Part 2: Improving the Culture Within Your Company
Business Technology | February 3, 2012
Our last blog focused on company culture as well as the effect it can have on your brand. Your company’s culture, positive or negative, shows up in your brands reputation. We talked about how to gauge the cultural health of your organization, but exactly how do you give your company a cultural facelift?
If you have established that the culture of your company needs some adjusting or refreshing, there are a few questions you will want to ask yourself first:
- What qualities do you value that you would like to show up in your company’s culture? Respect, acceptance, creativity, fun, etc.?
- What are your company’s values and how can the culture reflect them?
- How is information presently distributed in the company and how does this affect the culture?
- Do you reward employees and how?
- Does everyone feel heard in the company? Do people feel free to express their ideas and offer their opinions?
These should lead you to more questions. Consider having a brainstorming session with your employees to find the right answers for your company. Here are a couple ideas we came up with:
Suggestion/Thought box – Giving people a means to share their thoughts, anonymously or not, makes the culture of a company feel more open. You may learn some important things that need tweaking and may wish to bring them up in companywide meetings.
Empower employees – Treat employees like peers; give them ownership over their jobs. Don’t micromanage! Transparency can encourage empowerment as well. Don’t just inform your employees when there are successes, tell them when things aren’t going so well too. Their support may help you overcome the hard times.
Flexible hours – You hired your employees because you trust them to do their job. Permitting them to have somewhat flexible hours shows you trust them to get their work done well and on time. The respect you give them will be reflected in the respect they give you.
Dress code – Long gone are the days of the suit and tie everyday (at least in many fields), so let personnel express themselves with regards to their clothing. This can help make them feel free and accepted. Another thought is to have themed clothing days. Examples of this are: wig day, silly t-shirt day, hat day, etc. Let employees make suggestions for themes. A little silly goes a long way.
Celebrate – A company is comprised of the people in it, so celebrate together. A monthly movie day, a catered lunch, or lunchtime board game days are just a few ways you can get your employees together to celebrate.
For some added fun, here are a number of things real companies do to add to their culture:
- Spontaneous Nerf gun wars
- Painting inspirational quotes on the walls
- Hitting a loud gong when there is a success to let the whole company know
- Foosball tournaments
- Lunchtime Yoga
- Lunchtime Crafting Club
- Monday Mad Libs, whoever wishes to contribute, does, and then the completed Mad Lib is emailed to the company
Our last blog focused on company culture as well as the effect it can have on your brand. Your company’s culture, positive or negative, shows up in your brands reputation. We talked about how to gauge the cultural health of your organization, but exactly how do you give your company a cultural facelift?
If you have established that the culture of your company needs some adjusting or refreshing, there are a few questions you will want to ask yourself first:
- What qualities do you value that you would like to show up in your company’s culture? Respect, acceptance, creativity, fun, etc.?
- What are your company’s values and how can the culture reflect them?
- How is information presently distributed in the company and how does this affect the culture?
- Do you reward employees and how?
- Does everyone feel heard in the company? Do people feel free to express their ideas and offer their opinions?
These should lead you to more questions. Consider having a brainstorming session with your employees to find the right answers for your company. Here are a couple ideas we came up with:
Suggestion/Thought box – Giving people a means to share their thoughts, anonymously or not, makes the culture of a company feel more open. You may learn some important things that need tweaking and may wish to bring them up in companywide meetings.
Empower employees – Treat employees like peers; give them ownership over their jobs. Don’t micromanage! Transparency can encourage empowerment as well. Don’t just inform your employees when there are successes, tell them when things aren’t going so well too. Their support may help you overcome the hard times.
Flexible hours – You hired your employees because you trust them to do their job. Permitting them to have somewhat flexible hours shows you trust them to get their work done well and on time. The respect you give them will be reflected in the respect they give you.
Dress code – Long gone are the days of the suit and tie everyday (at least in many fields), so let personnel express themselves with regards to their clothing. This can help make them feel free and accepted. Another thought is to have themed clothing days. Examples of this are: wig day, silly t-shirt day, hat day, etc. Let employees make suggestions for themes. A little silly goes a long way.
Celebrate – A company is comprised of the people in it, so celebrate together. A monthly movie day, a catered lunch, or lunchtime board game days are just a few ways you can get your employees together to celebrate.
For some added fun, here are a number of things real companies do to add to their culture:
- Spontaneous Nerf gun wars
- Painting inspirational quotes on the walls
- Hitting a loud gong when there is a success to let the whole company know
- Foosball tournaments
- Lunchtime Yoga
- Lunchtime Crafting Club
- Monday Mad Libs, whoever wishes to contribute, does, and then the completed Mad Lib is emailed to the company