Every group of people, be it a family, a country or a company, has a certain “culture.” A culture is a collective of often unspoken and generally unwritten rules that the group operates by. Every company has a culture that guides daily events, but corporate leaders are often the ones most unaware of just exactly what their company culture is. Whether you are aware of it or not, there are unwritten rules by which your company operates. They are almost always set into effect by the company leadership—whether leadership knows it or not. To successfully grow a healthy and thriving organization, here are 5 steps company leaders can take to improve company culture.
1) Adopt a “buck stops with me” attitude rather than passing the buck
When leaders refuse to accept responsibility for what happens in their companies or on their teams, they develop a “hot potato” culture when it comes to responsibility. This means everyone tries to pass it along as quickly as possible so they don’t get stuck with it. When leaders take responsibility, they encourage everyone down the line to take responsibility as well. When people take responsibility for not only their own work, but each other’s, less falls through the cracks, which leads to a safer workplace environment, better customer satisfaction and increased productivity.
2) Praise often
No one wants to work in an environment where the only time they ever hear how they are doing is when they are doing something wrong. You can create a culture of affirmation and praise by recognizing employee achievement. You may even want to have a special night each year where you recognize patterns of outstanding achievement with service awards.
3) Create a culture of trust
When it comes to trust, there are two schools of thought: either “I will not trust you until you prove to me that you can be trusted,” or “I will trust you until you prove to me that you cannot be trusted.” People who are trusted will work far harder to not lose that trust than people who are not trusted will work to gain trust. In addition, people who were initially trusted but lost that trust will generally work even harder to gain it back. While there is a fine line between foolishness and trust, try and create as many opportunities as possible to create an environment of trust in your company.
4) Never be too good for any task
Whether it’s cleaning out the microwave in the employee break room or changing the toner cartridge in the copy machine, never consider yourself to be “above” any task. When you set the example of being willing to do what needs to be done to keep things running smoothly, your employees will follow suit.
5) Praise publicly, critique privately
No one likes to be taken to task in front of their peers and coworkers. But we all long for recognition when we’ve done something well. Innovation happens in environments where people are not afraid of the consequences of messing up. This doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be consequences — there should be — but public humiliation just piles up and isn’t necessary. Public praise, however, creates an added incentive for people to do well.
The best company cultures are those that are very carefully and thoughtfully created. If you are not consciously creating your corporate culture, one will be created by default — and it may not be one you like. It is far better to take the bull by the horns and consciously create your company culture than to simply be a victim to what happens on its own.
