Companies are continuously looking for ways to cultivate the “perfect company culture” so no employee leaves dissatisfied. If your ex-employee leaves behind bad reviews like toxic culture, unethical rules, discouraging management and so on indicating you have a bad working culture, can negate all the goodwills you have invested in your brand.
This is why culture matters. Some companies have a casual culture with no fixed rules, while some have a formal culture that defines hierarchies, and while some have a team-first corporate culture where everyone participates on all level. This article offers a guide to improve the ‘personality’ of the company.
Table of Contents
What is a company culture?
Culture is a word we hear when and read in company blogs and management articles. But what exactly it is?
A company’s culture is the foundation for future innovation. An entrepreneurs job is to build the foundation. Brian Chesky, Airbnb
According to Frances Frei and Anne Morriss at Harvard Business Review, “It tells us whether to risk telling our bosses about our new ideas, and whether to surface or hide problems.”
The culture defines the unwritten but some true acts of behavior.
Importance of high-performance company culture….really?
We have noticed an increasing emphasis on company culture for a host of reasons.
Employees look forward to going to their jobs. They are more likely to enjoy when they are in the workplace. They are not waiting for the day to end. The company culture is the major point when people are job hunting. It is becoming important with the evolution of the modern workplace. Employees dig in to know what the culture of the company is like. It is a decision-making factor when evaluating prospective employers.
Qualities of a high-performance culture
A healthy company culture has certain qualities more than a standard set of attributes. Let’s dive in.
1. Embrace a change mindset
It all starts with a shift in mindset. An organization should be willing to change their mindset and behavior that defines the culture. To lead successfully, the CEO and c-level team leaders should transform their mindset that is central to growth and innovation. They should think big and be ready to be pushed outside of their comfort zone. Because the culture will be defined by the ability of the individuals (company) to change and grow.
2. Low employee turnover
If you are witnessing many resignations in less time then you probably have a bad company culture. A positive company culture usually has employees with no intentions of leaving the company because they are probably comfortable, enjoying and having a good salary. The employees are around for an unexpectedly long period of time and are often not searching for another job. Employees do not leave the company as they are excited for work every morning.
3. Team Backup
The right tone for the company starts with having a team backed up always. Everyone is actively standing together to back each other up. In case problems arise, they speak up together, they work together when they have backlogs and they value each other’s inputs.
4. Empower people to make decisions
As a leader, to foster good company culture, you should employ your employees to empower themselves. Companies with high performing cultures motivate employees to make decisions and act upon their choices. They assume that they are witty enough to take their responsibilities. You have to trust their decision-making abilities to solve problems.
5. Sense of accountability
Leaders should ingrain a sense of accountability to hold everyone accountable. Those companies with a high-performing culture create a system where employees are given ownership of their roles and goals. When everyone is accountable it ensures a built-in sense of appreciation for the contribution of every person.
6. Strategy to improve continuously
High performing companies have to keep in mind to make sure people constantly strive to improve their performance, work better and eliminate overload. Also, focus on measuring progress and always work to be better.
7. Empowered leadership at all levels
Richard Branson of The Virgin Group said, “Take care of your employees and they’ll take care of your business.” And how would you take care of your employees? The big part lies in allowing them to be in control of their life at the company. To let them have control over their experience at the company. And those who support his have a good culture.
How to create a high-performance culture
1. Clarify values and communicate them every day
Value added to your activities makes a company a better place to work and more profitable. Your values will drive your behavior day in and day out. The values you define for your company actually contribute to the overall success of your company.
2. Reinforce positive behavior
Pushing those negative thoughts out of their mind will add value to your company. Develop a positive can-do attitude in your team. Leaders should reward individuals who represent the values of the organization because it increases the likelihood of them doing the job well again. The success of your business relies on the shoulder of your employee. To reinforce successfully, you should motivate them to work more productively thereby increasing the self-esteem of employees.
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3. Encourage open communications
The organizations encouraging open communication in workplace results in a vibrant atmosphere. There should be a fluid line of communication with an unbiased and open conversation no matter what the topic of discussion is. Make sure the flow of information is smooth from the top level to entry-level employee. Start today to be a better communicator.
4. Employee empowerment
As a leader, your employees will trust in your decisions to positively impact them. But at times they expect to feel empowered to make those important decisions that are directly or indirectly related to them. The most successful leaders work towards enabling employees to reach their full potential. Here’s how you can foster growth among them:
- Show them your trust
- Provide the required training
- Communicate the vision clearly
- Don’t avoid small talk
- Allow freedom within the limit
5. Collect Feedback
A feedback-rich culture is a key ingredient for a positive culture. Give them a chance to give feedback while they are working and not just when they are gone like employees turn to handles like Glassdoor to provide their opinion. Transparent feedback will help you find out how employees are feeling about your culture and if there is anything that needs improving.
How to create a feedback culture:
- Motivate your employees to give feedback correctly
- Give the chance to come up whenever they want
- Take their feedback seriously, do not ignore
You need to know if you are supporting your employees in the right way so that together you can achieve the results.
6. Focus on what matters
Do you have an idea of what sort of things matter for your culture? The culture of usually confused with perks and incentives. Though they are important being a great complement to your culture but a lot more things matter, like:
- Room for growth
- Appreciation for a job well done
- High level of transparency
- No favoritism
- Sense of purpose
- Supportive leadership
Are you investing in your company’s culture?
As you look to build a high-performance culture, keep in mind the high-performance culture characteristics, to make sure you don’t miss on anything because it all comes down to company culture!
Now that you have the ideas for creating a high-performance culture, we’d love to hear your thoughts, too. Let us know what is important according to you to maintain a company culture that people love. Is there something you regularly employ? Let us know below!
