrations don't have to be expensive or time-consuming; they can be as simple as taking your team out for lunch or giving them an additional day off with pay – maybe for their birthday, or around a holiday time such as Christmas.
Regardless of the celebration you choose to have, by ensuring it involves all members of your company, including leadership, you’ll create a relaxed, informal environment that allows your employees to chill out, have some fun and potentially even build relationships with team members that they otherwise may not speak to much at all during a usual working day.
Creating a positive company culture takes time and involves a commitment to certain values that you’ll want to embed within your business. Ultimately though, it’s important not to get too bogged down with the specifics – as this blog highlights, there’s some really simple yet highly effective ways to immediately improve company culture. Follow these and your business will be well on it’s way to creating, and crucially keeping, a highly positive company culture.
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