by Charlotte Gurney
Company culture directly influences employee motivation engagement, morale, and, ultimately, productivity. It refers to the core set of values and behaviors that influence how a company operates and what priorities it sets for itself.
Some companies manage to build a strong corporate culture early on and stick to it, while others develop theirs slowly, through trial and error. In either case, a company’s culture plays a big role in employee satisfaction and business success and growth.
Is the culture in your company you have created that got you this far, going to get you where you need to go? If it is, how do you retain and scale it?
8 ways to influence company culture:
Top down approach. Senior leadership have to genuinely buy-in and act the values on a daily basis to create the right culture. New joiners need the correct on-boarding to make expectations clear. It’s easy to live the values when things are going right, but what’s peoples position when the things get difficult? – Company values should be the default position.
Influence new starters. Don’t compromise on values when hiring and opt to up skill and educate people with the right values.
Create awareness. Apply visual brand points to your culture and values to remind employees, constant communication and reference in everything that’s done will help the message sink in - include this within your marketing internal brand awareness strategy.
Technology. Technology and culture are two forces that heavily influence one another. As new technology is introduced into society, corporate culture reacts in a positive or negative way and is therefore changed. Consequently, as cultures change so does the technology they develop. You can help influence culture through technology in your company by using; behavioural assessment tools, live feedback tools and communication platforms.
Reward behaviours. Recognition is a key to success. If you fail to show your employees that you notice their hard work, and how much you appreciate it, then they will never give you their best. Building and creating a stronger emotional relationship between you and your employees, while helping staff feel motivated, energetic and appreciated is important - you could do this through; Bonus, values based awards, promotions and general acknowledgement.
Make clear what is not tolerated. As an employer there are a few things you should not tolerate, such as; laziness, boredom, negativity, lying, discrimination and anger. To stop this you could; hold back promotions, confront bad behaviours and review behaviour. Failure to do this will severely dismantle your business culture and your company reputation.
Inclusion. Involve as much of the company as possible when setting or renewing the company values and identify areas of the culture that need to evolve. This will help shape your business for the future.
Define targets clearly. Make sure there is absolute clarity on what your target culture needs to look like - make it clear what you are trying to achieve as business.