Company culture is the ‘personality’ of a company, that defines the environment in which employees work and informs its mission, values, ethics, and goals. Whether your culture is casual, formal, team-focused, or customer-centric, it is important to articulate and instill that culture for your employees. A strong company culture helps managers retain and attract employees who support the workplace culture and can improve your employee’s motivation, morale, and productivity. Consider implementing a few of the following strategies to improve your company culture today.
Eliminate Hierarchies
Every business needs some kind of leadership organization or chain of command in order to function. However, some of the formality surrounding these structures can be removed to promote a more ‘open company culture.’ When managers have offices that seem impenetrable while their subordinates work together, it can be difficult for anyone to feel comfortable voicing or handling concerns and new ideas. Instead, consider moving everyone to an open floor plan or asking managers to only close their doors when discussing sensitive information.
Deal with Problems Right Away
When an employee escalates a problem to a manager, it is important to handle that concern directly, openly, and as quickly as possible. Providing support to employees who take a risk by bringing up an issue demonstrates loyalty and encourages employees to learn and grow as professionals. Try to work with everyone involved to fix the situation, rather than reacting by punishing a single individual. This shows that while the company will take employees’ problems seriously, it also cares about helping them improve and learn in a supportive way.
Show Trust, Give Empowerment
As a manger, you may not be able to keep track of everything your employees are doing or always see their progress on a project to be micromanaged. Thankfully, you do not always have to. Demonstrate trust in your employees by allowing them to make decisions and act on their own, and empower them to do so by giving them the tools they need to be successful. In this way, you can help control the outcome of a project, but not in a way that it makes your employees feel like you are being overly-controlling. This can help your employees recognize that they are important to the company and feel more fulfilled in their work.
Be Flexible
Employees have lives outside of the office too, so do what you can to support that life. Your company may be able to offer employees work from home days, more flexible (or paid) time off, or compressed workweeks. Companies that operate on stricter schedules may be able to offer casual dress days or the ability to leave work early for family commitments. Flexibility like this shows employees that you care about their personal well-being, improving morale and encouraging productivity.
Promoting Connectedness
Giving your team opportunities to connect with each other outside of work is an excellent way to promote bonding and help employees establish social connections that make going to work feel more enjoyable. Team building activities are an excellent way to establish these connections. Consider hosting a scavenger hunt, escape room outing, or even a simple trivia night outside of the office to give your team a chance to connect and relax outside of work.
Team building activities have numerous benefits aside from encouraging connection and camaraderie among teammates. Many of them require groups to solve a problem or meet a particular goal during the event, and teammates will need to use cooperation, communication, time management, and conflict resolution skills, among others, to succeed. Exercising these skills can help employees work more productively back in the office, helping projects run more efficiently and improving morale.
Consolidate Cultures
In many companies, managers and other higher-level employees receive additional perks in recognition of their hard work. While it’s always nice to recognize your employees’ contributions be sure that you are not accidentally creating two cultures. For example, if your company prioritizes flexibility, all employees should have the same work from home privileges. A cohesive, universal culture improves communication across all levels of employees and helps everyone feel valued, no matter their role.
Booking a Team Building Event
Speak to Bond’s Escape Room for more information about how team building activities can benefit your company and to schedule an escape-room team-building (company-culture energizing) event. The venue operates more than a dozen themed rooms that feature theatre-grade props and special effects to immerse your team in the story. You will have one hour to solve puzzles, discover clues, and work together to escape, all while testing communication skills and building camaraderie. Private groups can book the VIP Room before or after the event to discuss their goals for the adventure, or talk about what they have learned afterwards, helping cement the purpose of the visit and encourage employees to bring the escape room experience back to the office!