3 Keys to Creating Strong Company Culture for Lasting Success
What is company culture?
Have you thought about your company culture? If so, how would you define it? If you haven’t established your company culture yet, as they say, there’s no time like the present.
Did you know studies show nearly 72% of job seekers state a positive company culture is among their top 3 deciding factors when considering their next position?
Studies have shown that positive company culture has been proven to significantly reduce worker stress. Less stressed individuals, managed by people who truly care about the physical and mental well-being of their team, correlate to overall healthier employees and fewer requested sick days.
Employees tend to be more motivated and dedicated to employers who invest in their values and wellness, while a healthy work environment fosters a sense of employee loyalty. It's an equal give-and-take that ultimately determines whether your business will thrive.
Because creating and fostering a positive company culture is not only good for your employees, it is good for your business. Happy employees have higher rates of productivity and larger sales results. A positive culture helps you retain top talent as well as attract the best hires when recruiting new team members.
As a bonus, when your business has a good company culture, your staff and guests are more likely to tell their friends, family, and others in their network about their positive experiences. Businesses with a healthy work environment reputation can benefit from increased credibility among their clients and other vendors.
So how do you tell what kind of company culture your business has?
How do you determine company culture?
Determining your company culture is as simple as taking a look at the day-to-day attitude and behaviors amongst your staff toward each other, management, and guests.
Symptoms of a strained or toxic work environment include high employee turnover, low morale, frequent gossiping, lack of flexibility or enthusiasm, cliques, poor retention rates, and frequent absenteeism by staff.
Surprisingly, a poor work atmosphere has an even more profound influence on employee turnover than wages. According to a study by MIT, a toxic work culture is over 10 times more impactful than compensation in predicting a company’s attrition rate.
Conversely, healthy company culture is exhibited by a sense of trust amongst the team members in an encouraging and motivating environment. There is open communication between management and staff who hold a shared mission at all levels. Ideas are welcomed, feedback is constructive, and projects are collaborative.
Reflect on the behaviors of your team. Ask a trusted client for feedback on how they perceive the atmosphere when visiting your establishment. Conduct exit interviews with employees who are leaving. Create and distribute an anonymous response employee satisfaction survey.
Of course, it’s vital to ask the right kind of questions when soliciting feedback on your work environment.
For staff :
Do you/did you enjoy working here?
What do you like best/least about working here?
Do you feel your opinion is valued? If not, how could we improve?
How would you describe our company’s goals/mission in a sentence or two?
On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being poor and 10 being amazing, how would you rate our team morale?
How do you think we could improve our company culture?
For trusted clients or peer colleagues from other companies:
What positive attributes have you observed in my staff?
What negative experiences or attitudes have you experienced when dealing with my staff?
How could we improve our company culture?
Allow employees to submit feedback about your company culture via anonymous online surveys.
How do you build good company culture?
Constructing a favorable company climate can be achieved on any budget and with a staff of any size.
The keys to encouraging and refining a great company atmosphere are communication, empowerment, and respect. Promoting a feeling where employees know their input is heard and valued will help your team and business grow and thrive.
To cultivate a good company culture or refurbish one that is currently lacking, start by defining and communicating your business’s purpose and values. Sharing these with your team ensures everyone appreciates the overall impact you want your business to make in the world.
Team members can then decide if their values align with those of the company. If so, wonderful. They can actively participate in creating a healthy culture and care about the wellness of their teammates.
If staff members do not feel the company values are ones they want to uphold or buy into, then they should be encouraged to find a better fit elsewhere so as not to bring any toxicity to the workplace.
Use software like Inspire by STX to track goals in real-time to identify and reward hardworking employees.
Practicing the three keys of company culture
1. Communicate
Communication is at the core of all relationships, including professional ones. Once your staff has given you feedback on their perception of the culture at your business, make sure you show them you understand and value that information by being proactive about it.
Implement changes to improve areas of weakness. If you currently lack the resources or have reasons why you cannot change a feedback item, simply explain these obstacles. Although it may not feel like the norm, transparency goes a long way toward breeding an atmosphere of respect and trust.
2. Empower
Next, empower and engage your team. Give your employees more than just a paycheck. Provide them with growth opportunities, autonomy over their workday, and encourage them to bring new ideas and projects to the table.
Studies show that companies that overlook or fail to identify and reward hard workers have higher turnover rates. The same is true for business owners that tolerate underperformance from their employees.
Setting and tracking goals using software like Inspire by STX allows you to oversee real-time results to affirm and reward workers who are going above and beyond. You can also use the virtual coaching feature to offer words of encouragement or suggestions for improvement to those who may be lagging in performance.
By providing that support and awarding hard work, you create a sense of motivation and commitment fueled by empowerment.
3. Respect
Finally, respect and trust among staff at all levels is a sign of lasting success and concrete company culture. A report released by The Society for Human Resource Management stated "respectful treatment of all employees" was the number-one contributor to job satisfaction, while "trust between employees and senior management" was the second.
People who respect each other feel inclined to help each other. When coworkers support one another, they more effectively problem-solve and accomplish tasks quicker and more efficiently than if they were working alone or when they were at odds with each other.
Now that you have the keys to building and facilitating a healthy company culture, it is time to set your business and employees up for the future. It is never too soon or too late to take steps toward building or transforming your company culture to one that is productive and beneficial for years to come.
About the Author
Tonya Moran has been making significant contributions to STX for more than 15 years. She is an expert at organization and time management! Currently Vice President of Education, Tonya also has been involved for several years instructing and counseling in private schools and colleges.
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