Your company culture is a reflection of your values as a company, and as a group of individuals. Take a look at your own company. Is it as good as it can be? The truth is no organisation is perfect and there’s always room for improvement.
There are no real rules in the company culture game, but there are a few guidelines worth following.
DO Decide on a Goal
“Your mission is to turn up to work, look busy for 8 hours and then go home.” That’s not much of a goal to give your employees, is it? Before staff can define their professional goals, it’s up to the company directors to develop a positive target that everyone can aim for.
DON’T Be a Dictator
It’s all very well having a mission, but how you seek to complete it is also important. The what-I-say-goes order of leadership died with the workhouse. Nowadays, the most successful companies maintain a strong focus on collaboration.
DO Express Yourself
A thriving company culture should permeate every aspect of the business. When clear goals have been defined in an atmosphere of collaboration, a magical thing happens – an embryonic culture starts to emerge, bearing the best traits of the people behind it.
DON’T Force It
You can set the wheels in motion, but the company culture of your dreams isn’t going to appear overnight. Sometimes it can take years for a business to find its soul – you just have to be patient.
DO Invest
Being patient doesn’t mean that you can sit twiddling your thumbs. In the meantime, you need to invest in your dream if you ever want to make it a reality. The best place to start is at the very foundation of the business – the people behind it. To get the most out of your employees, you need a comprehensive training and development program designed to fit your needs.
DON’T Fake It
Sticking feathers up your butt doesn’t make you a chicken. If reality doesn’t quite match your personal vision, don’t just pretend that it does. No amount of motivational posters can counteract a stagnant company culture. To effect a real change, you need to look beyond the superficial.
DO Encourage Communication
How many times have you encountered a problem only to conclude that, if somebody had only said something, it could have been avoided? Decent communication should be at the heart of any good company culture.
DON’T Suffocate It
To a large extent, company culture evolves organically according to the environment and the people around it. If you think your company culture is hurtling off on a tangent, don’t pull on the reins right away – it might be the best thing that could have happened.
DO Have Fun
Thank goodness for fun! Where would you be without it? Most likely, you’d be in a job you hate watching the years slip away. If you don’t make time for frivolity at work, you might as well set up a time-lapse camera to capture your slow but inevitable decline.
DON’T Have Too Much Fun
Because this is business after all… not the circus.
DO Challenge Yourself
Who can say that they have improved enough? Nobody, that’s who. The only way to encourage improvement in a company is to nurture a culture that encourages individual personal development.
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