5 Easy Methods That Companies Use to Improve Their Culture
The history of corporate culture goes back to the 1960s. During this period people became aware of corporate culture in business. But its popularization happened in the 1990s. Corporate culture describes the character of an organization. It refers to values, attitudes, beliefs, and standards that the employees follow.
It’s one of the main ingredients for a business to be successful. Corporate culture is something that is transferred from managers to the team members. Every member of the team member follows the companies culture that a manager has to ensure. This increases team productivity and keeps the team members engaged. Corporate culture influences the way employees interact, knowledge is transfer and resistance employees will have towards certain changes.
Here are 5 tips to improve corporate culture
1. Transparency
The Company should be clear about its mode of business. Ensure employees work in an honest culture. During the time of the interview, only the company should portray a clear picture of the company. It becomes easier for a candidate to make a joining decision. It’s a major problem seen in many of the startups. A different picture of the company is portrayed during the interview.
The scope of work for experienced candidates is very high. But the reality is something different. Candidates do join but after few months of working, they leave. The attrition rate becomes high.
Better transparency means better productivity of the employees. Developing trust in management, managers, and co-workers employees perform well as a team. It becomes easier for managers to achieve team targets. In a transparent environment, employees will be more engaged in their work. They would feel motivated rather than being feel cheated.
Transparency is one of the main ingredients to customer’s satisfaction. Customers buy products from transparent companies. For any business to be successful customer retention is the key factor.
2. Reward and Recognition
Rewarding an employee has always been a topic of discussion. It will always remain an important part of the corporate culture. The companies performance also depends upon how employees are treated. Evaluation should happen at regular intervals.
Positive feedback with a good reward is all that employees need. A good reward will keep the employees motivated. They would work more hard to reach the next level. It also ensures a long term association.
Few guidelines to create an effective reward plan. Recognition should always be for a specific task. Lesser the time of reward more effective it becomes. Other than monetary rewards, personalized gifts should be award. Reward and recognition should be a public affair.
3. Employee Feedback Channel
Creating a positive environment is what all HR’s aim for. To increase the positivity employee feedback culture should be a regular practice. If employees feel that their voices are heard, they feel motivated to work. This feedback mechanism is very important in today’s organization. Most of the employees feel they are not heard. A feedback culture is something where honest feedback between employees, managers and employees and managers and top-level executives happens.
This is one of the major issues seen in most of the startups or family own business firms. The major hurdle the employees face is the traditional method of work culture. They follow the yearly performance review because the process is easy. During this period the feedback mechanism works.
For the long term growth and sustainability of an organization, a healthy feedback culture is what all companies need. Many big companies in the world are successful because they follow a positive feedback culture. Many times employees might have great ideas that can boost the business and can also resolve the existing issues.
4. Strong Coworker relationships
One of the major factors for the success of the company lies in employee relationships with coworkers. A good coworker relationship is one of the key building blocks of strong company culture. Many companies fail in encouraging healthy coworker relationships. Employee engagement activities are the best way to develop these relationships. In regular intervals, employee engagement activity programs should happen in every organization. In big companies, there are separate departments taking care of such activities.
Being cared for and caring for makes a huge positive impact on team building. A strong relationship brings positivity in an employee’s life. But also reflects an organization’s core values. This, in the long run, helps organizations to promote the company to hire new talents. A manager can be a good manager only when he can develop a strong coworker relationship.
5. Promote trust.
A good leader is one who is always approachable and friendly. Supporting team members even when they make a mistake. Respecting ideas and suggestions from team members. A corporate trust has a deeper meaning. It’s more to do with the emotional part of employees. The feeling that managers are on their side and feeling of equality. Trusting a manager means, trusting the decisions made by the manager. Aligning words and actions is the main pillar for workplace trust to grow.
A lack of trust is a major threat to growth. There is a great impact on bottom-line employees. They enjoy their jobs more. The team spirit will be high. Less burnout from work. Timely resolving conflicts and providing a fair justice acts an important factor in promoting trust.
Conclusion
How your employees work and customer perception of your business. is a reflection of company culture. In recent times the importance of great company culture has increased more. It’s one of the best ways to achieve effective company management and boost productivity. Building a great company culture will take time to happen. If managers can make a small change in an employee’s mentality, it can make a huge difference in developing the company's culture. One of the main focus of the management should be keeping employees happy in a safe positive environment. Many start-ups fail not because of a lack of talent but because they don’t have a positive company culture.