Creating a Positive Company Culture

11 May Creating a Positive Company Culture

At a minimum, people spend 40 hours of their lives every week at work. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, but that’s still a significant portion of their waking hours. 

If employees feel like work is a place of stress, drudgery, or ruthless competition and pressure, they’re not going to enjoy coming to work. They’ll be more inclined to look for a way out of excuses for missing work, and that can hurt your overall productivity in addition to your bottom line. 

The solution is to change your company’s culture and make it a more positive, reaffirming, and productive place to work. 

But what does that mean, and how does it happen? 

Positive company culture is one in which all employees, from the CEO down to the newest person on staff, feel like they have an essential role to play. It’s one in which everyone feels valued and welcomed. It also makes people feel like they’re invested in the work they do, which can incentivize them to work harder. 

Here are a few tips on how to create a more positive culture in your office. 

1. Start by saying thanks and taking notice of personal contributions.

Yes, people go to work to get paid. But that doesn’t mean a little gratitude and appreciation can’t go a long way. Recognize the hard work your employees put in and how much you value their contributions. After all, without your staff working diligently and pushing forward to meet deadlines and complete projects, your company wouldn’t have the success it does. A nod of approval and a message of “job well done” makes people feel noticed, appreciated, and recognized. It makes them feel like they matter — and they do! 

2. Reinforce your company’s mission statement — or make a new one to set the tone going forward.

Your company has a specific purpose, an overarching goal that you set out to accomplish every day. Do your employees know what that is? It’s not just to make money; it’s to provide a service, to make a product, to build relationships, and continue to reinforce the company’s good name and reputation by being an excellent partner. Remind your employees that they have a role to play in this and that the company’s success is due in large part to their contributions and their adherence to the overall mission statement. You’re all in this together, working toward the same goals. 

3. Encourage communication and then encourage it again.

Workers will be skeptical of an open-door policy if they feel it could lead to punishment or retaliation of some kind. Let them know you want them to be happy, and you want to create a better work environment for everyone, but that’s going to be easier to achieve if you know what’s concerning them. Then try to incorporate some changes based on what you hear. Employees will grow to trust you and the company more when they see they’re being heard and taken seriously. 

4. Develop new leaders and talent.

This is a different kind of investment that can reap real dividends for your company: provide enrichment and educational opportunities to help your employees learn or refresh their skills. They’ll feel more engaged at work and like they’re not just spinning their wheels working in one place, and your company will benefit from their new abilities. This also makes your company more competitive overall, not to mention more attractive to potential new hires down the road. 

A positive work culture is one in which employees are excited to come to work, are engaged in what they’re doing, and know they’ve put in a full day’s work toward a specific goal. 

LeadingEdge Can Help Improve Your Company’s Culture

Want to get the ball rolling towards improving your company’s culture? Contact LeadingEdge today. We’re ready to help you identify problems that might be brewing under the surface and help get things back on track. Or if you’re looking to add to your team, we can help with that too! Contact LeadingEdge today and prepare for a more successful tomorrow.