How to Create a Successful Organizational Culture

Every organization has its own distinct culture. It is shaped by their values, goals, and ideals.

A company with a good culture has employees who are self-motivated, driven, and committed to helping the organization grow.

So how do you build a successful organizational culture?

Embrace transparency.

Transparency fosters trust.

It makes employees feel that they are working with a company with high ethical standards.

When your organizational culture promotes transparency, your employees will feel more engaged and accountable for their roles and responsibilities.

Transparency is showing people the past, current, and future of your company. Informing them about what’s going on in your organization makes your employees feel that they play a critical part in your success. Because actually, they do!

How do you embrace transparency in your organization?

• Conduct regular town halls. Give weekly or monthly updates regarding the status of your company. Inform them about your specific goals or targets, strategies, current events, and financial status.
• When recruiting people to work for your organization, set clear expectations about your company culture, the day-to-day tasks, salaries, benefits, performance metrics, etc.
• Help your employees understand their strengths and weaknesses through giving timely feedback and mentoring.

Reward and Recognize

Successful organizational culture is one that gives utmost importance to employee contributions.

Showing genuine appreciation for your team makes a lasting positive impact on them. There are many ways to recognize good work. It could be through a simple pat on the back, a shoutout on your social media page or group, or a formal recognition wherein you hand them a certificate.

It doesn’t matter how you do it. What’s important is that you give your employees recognition where it’s due.

Rewarding employees also promotes positive work culture. According to research, it drives motivation and influences job satisfaction.

What kinds of rewards are best for your employees?

Money?

Uhm, no.

It may seem counterintuitive, but monetary rewards aren’t the way to go. Take it from Google which offers some of the best employee perks today.

The tech giant conducted a study on rewarding employees and found that rewards that offer experiences, such as gadgets, free dinners, and free travel are more likely to motivate employees and boost job satisfaction than financial rewards.

Promote teamwork

Successful culture involves shared thinking that an organization can achieve great things through collaboration and cooperation.

This means that it’s not just the leaders that have a role to play in the company’s success, but everyone else.

Companies with great cultures focus on empowering teams to be self-reliant and capable to make their own decisions. They are given important projects, not just low-level tasks, and are given support (administrative and financial), encouragement, and training.

How do you integrate teamwork into your company culture?

• Set goals together. Involve your employees in setting goals so they can determine how they can contribute to achieving those goals.
• Open up lines of communication.
• Give teams the power to make decisions.
• Instill fun and laughter. Working in a team should be fun and inspiring.

Improve workplace discipline

While you want to empower your employees by giving them freedom on making decisions and how they accomplish their work, you still want to make everyone feel accountable for their actions.

Self-discipline is an essential trait — a valuable asset in a team member.

Demonstrating the “can-do” and “will-do” attitude is what every team needs to get things done.

There are different ways to promote discipline in your workplace without causing resentment from your employees. Here are some of the most effective strategies:

• Set clear performance measures.

Employees should know, from the very start, how their performance is rated. Knowing what is expected from them helps cultivate a sense of accountability. Don’t forget to set clear policies on common targets like time and attendance.

• Evaluate and monitor their progress.

Give timely feedback so your employees are aware of their shortcomings or could-be-betters. Aim to reform them, not punish them.

• Coaching vs. feedback.

Learn when you need to coach your employees and when to provide feedback. With coaching, you are asking them to create a plan on how they can improve their performance or correct their mistakes. It’s a good approach for helping an employee find ways to improve unhealthy habits at work, such as always coming in late or having too many errors.

Promote Self-Care

A great company culture focuses on the well-being of employees, not just the interests of the leaders or owners.

But shouldn’t self-care be something that employees should be dealing with on their own? What does it have to do with winning company culture?

It’s hard for employees to be engaged if they’re not healthy.

There are many ways organizations can be supportive of their employees especially during the pandemic when most people are confronted with physical and mental health challenges.

• Beautify your workspace. Invest in ergonomics. Promote good lighting, clean and spacious desks, and some inspiring decorations.
• Provide wellness/fitness perks. It could be in a form of free gym memberships, spa vouchers, gift checks for a health store, etc.
• Offer flexible work schedules to accommodate employees when sickness in the family or emergencies occur.
• Consider setting up a sleeping quarter. If you have many employees needing to do overtime work, a sleeping quarter is a good investment. Most people suffer from sleep issues. One way to help them rest and recharge is to promote quality sleep, even in the office!

Be a role model

Lastly, successful organizational culture involves having leaders who serve as role models to their employees. Setting good examples to your people encourages trust. You can be a role model by:

• Demonstrating a positive attitude.
• Exhibiting integrity.
• Taking responsibility for your actions.
• Offering support and encouragement.
• Leading and inspiring your people.

Good culture defines a company and makes a huge difference when it comes to keeping employees happy and productive.

When you develop a successful organizational culture, you can expect top-notch talents to join your team. Also, you can be sure that your people are working with you, not against you, as you strive to reach your company goals.