5 Ways to Improve Company Culture

Whether your team is big or small, make sure you’re working to foster a positive work environment

Being a good leader is recognizing that you have a lot of influence over your company’s culture.

Stepping out of the spotlight, and letting individuals shine, is just one of the many ways to create a positive company culture. Workers need to feel valued and heard. They require space for thought. And they need an environment that praises successes and asks them to learn from mistakes.

These considerations are increasingly important for modern workers, as they want to work for an organization whose mission they can get behind. Part of showing employees that you care about their happiness is showing them what you contribute to society, and driving that mission home in actions and ethical decision-making.

Here are tried and true strategies for revamping your company’s culture, creating a better workplace for all.

1.  Encourage time away from work and technology

Smartphones, tablets, and laptops are most likely rampant in your workplace. Depending on the size of your team, employees may talk to each other primarily over email or within instant chat platforms, instead of in meetings or over lunch.

Big data expert John Johnson advises creating “no cell phone zones” in the office and even making this a regular habit in your personal life as well. This will give you and your workers more opportunities for quality, in-person connection.

Also, make sure you’re encouraging your team to take enough time away from work completely. Try not to send them emails outside of working hours, as some employees will feel that they’re required to respond.

Survey your team or ask them if they feel your vacation or sick day policy is reasonable and sufficient for them.

We all require time to focus on our personal lives to better zone in during work hours.

2.  Mitigate office politics

Recent data from a Randstad survey showed that over half of respondents (58 percent) have left positions, or are considering leaving a job, because of bad office politics.

Whether they recognize that a manager has favorites, giving unfair advantages to some over others, or there’s just always drama, make sure your workplace doesn’t even go there. To combat politics, encourage open discussions. Let your team know you are always available to talk, implanting an open-door policy. Be transparent about financials, promotions, salaries, wins, and losses and people won’t have to speculate or gossip about what’s going on.

Encourage employees to save the drama outside the workplace.

3.  Listen and act

It can’t be overstated just how important it is to give employees a voice. Ask for their opinions on company decisions, no matter their current level within the company. Implement regular surveys to see how you’re doing.

Once you let your team speak, make sure you’re truly listening. It’s one thing to hear what they’re saying, but it’s another to listen and understand.

Show them that you hear them by acting. It’s not enough to gather feedback; you must actually address any problems or concerns that arise.

4.  Share your vision

Your company’s vision should be a daily part of working there. Each and every goal, big or small, should align with that vision. Objectives should be clear for the team—why are they doing what they’re doing?

Connect each daily task with the overall end goal. If something in the process doesn’t align with the goal or vision, ask workers for their input on what needs to change or what could work better.

In a Wrike survey of employee happiness, 70 percent of workers who said they were happy with their jobs felt that their company’s mission strongly resonated with them.

When workers align with the mission of the organization, they’ll be more loyal and feel like what they’re doing matters, both for the company and for their own personal goals.

5.  Celebrate regularly

Just as important as working hard and getting projects done is celebrating wins together, as a team. When a big task is finished, or a goal is reached, take out your employees for an afternoon away from the office. Let them know how much their hard work means to you.

This encourages them to continue reaching big goals and allows everyone to connect on things other than just work.

Only focusing on mistakes or problems contributes to negative company culture. Workers will feel beaten down and discouraged, and their motivation may dwindle.

Instead, let them know that mistakes will happen no matter what and that they can turn them into learning opportunities. Celebrating wins instead of punishing mistakes will create a more positive workplace.

For more tips on how to manage your team and create an open, encouraging work environment, visit Paper Napkin Wisdom. The blog and podcast both have many nuggets of wisdom from leading entrepreneurs and CEOs around the globe.