Fostering the right company culture can do wonders for boosting your employer branding and keeping your employees happy, but the meaning of the phrase has been diluted by the likes of ideas such as catered meals or fun seating. Though everyone enjoys a bean bag, the things that underpin company culture run deeper than office furniture, and as your company expands proportionally to your workforce, it becomes essential to find a more fixed definition for it. Here are a few ways you can make sure you’re making the best company culture for your company, without allowing superficiality to interfere –
1. Stay Authentic
The number one facet of a brand that draws in employees and clients alike is a detection of authenticity within the company itself. People connect to personal stories and messages, not generic slogans that have been formulated by a remote marketing team.
Think about the values that define your brand, as well as the mission you may have started out your company with. Figuring out how to permeate these values and make them influence organisational structure will help form the start of a strong and consistent company culture.
2. Figure out what needs fixing
If you run a software company and a core value of your brand is staying ahead of the curve, then the basic word-excel-powerpoint package won’t help your employees, nor will it make you seem genuine.
When it comes to brand values and company culture, putting your money where your mouth is counts, so if you want your employees to value innovation, you need to provide opportunities to do so, and this may mean investing in slightly advanced technology or employer training to achieve just this.
3. Follow up to stay consistent
It may seem like a waste of time or resources to invest in group-activities, but if you’re a larger organisation, measuring the ROI of things like employer training can be incredibly revealing as to their value. Managers disseminate information to lower level employees, so bringing them all together to ensure they’re clear on what the company culture through retreats or training sessions, and following up with them after these events, can ensure there’s a consistent message being shared across the organization.
4. Keep Open lines of Communication
Staying open and honest about your expectations for your employees is a sure fire path to success when it comes to company culture. Defining a few company attributes and printing out a mission statement is one thing, but reminding employees what is to be done in relation to these manifestos are another. Another key aspect of maintaining a thriving company culture is hiring the right people for the job.
Remember, skill can be developed, but emotional intelligence takes a lot more time to get right. As your company continues to grow, it is this culture that will ensure it does so in a way that you want it to, instead of dealing with inconsistent service and work.
